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test

Started by G3User, December 07, 2010, 01:23:46 AM

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G3User

Just checking to see if photobucket will modify this file

Athol

G3User

Unfortunately it does, even though it is <100k.

Hannie

Athol, I'm not the brightest bulb in the arena, what were trying to do?

Hannie
Hannie Scheltema
Distribution Coordinator
[email protected]

G3User

Hannie,

Marlene seemed to be struggling, what she saw as sensible brightness was not what was being seen on the image she posted.

As I said in the note to her, most monitors/computers as supplied are too bright and can lead to the whites being crushed. So what should be say 95% bright and above all appear to be white and are considered to be crushed. You get the same appearance by having the histogram hard against the right edge after adjusting brightness, in that case there is permanent damage.

If the problem is monitor crushing then it is impossible to see detail in the brightest areas and the whole image is probably brighter than it should be. The image is probably still OK buy trying to adjust it under these circumstances is risky.

The image I posted contains stepped gray scales, ranging between absolute white and absolute black. In theory you should be able to see all the steps but need to be in a darkened area to see the near blacks. I wasn't sure about Photo-bucket, saving it there has made some small changes in brightness but it is still worth trying.

If there is no difference between 2 or more of the steps gray approaching white it is likely that the brightness of the monitor is too high. Reducing the brightness of the monitor may allow you to see more of those steps. The 2% steps are more critical than the 5%

Like all computer things, there are lots of "it depends". I have assumed that Marlene is using an LCD monitor and the brightness can be adjusted but the first step was to see if that was the problem.

This site gives a better description of what to look for though I wouldn't suggest going beyond step 6
http://www.digitalmasters.com.au/Monitor_Calibration.html

Athol

Hannie

Very nice Athol, that is a good idea to check out our monitors for brightness. 
The link at the bottom was very useful, it had a lot of good info on color managing written in no nonsense simple language.
Have printed the Kodak reference photo for future use.

I also loved Russell Brown's tutorial on printing, for the first time I have been able to print properly from Photoshop, could never get it to work right before.  I forgot to disable color management in the printer interface (I wasn't kidding when I said that I'm not the brightest bulb...)
Russell Brown is one of the few teachers that know how to make a video tut, no annoying background music and slow clear speech.

Thanks,

Hannie
Hannie Scheltema
Distribution Coordinator
[email protected]

Mhayes

Athol, thanks for the great tut and the link had more useful information. Like Hannie, I downloaded the test photo.I also love the Russel Brown tutorials that Hannie mentioned and here is the link: http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html
What I do is download his video tutorials and look at them off my hard drive the WiFi isn't that fast for viewing.

Margie


"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]

G3User

Thought it might be appropriate for Marlene but hope others find it useful.

From what I have seen QC will apply tweaks which can tidy up any significant errors in colour before printing. Crushed blacks or whites caused by using an "off" monitor may be more difficult to correct and, whoever QC are I am sure they don't need extra work.

I have also suggested that Marlene check gamma so will see if she finds anything. It is the equivalent of the middle control in PS levels so if it is wrong then again the file and the monitor may not match

The problem of making our own prints match what we see on our monitors can be a whole tin of worms, do a search on Colour management and see what comes up!

Agree about Russel Brown though I am unlikely to get beyond CS3. I also watch the restoration page of the RetouchPRO forum. People regularly post images they are are trying to restore and people will post their attempts. There are some very capable people contributing.

Athol