Lyle, I find pictures always need a slightly different treatment for print vs onscreen/web. Ink on paper just can't look *exactly* like a glowing monitor, even with full color management. Think of it as digital drydown.
This picture looks quite good "on defaults" in ACR, despite the sun/shade lighting. Auto white balance was fine. I moved the Exposure slider +25 to brighten up the sunlit wall (that's a tweak, not a major adjustment). To open up the shadowed area, the Black slider went to +10 (another tweak) and the Shadow slider +33 (that's a significant but certainly not heroic intervention). To print I would definitely open up the shadow area more (Shadow and Black sliders) and maybe move the Exposure slider just a little higher to keep the middle values from getting too heavy.
Basically, a file adjusted to look great on the calibrated monitor will print with harsh, contrasty or even blocked shadows and lower middle values. A file tweaked just right for printing would look a little flat and lifeless posted to the blog. This is one of the great advantages of shooting RAW files.
Carl: So how do you keep them straight, a RAW setting for the web, and one for print? I've often wished that there were a way to have two side car files.
John, nothing fancy. I edit and adjust my shoots looking for potential blog posts in the first round of editing. So I adjust for the snappier monitor-friendly settings. Shots that get processed through a batch action to make the 1,000-pixel-wide blog posts go to a Current folder, then to a Done folder after posting. The JPEGs take up negligible space so I keep them around in case I need them for another web use. The smaller number of pictures I end up printing get edited and tweaked/adjusted over multiple rounds as I get to know the pictures.
Another option is just duplicate your "select"—best—RAW files. They take up a lot less disk space than even a moderate size 16-bit psd printing file. For my 107 drive-ins file I edited down to one theater apiece using a Collection, but then copied the contents of the collection into a folder of duplicate RAW files that are converted to grayscale, etc. while the originals remain archived with the full set of captures from the road trip.
One other thing. I don't think you can have a single set of "print" adjustments. A 16x20 needs different adjustments than an 8x10. This was true in the traditional darkroom and it's true of digital printing because there's a perceptual difference between big and small prints. Once again, RAW to the rescue as I'll adjust in ACR being very aware of how big I intend to make the print—this time.
5 comments:
you have got 'winter light' nailed! is there any fussing around you have to do to these to get a print or is it pretty much a 'pass thru' to the 3880?
Lyle, I find pictures always need a slightly different treatment for print vs onscreen/web. Ink on paper just can't look *exactly* like a glowing monitor, even with full color management. Think of it as digital drydown.
This picture looks quite good "on defaults" in ACR, despite the sun/shade lighting. Auto white balance was fine. I moved the Exposure slider +25 to brighten up the sunlit wall (that's a tweak, not a major adjustment). To open up the shadowed area, the Black slider went to +10 (another tweak) and the Shadow slider +33 (that's a significant but certainly not heroic intervention). To print I would definitely open up the shadow area more (Shadow and Black sliders) and maybe move the Exposure slider just a little higher to keep the middle values from getting too heavy.
Basically, a file adjusted to look great on the calibrated monitor will print with harsh, contrasty or even blocked shadows and lower middle values. A file tweaked just right for printing would look a little flat and lifeless posted to the blog. This is one of the great advantages of shooting RAW files.
Carl:
So how do you keep them straight, a RAW setting for the web, and one for print? I've often wished that there were a way to have two side car files.
John, nothing fancy. I edit and adjust my shoots looking for potential blog posts in the first round of editing. So I adjust for the snappier monitor-friendly settings. Shots that get processed through a batch action to make the 1,000-pixel-wide blog posts go to a Current folder, then to a Done folder after posting. The JPEGs take up negligible space so I keep them around in case I need them for another web use. The smaller number of pictures I end up printing get edited and tweaked/adjusted over multiple rounds as I get to know the pictures.
Another option is just duplicate your "select"—best—RAW files. They take up a lot less disk space than even a moderate size 16-bit psd printing file. For my 107 drive-ins file I edited down to one theater apiece using a Collection, but then copied the contents of the collection into a folder of duplicate RAW files that are converted to grayscale, etc. while the originals remain archived with the full set of captures from the road trip.
One other thing. I don't think you can have a single set of "print" adjustments. A 16x20 needs different adjustments than an 8x10. This was true in the traditional darkroom and it's true of digital printing because there's a perceptual difference between big and small prints. Once again, RAW to the rescue as I'll adjust in ACR being very aware of how big I intend to make the print—this time.
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