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Author Topic: Lighting for proper print viewing  (Read 3916 times)

glenerrolrd

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Lighting for proper print viewing
« on: April 30, 2006, 05:37:39 pm »

Trying to set up our digital darkroom with decent light for print viewing.   We have set up a Solux table lamp on a seperate viewing table which works fine  on a finished print.  Tried the GE bulbs in the overhead can lights.  No external light.  Room temperature is about 3200K.  Any experience with flood lights that get closer to the D50 standard.  Trying to avoid a lighting project.
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Schewe

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Lighting for proper print viewing
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2006, 06:54:24 pm »

Standard Viewing for what purpose?

If you are setting up a vewing environment for the purpose of print eval, the viewing should be able to mimic where the prints will end up. If in a gallery, the odds are it'll be about 2850K as most track lighting in galleries are NOT 3200K.

If you are trying to setup an environment for viewing proofs intended for halftone repro, that's a different animal. There is a very specific ISO standard covering that. See: ISO 3664:2000 - Viewing conditions -- Graphic technology and photography. Since it's a copyrighted work, you'll need to buy the PDF to get the specifics. It's availabel on the ISO web site ISO 3664:2000 PDF. It covers things such as color temp, luminance requirements and backgrounds...it can get technical.

Generally though, you aim for a neutral field in the background and a luminosity that can match the luminosity of the white of a computer display. Ideally at 90 degrees to each other so you must swivel your head to see one than the other. The ideal situation would be a dual spectral output, one for D50 and one to match or simulate that of the final viewing conditions of the hung print.

If you want to get REAL SERIOUS, you can also research another new ISO Standard, ISO 12646:2004 Graphic technology -- Displays for colour proofing -- Characteristics and viewing conditions. Also available on the ISO site.
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glenerrolrd

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Lighting for proper print viewing
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2006, 08:44:46 pm »

This is excellent input....you are more serious about this than I am.  I feel the Solux table lab is fairly decent for viewing the final print.  Next upgrade will be the viewing booth.  Your point about the ideal room lighting is interesting.  I would prefer to dim the lights in the room when working as its an interior room with no external light.  So my first objective would be to create an environment in the room that doesn t distort the view on the screen ..isn t that what the MacBeth incident reading is for?   your point about the viewing light in a gallery at 2850K is helpful  ...maybe I am closer than I thought.   Did you go the extra step to paint the room a neutral grey or is this over the top.
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Slaughter

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Lighting for proper print viewing
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2006, 06:03:24 am »

I used Tungsten balanced (3200K or something close to) in my room. The computer screen were calibrated to 6500K, gamma 2.2. Every prints that I made seemed to show some kind of blue cast when examinated under daylight conditions. That drove me crazy because I accused the printer ICC profiles. Then, I installed some OSRAM fluo tubes daylight balanced (5400-5500K) with a rendering value of Ra (95-100% of all the colors are supposed to be rendered correctly with those tubes) in the room with the computer. I did many prints since then and... the blue cast disappeared. I think that working on a computer screen balanced for 6500K while the ambient light was balanced to 3200K fooled my eyes. IMHO, prints must be color balanced for a daylight ambient viewing light (that what is done for all books). The prints that are color balanced under a tungsten light will appear very blue under daylight and this looks really odd, unlike seeing things in yellow under tungsten sources.

_miche moreaux
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Lighting for proper print viewing
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2006, 11:20:16 am »

Quote
I used Tungsten balanced (3200K or something close to) in my room. The computer screen were calibrated to 6500K, gamma 2.2. Every prints that I made seemed to show some kind of blue cast when examinated under daylight conditions. That drove me crazy because I accused the printer ICC profiles. Then, I installed some OSRAM fluo tubes daylight balanced (5400-5500K) with a rendering value of Ra (95-100% of all the colors are supposed to be rendered correctly with those tubes) in the room with the computer. I did many prints since then and... the blue cast disappeared. I think that working on a computer screen balanced for 6500K while the ambient light was balanced to 3200K fooled my eyes. IMHO, prints must be color balanced for a daylight ambient viewing light (that what is done for all books). The prints that are color balanced under a tungsten light will appear very blue under daylight and this looks really odd, unlike seeing things in yellow under tungsten sources.

_miche moreaux
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This worked for me, too. A while ago I changed all the lights in my computer room to daylight-balanced fluorescents, and my prints have become much more consistent.

Eric
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-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)
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