The thumbnail and browse image look terrible, is it really that bad?
Because of the number of images that are added to our database each day, we cannot do publication-quality color corrections on each image. For some scientific purposes those corrections even destroy information (even though they make the picture look prettier). Our browse images represent an attempt to show what the film really looks like, and what the raw digital photo looks like. If an image is dark or colors seem unusual, color corrections using image software will make it look better. If you plan to use the photos in print or presentations, you will want to carry out the following steps in your software of choice: (1) rebalance the colors (2) adjust the image brightness, (3) enhance the contrast, (4) resize the image to the proper size for the application, and (5) sharpen the image.
