Pixelated/Artifacted dark regions on photos

[Virian]

Hello. I have a problem with f.lux that is difficult to describe using search engines, I haven't found any results nor possible fixes to it.
The issue is as following: Every photo I view using any program, be it Windows photo viewer, Chrome or Firefox, has pixelated dark regions that look really ugly.
This is how the photo should look: http://i.imgur.com/dpz9wy4.jpg
This is how it looks for me: http://i.imgur.com/iW0EsFM.jpg
It does not happen in any games, I haven't noticed it on videos or even gifs(maybe they just weren't dark enough).
I have tried reinstalling the GPU drivers (clean), checking if cables are plugged correctly. GPU is a month old, it doesn't overheat, everything appears to be fine with it.
Turns out f.lux is the culprit. Whenever it is running, even if I disable it in settings, there is some kind of brightness filter that messes my photos up. Altering brightness does not make it any better. Surprisingly, these problems started after I formatted the hard drive. I've been using f.lux for quite some time beforehand with no problems.

My PC specs:
Win 8.1
i5 2500 @3.6 Ghz
EVGA GTX 970 FTW
8GB RAM
Gigabyte PH67A-UD3-B3 motherboard
LG W2453V monitor

I appreciate any help!

[herf]

That looks like things are getting drawn 3-4x brighter than they should.

Can you look in Control Panel > Color Management and see what the "(default)" profile is? If possible email us the .icm file (support at justgetflux dot com).

If you change the profile to a different one and re-launch f.lux does it help?

[Virian]

Thanks for reply. After further research thanks to your suggestion, I discovered it might be in fact a calibration problem, the one that is explained in FAQ. I'll see what I can do with hardware calibrators. I will let you know if I need further assistance. What surprises me is that this problem started for no apparent reason. Cheers!