LoveLight

Before starting this process, let your monitor warm up 5 minutes if you just started your computer or if it just came out of sleep mode. If it has a "colorspace" or "temperature" option, set it to 6500K (or sRGB), but don't worry if it doesn't have this setting. Your room should be dimly-to-moderately lit. Limit light shining directly on the monitor to reduce reflections and contrast issues. View from directly in front of your monitor, not from the sides. LCD monitors (flat panels) change color/brightness when viewing from an angle, so you must be directly in front. CRTs need 15 minutes to warm up. You should verify your calibration once a month, before any color-critical work, and whenever you change your video hardware or the drivers. If your driver software provides calibration tools, use them first, then go to the next picture with the color bars to verify.

1. Adjust the BRIGHTNESS value as low as you can where you can barely see the difference on the blacks on the left (A, B, C). Black should look black, not grey.
2. Adjust the CONTRAST value until you can barely see the difference on the whites on the right (X, Y, Z). The bar across the top should look evenly-spaced.
3. Brightness and Contrast are somewhat linked, so repeat steps 1 and 2 as necessary.
4. Once you finish, fine-tune and verify your adjustments in the next image.

Image from PhotoFriday.com