Help, too dark!

[Glinnphoto]

I recently got a sample set of business cards from Moo.com and they all came back too dark. I have tried calibrating my monitor using various techniques I have read about and using a ColorVision Spyder but given how dark the prints were I think I might still be a little off. Please check out one of the photos I sent for printing and let me know if it needs to be brightened up a bit (ie. do I need to turn down the brightness of my monitor and then readjust the picture?).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/glinnphoto/5557732024/

I would also appreciate a general comment if anyone has time to review a few other photos from my Flickr sets to see if, in general, they are all too dark.

Thanks!
Gary

[SusanH1970]

Yep, looks a tad dark to me. Do you have a flat screen LCD monitor? They're notorious for being set way too bright as the factory default.

[OsmosisStudios]

Looks a BIT dark, but not enough to be of concern. If you're really worried, bring it up about 1/3-1/2 of a stop and then add a slight (SLIGHT!) vignette.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Looks a BIT dark, but not enough to be of concern. If you're really worried, bring it up about 1/3-1/2 of a stop and then add a slight (SLIGHT!) vignette.

Can I just stress VERY, VERY slight vignette?

[Glinnphoto]

Thanks! I turned down my monitor some more and brightened up the picture (and added a VERY slight vignette). I guess the only thing to do now is sent out a few images to be printed and then compare the results with my monitor.

Thanks again!