Geoff writes ... > help! am I doing things right?! > > am scanning transparencies via Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 (excellent), > Polacolor Insight scan software (good), Photoshop 5.0, PC, Win2000 > > ... > > Photoshop RGB setup: > ...; Display Using Monitor Profile = box not ticked
Is there some reason you haven't enabled PS5 monitor compensation? Enabling it is relatively important ... i.e., it compensates for the color characteristics of your monitor. It is important enough, that it was enabled by default for PS6, and cannot be turned off! > ... > ... > > scanning on 'Kodachrome' setting (for.... er, Kodachrome) the resultant > 8-bit TIFF on opening in Photoshop comes up with "embedded profile does > not match current RGB setup - specify desired input conversion" - the > choices provided are: 'from: Adobe Monitor Profile 2002/04/18' > (presumably last time I ran Adobe Gamma) - 'To: RGB Color' - 'Engine: > Built-in' - 'Intent: Perceptual (Images) - 'Black Point Compensation' > box is ticked > > questions: do I have Photoshop correctly set up? Should I convert or not > convert? On trying both (with same image file) there is a distinct > colour difference (and the unconverted one looks to have 'better' > colours, the converted one looks slightly 'colder') When opening a scanned file, you should convert ... in fact, with PS5, you have to (else the colors are wrong). I have a feeling what's going here is your scanning software (with which I have no experience) is putting your scanned RGB into Adobe RGB, but the nature of a twain plugin cannot embed the transferred RGB data with the proper profile. Leastwise, this is how it works with Nikon software ... i.e., you instruct the scanning software to convert the scanner RGB to Adobe RGB, but PS5 doesn't know that. It is up to you to "not convert" because it's not needed. I think if you run your scan software as a stand-alone program, it will properly embed the Adobe RGB profile, and when you open the file it will (should) work as you envision. > the P4000 can provide scanning RAW at 12-bit and in Photoshop is treated > as 16-bit - some recommend working with 16-bit files as they contain the > maximum amount of information that can be got out of the transparency > with the particular scanner but two problems at the moment: > > 1 - the scanner embeds film type info (eg 'Kodachrome') with the RAW > file - when taken into Photoshop, choice is to 'Convert' from 'Polaroid > CS4000 16-bit:Kodachrome' to 'RGB Color' or 'Don't Convert' - latter > results in dark 'underexposed' image (found out this is an embedded > gamma thing), choosing 'convert' results in the 'colder' looking image > as with 8-bit above (actually, haven't tried raw from Velvia yet) The "don't convert" case shows you "raw" RGB and the RGB numbers represent device space for which the gamma is 1.0 (dark). The conversion case properly converts to gamma=2.2 space (Adobe RGB). The "cold-ness" you mention may be be cause you haven't enabled monitor compensation ... try it. > 2 - Photoshop 5.0 has limited capability to handle 16-bit images - no > layers or filters This the case for all newer version too ... i.e., layers for 16bit would take too much memory and CPU. You should note; the variety of adjustments available ... levels, curves, hue/sat, ... PS6 and newer do however offer a few more filters and the rubber-stamp tool. If you want to work with 16bit (highbits), see this tutorial by Bruce Fraser: http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/16097.html > questions: which is the better conversion option with 8-bit Kodachrome > files? and is the gain with raw scans and 16-bit editing worth the > upgrade to Photoshop 6 (or 7)? Given that the scanner software properly handles scanner RGB and conversion to Adobe RGB, it is the best 8bit choice. The highbit rubber-stamp tool in PS6 is VERY useful for cleaning up scans. If you want to consider PS7 check the system requirements ... CPU, RAM and required disk space practically tripled. You should look into Vuescan (... www.hamrick.com ...). For $40 it is very good scanner software, but many have complained its interface creates a steeper learning curve. It will also properly scan highbits into your preferred color space. hth & cheerios ... shAf :o) Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland www.micro-investigations.com =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
