To my surprise...

[Optikal iLLusion]

I posted a black and white edit of a bridge in the critique section a few days ago and since have been wondering to myself about what others are seeing and how true the colors im seeing on my monitor are. So i ordered an 8x12 print from MPIX to see what the difference would be. I got it in the mail today and suprisingly it looks almost identical to what im seeing on my screen. The only major difference i noticed was the clouds. I went a bit overboard on the sharpening on the sky. it looks kind of funny. Also the whites and greys arent as defined which is telling me (at least from what i understand about monitor calibration from what ive read) that the whites and grey in my screen could be adjusted a bit.. I still plan on buying a calibration tool. but for now am not terribly worried. when i get back from basic training ill tackle it.

[Doug Sundseth]

That of course is the trick with online critique. The problem might be with your monitor, or it might be with the monitors of the critics. They're probably even less likely to have a calibrated monitor than you are.