Re: Photoshop CS "?'s"

Scott, the application of the a curve for a digital negative could be done either before or after the inversion of the image. The curves for the two instances will be opposites so as to create the desired effect. My preference is to apply it before the inversion because you then are only looking at a one step change (the curve only as opposed to the curve and the inversion masking the curve's effects).

best,

n
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Scott Wainer
  To: alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca
  Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2003 5:13 AM
  Subject: Re: Photoshop CS "?'s"

  Hi Mark,

  Thanks for the information. Being extremely colorblind in reds and greens, I tend to work only with monochromatic processes (in my painting and color photography courses the instructors put on sunglasses to view my work) and use Photoshop only to make negatives for contact printing (Albumen, Cyanotype, Kallitype, VDB, Salt, ect...). Since I only work with Photoshop in grayscale, I didn't think that color management was so important; then I worked on several images on a friend's computer and found out otherwise. My questions were based on trying to setup Photoshop for making negatives on Epson 1280's; I had thought setting RGB for the printer might make the images come out with truer color rendition (up to now my grayscale negatives have had a bluish-red cast to them - so I am told).

  One more question for the list, which I know has been discussed before but I could not find the answer in the archives (I got over 1000 responses to my query), then it's back to hibernation. When I apply a curve for a particular process (i.e., Cyanotype), do I apply it before or after inverting the image?

  Thanks again,

  Scott Wainer
  smwbmp@starpower.net

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Ender100@aol.com
    To: alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca
    Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2003 9:41 PM
    Subject: Re: Photoshop CS "?'s"

    Hi Scott,

    Are you using Photoshop to just work with grayscale files and print negatives?

    I had the same experience with Mac based upgrade to Photoshop CS—you end up with both versions. I think this was true in the past though too. It makes sense though with such an upgrade to build it from the ground up.

    << 1. Under settings, should I choose "U.S. Prepress Defaults" and Adobe RGB (1998)?>>

    Adobe 1998 is a good colorspace to work in with Photoshop, a lot of people use it. I think once you set your color settings, you will end up with "Custom" showing rather than US Pre-press.... but that is a fine place to start—with the defaults it sets and then tune everything the way you want it.

    <<2. Under RGB, I see settings for Canon CanoScan FS4000US (my film scanner) and Epson Stylus Photo 1280 (my printers). Should I choose one of these for my RGB setting?>>

    No, for your RGB setting you want Adobe 1998 as you mentioned above. You wouldn't want your scanner profile or printer profiles as a working space, they might provide you with a rather weird working space. You could use Colormatch, but most people use Adobe 1998.

    <<What should my CMYK, Gray, and Spot settings be?>>

    CMYK: try U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2, though my guess is you will probably never do anything that will use this—CMYK is for pre-press work. Are you doing full color gum or something like that where you use CMYK mode?

    Gray: Try either Gray Gamma 1.8 or Gray Gamma 2.2—it would make sense to use what you used in Photoshop 7, more so, if you were always saving your files before with one of these profiles embedded in them. Then you won't have to mess with a conflict between your gray scale working space and the embedded profile every time you open one of your older files.

    Spot Settings: Try Dot Gain 20%, though again for making negatives, this will probably not be an issue.

    Hope this helps. There is a pretty good help file on Color Settings and Color Management that comes with Photoshop. If you are strictly scanning and printing in gray scale, much of this has little meaning.

    Mark Nelson

    In a message dated 12/13/03 5:03:59 PM, smwbmp@starpower.net writes:

      Hi all,

      After recently doing a major upgrade to my PC (yeah, I know), I decided to upgrade from Photoshop 6 to Photoshop CS. I ordered the UPGRADE directly from Adobe yesterday (12.12.03) and recieved it today (12.13.03). I preformed the install and to my suprise I now have working copies of both Photoshop 6 and CS on my computer. Has anyone else found this after doing the upgrade?

      Now to the really hard questions: I use Photoshop, for the most part, to make enlarged negatives on 2 Epson 1280's with Westjet film; one with MIS dye-based inks and the other with MIS GP archival inks (I was using the MIS hex-tone inks but could never get good prints from them and the tubes kept clogging). In setting up the color management for the CS version I had a few questions:

      1. Under settings, should I choose "U.S. Prepress Defaults" and Adobe RGB (1998)?

      2. Under RGB, I see settings for Canon CanoScan FS4000US (my film scanner) and Epson Stylus Photo 1280 (my printers). Should I choose one of these for my RGB setting?

      3. What should my CMYK, Gray, and Spot settings be?

      Thanks in advance,

      Scott Wainer

      smwbmp@starpower.net
Received on Sun Dec 14 09:16:55 2003