 Re: monitor settings
Who thought your images were too dark and contrasty, ronmatt? I've always thought they looked just fine on both a Mac and PC. I wonder if they were Mac people who use their monitors at the Mac default 1.8 gamma. Though I use a Mac primarily, I always profile my monitors to a 2.2 so my images match more readily the way most people see images on screen. In fact, most all Mac pros use a 2.2 gamma.
Have you calibrated your monitors with anything other than Adobe Gamma? Have you unchecked 'view single gamma only' and used RGB sliders to create your profile? What is the white point you are using. Typical for screen work is 6500K. For print work 5000K frequently gives a better color balance although it may look too warm at first. Reflected light off paper is much warmer than one might suspect.
There is also the issue that, unless you have a high end monitor which is specifically made to be calibrated with a hardware device, any profile you use is a vague approximation at best and changes fairly rapidly.
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