Which looks better - the darker or lighter version?

[mandyatm]

I have been having so much trouble when printing my pictures. They always come out too dark even though they look fine on every monitor I look at. All of these monitors are LCD, so I had a friend help me adjust according to her large CRT monitor (over the phone, using the same settings as her). The first is what looks good on my monitor, but there is no detail in the shirt when printed, it looks as black as the background. The second looks way too bright on my monitor, but looks good on hers. Since I can't see hers, can someone with a calibrated monitor tell me what will look good when printed? Any other comments are welcome. i need to get a different monitor ASAP. Thanks so much!
50mm
1/50 sec
f/ 2.2
ISO 200

[Gonzo13]

I would say the darker version is more appealing to me. There is a glow coming off the flesh in the lighter version.

[wulf]

A mixture. I think the flesh tones are too overexposed in the bright version but you lose the mother's shirt against the dark background in the first one. For a high key (very bright image) lighter clothes for both and a light background might work better; if you want to go darker, I think you need to get more light on the shirt but probably less still on the skin areas.

Wulf