There are two reasons why I don't like to show all of my art on a computer screen or why you should not decide about buying art (or wedding photography) online.
1. A digital image is made up of 300 pixel per inch. When you view an image on a computer screen, the monitor is only able to show 72 pixels per inch. All monitors can only show 72 pixels per inch. So for my digital photograph to look good on a computer screen I have to downsize or make my photo less detailed. I have to eliminate 228 pixels per inch of information.
Furthermore, my photograph is captured in a color space called Adobe RGB 1998. In other words my camera has a range of colors that it can interpret from a scene and then represent. Colors that cannot be represented from nature are changed to the closest color. A computer monitor (there are a few that can represent Adobe RGB 1998) can only represent an RGB color space. An RGB color space is a smaller color box or has less colors that it can interpret from nature. When I create a photo for the world wide web, my colors get changed. The conversion process has to interpret the colors and if a color in Adobe RGB 1998 is not available in RGB then it gets changed.
Creating a photo for web consumption is essentially a process of simplifying that file into a smaller and less detailed image.
2. Imaging has an international standard. When I start to process photography on my computer the 1st thing I do is calibrate my monitor. I have a device that measured the colors and luminance (how bright and contrasty) of my monitor. An uncalibrated monitor is like looking at the world with colored glasses on.
When you buy a monitor the default setting is not calibrated or equal to any ICC standard. Most often the monitor is set too bright. How bright? Well I can tell you numbers but how would that help if you didn't have a scale to compare it to. I will say that if the scale was from 1 to 5, I set my monitor to about three and a quarter, while the monitors from the factory are set to four and a half. I don't know if that helped.
Another important point is that when you turn on a monitor it takes that monitor at least 30 minutes to an hour to warm up, to stabilize the settings. Before I calibrate my monitor it has to be running for an hour or the levels will shift and the calibration will be useless. Look at a photo right when you turn your monitor on and then an hour later. See if you notice any difference. Are the colors different? How about the amount of detail that you see? As the monitor warms up these two things will change. The photo hasn't changed, just the eyeglasses that you are looking at the photo with.
Even the viewing environment has an effect on how an image looks on a computer screen. If you are in a room that gets direct sunlight the colors and brightness will change depending on whether the sun is shining or if it is cloudy outside. A real professional photographer will have a controlled lighting environment to post process images in. No direct sunshine, daylight balanced light bulbs and neutral colored walls. All of this has an effect on what colors a computer screen shows or what glasses you are looking at the image with.
I can't control whether you see the true colors of the photograph. Or if your monitor is set up to show all the detail of a photograph. All of these issues are solved by looking at a photographers print. Holding all 300 pixels per inch and Adobe RGB 1998 color space in your hands.
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