articles/Landscape/monochromeoutputsettings-page2

Tuning Monochrome Output Settings - part 2 of 1 2 3

by Paul Gallagher Published 01/06/2007

The rules for handling both mono and colour profiles are, however, the same

1. In Photoshop's Color Settings use a consistent Gray Dot Gain setting. This is normally 15% in Europe, 20% in the USA and 20%, by default, as Photoshop is installed.
2. Set the Color Management Policies to "Preserve Embedded" for all options and "ask when opening" for all options - that way you cannot be fooled by images from strangers.
3. When you open a file made by somebody else and you are warned that there is a profile mismatch, click the "Use Embedded Profile" option. When you paste a rogue file into another you get the option to "Preserve Color Appearance" or "Preserve Color Numbers" - use preserve appearance. If the pasted pixels are not rogues (ie that have the same profile) then they paste without the warning appearing.
If you do all these things you might just stop McNamee calling - he knows where we all live you know!

ABOVE: The image from the opening spread was adjusted, dodged and burned with a dot gain setting of 20%. In the composite image above, all the available default dot gain settings have been assigned along with the two additonal options of gamma 1.8 and gamma 2.2. The variation across the set is considerable and represents the drift that might be obtained with un-colour managed output. The values in white are the nominal luminance values from exactly the same part of each sub image and show that the mid tones vary between 38% and 59%. Gamma values are normally used for mono images to be displayed on the web

• Tuning Monochrome Output Settings page 1
  
• Tuning Monochrome Output Settings page 2
  
• Tuning Monochrome Output Settings page 3
  

There are 37 days to get ready for The Societies of Photographers Convention and Trade Show at The Novotel London West, Hammersmith ...
which starts on Wednesday 17th January 2024