Gamma Explained: Why Your Shadows Look Wrong

Gamma describes the curve that maps input signal to displayed brightness. Get it wrong and images look washed out or crushed.

The standard

Most content is mastered for gamma 2.2 (sRGB). That's your target for general use.

What bad gamma looks like

• Too low (e.g. 1.8): images look flat, washed out, gray blacks.
• Too high (e.g. 2.6): shadows crush to black, picture looks contrasty and "muddy" in dark scenes.

How to check it

Run the Greyscale Test. With correct gamma, the step from black to white looks evenly spaced — no big jump near the dark end and no detail vanishing into black. The mid-gray step should read as a believable middle, not near-white or near-black.

How to fix it

• Set your monitor's gamma preset to 2.2 if it has one.
• On Windows, the built-in display calibration wizard adjusts gamma by eye.
• On macOS, use Display Calibrator (hold Option when opening Color settings for the full assistant).

For reference work, a colorimeter measures gamma precisely — but the greyscale pattern gets most people close.