tobey bilek Posted January 21, 2013 Share #1 Posted January 21, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) I have been working with my pro printer lab in a attempt to get perfection. In the past I have allowed them to do color correction and they in general do a superior job. The problem has always been prints with no reference colors for them to key from. Fast forward, the monitor was previously calibrated and my screen matched some sample prints & files he provided. Things are much better, but still there was the pesky issue of no reference colors. I found they key print exposure from the black point so this needs to be accurate. I would get things as close as possible in ACR 6 and then do final adjustments in PS. It was a big procedure to use threshold to find the BP and WP, mark them, erase that layer, then adjust with levels and the info panel. It works and I have have now achieved perfection at great loss of time. The 1-2-3 of Photoshop Levels - Photo Tips @ Earthbound Light Then I found the link which said I could get the threshold from levels by holding down the option or alt key. This is very good as accuracy is vastly improved over trying to set a slider visually and a big time saving over reading/monitoring the info panel. The option key changes the image to threshold function. But what if I use LR or just ACR and do not want to use PS. After all there is no threshold function in ACR. I wonder if the exposure, shadow, and highlight sliders work the same using the option or alt key. Well they do. I missed it somewhere or it was never published. This is nirvana. A few other interesting links including one on how to properly color balance using BP and WP. Middle grey point is not necessarily the best way although it frequently gets you very close and always works if you have to WhiBal card in a sample image. Use the individual channels and set the levels individually on RGB channels. Use luminosity blending mode More on Photoshop Levels - Photo Tips @ Earthbound Light Color Balance Adjustment with Levels - Photo Tips @ Earthbound Light Photoshop Curves: Stepping Up From Levels - Photo Tips @ Earthbound Light Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Hi tobey bilek, Take a look here Getting the image correct from commercial printer. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted January 21, 2013 Share #2 Posted January 21, 2013 It is certainly informative, but be aware that a lot has changed since CS3. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share #3 Posted January 21, 2013 True , but the option/alt key works in CS6 to perform the tasks I spoke of. I think it is perhaps time to review the old tools because we tend to get lost with the new ones getting so much attention or we have new people who never learned the basics. I follow the procedures and buy the economy prints, they do no color correction, and they come back beautiful. The lady who works there says they are as good as the best professional prints they make and better than most. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted January 24, 2013 Share #4 Posted January 24, 2013 Tobey - I have had PS for about ten years and still do a lot with it on specific photographs. But, I find I can make adjustments in LR that can achieve similar results much easier. I'm not sure that gains from PS in global adjustments area are warranted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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