Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Beginner's Questions => Topic started by: dannybirchwood on May 06, 2014, 04:58:18 pm

Title: Paper White
Post by: dannybirchwood on May 06, 2014, 04:58:18 pm

Hi

I am having trouble when capturing some pencil drawings for reproductions I cant get the paper white in the photograph to match the white of the paper its being printed on. Any ideas hints tips ?

thanks in advance

Title: Re: Paper White
Post by: luxborealis on May 06, 2014, 06:37:10 pm

Is it the hue that is off or the tone?

The problem with "white" is that so many things we call white or see as white are not truly neutral white as defined by equal amounts of red, green and blue.

If the pencil sketch is, in fact, neutral, pure white, then it shouldn't be a problem using the white balance tool.

Title: Re: Paper White
Post by: Jim Kasson on May 06, 2014, 07:00:05 pm

Quote from: dannybirchwood on May 06, 2014, 04:58:18 pm

I am having trouble when capturing some pencil drawings for reproductions I cant get the paper white in the photograph to match the white of the paper its being printed on. Any ideas hints tips ?

This is tricky to pull off, but if you edit the image so that the image of the paper in the photograph has value 255/255/255 (in RGB), the printer will lay down no ink in those areas, and the white in the result will exactly match the white of the paper it's being printed on. To carry this off requires very precise lighting of the artwork during capture and a deft touch with the Photoshop curves tool to avoid too much contrast.

Jim

Title: Re: Paper White
Post by: wolfnowl on May 07, 2014, 02:54:34 am

Have you tried shooting a Whibal target or something similar? Just lay it on the paper.