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Author Topic: Color correction by the colorblind  (Read 4142 times)

reburns

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Color correction by the colorblind
« on: May 18, 2009, 10:37:22 am »

Howdy,

I am substantially deuteranopia / deuteranomalia photographer, the kind of guy who has been known to twist the red and green wires together, the kind who sees mostly mere dots on a Ishihara test.  I suspect that there are very successfuly photographers who share the same.  Can you suggest a learning path to point me toward for successful photo-correction?  In general it can be difficult for me to see how much life remains in the drying grasses and do skin color correction.  I seek methods that are fairly proven for this process without having to pursue numerous dead-end attempts reinventing the wheel myself.  For example, were I tone-deaf and playing the guitar, I'd reach for the electronic tuner.  The most I've done so far is to use a Whibal, high-end calibrated monitor and install some Solux proofing lamps.

I could imagine some software application that a user could slide thru the visual bandwidth testing for their least sensitive colors, and then a double-profile that boosts their monitor by a measured amount in those colors to overcompensate in a way that we can see what someone with full color vision can see.  Someone could say that we are best off making the image match our world vision, although being so insensitive to greens means my green adjustments are rough.  Photoshop and some monitors have the opposite profile - it allows you folks with full color vision to simulate our color-impaired world so you don't make a web page or software that has icons that we cannot distinguish.

Cheers & thanks, Ralph


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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Color correction by the colorblind
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2009, 01:21:37 pm »

I have often imagined the existence of some such software, but i have never heard any mention of it.

My own best technique has been to avoid problem situations as much as possible (and to get my wife, who has normal color vision, to critique my prints as needed.)

Until a few years ago, my own photography was 90% black-and-white. I shot some Kodachrome and sent it to Mother Kodak for processing. If any colors were wrong, I could blame it on the film or processing. When I first started playing with digital, I was delighted at how easy it was to make color prints -- and how easy it was to screw up the colors beyond belief. What I do now is the following:

1.   Convert many images to B&W, whenever the color isn't essential to the image.

2.   When the color is important, and the scene wants to be believable or realistic, I use either the "as shot" or "daylight" color balance when converting from raw, and never touch the color temp sliders or play with saturation or hue. I can't trust my eyes, so I leave it alone.

3.   Some of my color images are sufficiently abstract that the actual color doesn't matter. In that case, I feel free to play with colors, saturation, etc., until I get something that appeals to my own peculiar eyes. I know it will look different to others, but often it seems interesting to them, too.

4.   I generally avoid portraits in color, and when I do make them, I carefully follow rule 2, above. I have some small group snapshots done several years ago in which some of the faces are purple and others are green, even to my eyes. This resulted from my own attempts to "fix" the original image.

So: you have my sympathy.



-Eric



P.S. I have also worn hearing aids for about fifty years, but I play flute in a small klezmer band. Don't let any handicap get in the way of doing what you like, if at all possible!

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

Eldor

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Color correction by the colorblind
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2009, 01:27:27 pm »

Quote from: reburns
Howdy,

I am substantially deuteranopia / deuteranomalia photographer, the kind of guy who has been known to twist the red and green wires together, the kind who sees mostly mere dots on a Ishihara test.  I suspect that there are very successfuly photographers who share the same.  Can you suggest a learning path to point me toward for successful photo-correction?  In general it can be difficult for me to see how much life remains in the drying grasses and do skin color correction.  I seek methods that are fairly proven for this process without having to pursue numerous dead-end attempts reinventing the wheel myself.  For example, were I tone-deaf and playing the guitar, I'd reach for the electronic tuner.  The most I've done so far is to use a Whibal, high-end calibrated monitor and install some Solux proofing lamps.

I could imagine some software application that a user could slide thru the visual bandwidth testing for their least sensitive colors, and then a double-profile that boosts their monitor by a measured amount in those colors to overcompensate in a way that we can see what someone with full color vision can see.  Someone could say that we are best off making the image match our world vision, although being so insensitive to greens means my green adjustments are rough.  Photoshop and some monitors have the opposite profile - it allows you folks with full color vision to simulate our color-impaired world so you don't make a web page or software that has icons that we cannot distinguish.

Cheers & thanks, Ralph

Hi Ralph,

I'm not color blind but I don't have the greatest eyesight and color sense in the world either.  A couple of years ago I learned a technique that I've been using successfully ever since.

It came from a Kevin Ames book called "The Art of Photographing Women" which really was more about Photoshop and photography in general than it was about photographing women.  The technique explained in the book was one of color correction "by the numbers".  The more I use that, the better I get at it.  And it works whether your monitor is properly calibrated or not  or whether you have a color vision problem or not.

In a nutshell the technique involves creating a temporary threshold layer to help you identify the darkest and lightest points in your image.  Once you've done that, you make a levels adjustment layer, bringing the RGB values in line NUMERICALLY .  That works for the highlight and shadow points.  You then visually identify the most neutral mid-point spot and with a curves layer you balance those RGB values again numerically.

The other thing I learned from that book which has helped my editing tremendously was how to properly use the pen tool to make my selections.

Hope this is of help...

Eldor
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Jim Sanderson

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Color correction by the colorblind
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2009, 06:43:16 pm »

Quote from: reburns
Howdy,

I am substantially deuteranopia / deuteranomalia photographer, the kind of guy who has been known to twist the red and green wires together, the kind who sees mostly mere dots on a Ishihara test.  I suspect that there are very successfuly photographers who share the same.  Can you suggest a learning path to point me toward for successful photo-correction?  In general it can be difficult for me to see how much life remains in the drying grasses and do skin color correction.  I seek methods that are fairly proven for this process without having to pursue numerous dead-end attempts reinventing the wheel myself.  For example, were I tone-deaf and playing the guitar, I'd reach for the electronic tuner.  The most I've done so far is to use a Whibal, high-end calibrated monitor and install some Solux proofing lamps.

I could imagine some software application that a user could slide thru the visual bandwidth testing for their least sensitive colors, and then a double-profile that boosts their monitor by a measured amount in those colors to overcompensate in a way that we can see what someone with full color vision can see.  Someone could say that we are best off making the image match our world vision, although being so insensitive to greens means my green adjustments are rough.  Photoshop and some monitors have the opposite profile - it allows you folks with full color vision to simulate our color-impaired world so you don't make a web page or software that has icons that we cannot distinguish.

Cheers & thanks, Ralph

I guess I'll chime in also.  I'm a wee bit color blind also.  Unfortunately I don't know of any software for us.  What I did do is read Dan Margulis' books on lab and professional photoshop.  He has some interesting ideas for us colorblind folks on color correction.  I use the info panel per his recommendations habitually.  Good place to start.  I don't agree with everything he may say, but his approach has helped me quite a bit.

Jim
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