How to turn return to normal display parameters

Found a slider that despite unchecking increase contrast, controlled the amount of contrast. Reset to Normal and much of the contrast problem is removed. Interesting that increasing contrast, instead of making it easier to read, actually made it harder. Now many display elements that have been missing since before Monterrey have reappeared. The contrast with text, however, continues to be a problem. Why are the fonts shades of gray rather than allowing for good old black and white?

I have not changed anything from the settings that came with the iMac however, I see two imac setting amongst a good deal of other unidentifiable options. Will try the second imac option but the others seem to assume a different device being used for display than the standard imac screen.

It's a real problem when your vision is somewhat impaired and the contrast between the background and the font makes it hard to differentiate the characters. I've increased text size where possible and adjusted contrast but now, possibly with indstallation of new OS, it is getting impossible to read and as I said, some display elements have disappeared into the background color (Trash icon not visible unless in Dark Mode). Note that Dark Mode "fixes" some contrast problems but text is still hard to read.

When I restart, I get a message that Increased Contrast is turned on although I unchecked that option in Preferences. I can immediately see it take effect when my Desktop picture goes weird with high contrast. Cannot see how to get system to stop this contrast and suspect it's part of the overall problem.

Yes, Dark Mode helps a great deal but when there are several black windows on the screen it is hard to differentiate the borders causing some confusion.