Paul
I too would prefer to see an uncorrected scan (ie not yet tonally
optimised- pre optimisation for media specific requirements) with no
data at either 0 or 255. This is the sticky issue of <<<too small>>
workingspaces rearing it's head again.
On my website under downloads is an excellent workingspace from the
guru of colour, Joseph Holmes, EktaSpace almost always avoids this
issue, also a great read me about the space. Courtesy of Joe.
A good scanner will often produce data which cannot fit into Adobe RGB,
thus the histogram you see. Histograms don't tell every story of course
but they do identify info at 0 or 255 - and of course that COULD
signify pre-conversion data at [theoretically] under 0 and over 255 on
the Adobe RGB scale..
I have developed a new way of dealing with this which includes an
option to build scanner profiles especially to avoid it.
I'm pretty proud of it having worked on it for 3 years!;-} Yeah, I
should get a life.
Ask Simon Pugh, Jack Lowe and Richard kenward who I'm sure will not
give away the initmate details?
hope it helps
neil
2/7/03 7:50 pm Paul Debois <mail-at-pauldebois.com> wrote
>Dear List,
>
>I've been asked by a picture library to supply digital files for all
>submissions. One of their standards is to make sure that the histograms
>are not clipped at either end, which for a lot of images is not a
>problem. Some images I've been working on today are a little more
>tricky, being into the light and as a result are quite contrasty.
>
>My scanner (microtek 4000t) was profiled by Neil Barstow and my monitor
>is calibrated regularly. The images in question are visually accurate
>on screen and are a good representation of the transparencies, but the
>blacks are clipped. In the book "Real world photoshop" by David
>Blatner and Bruce Fraser, they say they "prefer working
>visually...rather than strictly by the numbers."
I'm not sure it's just this they are referring to, rather the
difficulty of workign in CMYK <by the numbers> a la Dan Margulis.
>Will a colour house throw their hands up in horror if they saw a
>clipped histogram?
doubt it
>I realize this is leading towards a much larger subject, but is the
>library guidline realistic?
it's realistic (ie as a goal) - but it would obiviate 90 percent of
digital images since clippping is, sadly, very commonplace. (and, of
course, in some cases even desirable).
Regards, NeilB. Apple Solutions Expert
colourmanagement.net :: Consulting in Imaging & Colour Management
custom scanner and printer profiles, training on Imacon Scanning
supply Gretag + eyeOne, ColorSoloutions basICColor : Display etc. XRite
www.colourmanagement.net/ :: www.apple.com/uk/creative/neilbarstow/
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