Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Colour Management => Topic started by: hoffsta on November 03, 2010, 02:05:35 am

Title: Ambient lighting suggestions - photo editing
Post by: hoffsta on November 03, 2010, 02:05:35 am
I'm still trying to figure this whole color management thing out. I now mostly have the monitor dialed in but I keep seeing posts discussing the importance of the room's ambient light conditions- which I certainly do not have figured out. I do have shades to block bright windows but with daylight-savings-time fast approaching, I'm going to be doing a lot of editing after dark and my current room lighting consists of very warm paper lantern style lamps.

I'd like to get a better setup around my desk but I would like some recommendations. What color temp is optimal? How much output should I need to work with a NEC 2690? What are some good budget lamps/bulbs to look at? Any overall tips?

Thanks!

PS- I mostly do high volume editing (weddings, events, etc) and am trying to get a good match to a Fuji Frontier / Crystal Archive lab. However, I'd like to someday do more home inkjet printing.
Title: Re: Ambient lighting suggestions - photo editing
Post by: Czornyj on November 03, 2010, 03:13:47 am
I'd like to get a better setup around my desk but I would like some recommendations. What color temp is optimal? How much output should I need to work with a NEC 2690? What are some good budget lamps/bulbs to look at? Any overall tips?

All I do is putting a daylight lamp that backits the background behind a display. I'd recomend Solux Daylight or GrafiLite lamps. If there's no wall behind your display, or it's not neutral, put there a white mat board or some neutral cardboard.

(http://members.chello.pl/m.kaluza/lite.jpg)

Title: Re: Ambient lighting suggestions - photo editing
Post by: digitaldog on November 03, 2010, 10:27:37 am
I keep seeing posts discussing the importance of the room's ambient light conditions- which I certainly do not have figured out.
It kind of gets blown out of proportion as specified by just “ambient conditions”. It should not be too bright. It can’t be too dim. It should not be brighter than the display, it should not change (at least while you are editing your images). Be useful if the illuminant isn’t gooofy (meaning a metal halide light bouncing off a pink wall <g>). It should not strike the display!

What does need to be defined and controlled to a larger degree is the print next to the display that you hope to view and see a match to that display. That gets far less attention than “ambient light” which maybe is a general topic that is supposed to cover this quite important print viewing condition.

Quote
What color temp is optimal?
It terms of that which is used to view the print, it would depend upon what kind of illuminant you’ll end up using (Fluorescent, Solux). Keep in mind the values supplied in Kelvin define are a range of colors so don’t get too caught up in the specifics. If you look at the Correlated Color Temperature values of say a GTI Fluorescent booth and a Solux bulb, they differ numerically as does the quality of their spectrum. Decide what “technology” of light you wish to use, then you can decide on a CCT Kelvin value from there.
Title: Re: Ambient lighting suggestions - photo editing
Post by: ChasP505 on November 03, 2010, 12:02:49 pm
I do something similar to what Czornyj describes.  When working after dark, I have a lamp with a single 13watt, 5000K CFL bulb (85+ CRI) in it.  It's far enough from my desk and monitor that the room lighting is very close to daytime with window blinds drawn.  For print viewing, I use a single Solux bulb in a long necked desk lamp near the monitor.
Title: Re: Ambient lighting suggestions - photo editing
Post by: David Saffir on November 03, 2010, 03:44:06 pm
the room lighting issues have been covered pretty well. I'd add a couple of things - let your display stabilize, or warm up, for 30 minutes after you power it up. Next, I've noticed that my color vision is affected for quite a while after I've been out in bright sun, so I try to wear sunglasses during the day, and give myself at least an hour to "stabilize" when I come inside....

Best regards,


David Saffir
Title: Re: Ambient lighting suggestions - photo editing
Post by: shewhorn on November 03, 2010, 11:33:24 pm
let your display stabilize, or warm up, for 30 minutes after you power it up.

Possibly even longer for some displays. One of the screens I have is an HP LP3065 and it takes about 45 minutes before the luminance is truly stable. Also... your colorimeter or spectrophotometer needs some time to warm up as well (having it plugged in to a powered USB port should do the trick).

Cheers, Joe