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If "Steven" finally
got to you and you have a new computer, is it ready for use as a digital
darkroom? With rare exception the answer to that question is a resounding
no. The reason is simple. Although digital photography has increased in
popularity and many computers are purchased with making photos in mind,
personal computers are still made and sold for general home/office use.
They are set up, when delivered, to provide typical general functioning,
what in the industry is described as being set at "default values."
Default is a common minimum denominator of performance that supports a
broad range of different kinds of uses, a "Jack of all trades master
of none" configuration. This less than ideal default condition is
largely relative to the condition of the operating system that comes pre-installed
with your computer. But it also applies to any devices or software that
were installed optionally at the factory or to software and hardware you
have added to make your computer into a digital darkroom.
Preference Options
Your computer's operating system, Windows for example, as well as
software applications like image editors and scanner drivers, contain
provisions referred to as preferences, options, and settings that support
different choices as to the functioning of the components involved in
a digital darkroom. Most of these components will function as they are
shipped by manufacturers either without any setting being made or at a
"default" factory setting which, as I said, provides the broadest
kind of acceptable functioning. To achieve the best performance each component
and device in your system is capable of, in respect of digital photography,
there are often better settings available than those preset preferences,
options, and settings enable. The most appropriate and best performance
that is available for a photographic purpose, then, is your choice--if
you take the time and effort to make those choices.
There is a small possibility that the default settings will provide you
with very close to optimal output quality with your digital photography,
but unless you know you're always lucky, don't take a chance
on the default demon giving you blah results. By following the suggestions
and recommendations that follow you'll know that you'll obtain
the best results you can. The basic and most fundamental preferences,
options, and settings you'll need to make will be done through three
or four "highlighted" selections in the Windows Control Panel.
You may open the Control Panel window by clicking on "Start"
and then Control Panel. (#1)
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Your Monitor Is What You
Print
When you turn your computer on it tells the monitor what to display.
But your computer has no idea what you are seeing. You can adjust the
monitor controls to obtain a dark and contrasty or a light, low contrast
screen image and the computer is oblivious to what you have done. So,
the most important job in setting up your computer to do digital photography
is to tell your computer what you are seeing on screen. If it cannot
recognize what you see on screen, then it cannot use what you have done
to adjust a photo image to assist with providing an optimum print match.
In other words, the adjustment of photos with a computer is accomplished
by your perception of how it looks. Unless your computer has an objective
reference as to what you perceive on screen in terms of color brightness
and contrast, it is blind to what you are seeing and doesn't have
any information as a guide to then input a scan or output a print that
matches what you see on screen.
The first bit of information about your monitor your computer should
know is what monitor you have plugged in. If your computer is not too
old it should have plug-and-play, which should sense and record the
identity of the monitor. To ensure this is so, open the Display Properties
window by clicking in the Display icon in the Control Panel window.
(#2)
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When the Display Properties
window is open, click on the Setting tab at the top right and then click
on the Advanced button in the lower right of the tab pane. Now a second
window will appear with two rows of tabs. You should click on the Color
Management tab. Immediately below the icon and explanation of the setting
functions is the heading Current monitor, which, if plug-and-play recognizes
your monitor will record the make and model of the monitor. Below that
line is another heading for an entry, Default monitor profile: This line
may be blank, or it may contain a name for an .ICM profile file, and there
will then be a corresponding line in the box below called "Color
profiles currently associated with this device."
If your monitor brand and model is identified but a profile is not designated
as associated with the monitor, you can go on to the next step. If you
are using an older monitor that is not plug-and-play, and you have technical
information describing it, you may want to search for a corresponding
generic profile by clicking on the Add button at the lower left corner
of the box. This will display the Color folder in the Windows/System section
of the operating system and display all of the potential file choices.
By highlighting any or each file and right clicking the mouse on that
highlighted file, you can, from the menu that pops up, choose Properties.
You then get a three-tab window dialog providing a full description of
the profile file, including what kind of product with which it is associated.
If you are fortunate to find a generic profile for your monitor brand
or type, then, when it is highlighted, click OK so it is displayed in
the box and set it as the default (click on the Set As Default button
in the lower right with the profile you have just added to the "current"
box highlighted).
Adjusting Your Monitor To
An Objective Standard
A profile file that is "associated" with a monitor and designated
as default tells your computer some information about the monitor and
how it functions. It does not, however, provide a fully accurate picture
because there is no information as part of that profile that defines how
the monitor is adjusted for brightness, contrast, and color balance. The
easy way to do that is to use Adobe Gamma, which is a utility included
with all full versions of Adobe Photoshop 5.0 or higher, as well as Adobe
Photoshop Elements. If you have any of these versions of Adobe Photoshop
installed on your computer, access to the Adobe Gamma utility is provided
by a "monitor" icon titled Adobe Gamma in your Control Panel
window. But, before going there, I would recommend making one setting
adjustment to the adjustment controls provided on your monitor. If your
monitor supports color settings and a selection of color temperatures
in degrees Kelvin is provided, select 6500Þ. It is the best compromise
for viewing photographs for the purpose of making perceptual adjustments
to images, and it is consistent with the working space for Adobe Photoshop
recommended for editing photographic images. (#3)
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With Photoshop on your computer
and Adobe Gamma's icon in Control Panel, click on the icon to get
a window on screen that defines the status of your monitor, including
the description box at the top which names the current monitor profile
(if any). A bar below that is the graphic depiction of Brightness and
Contrast, a Phosphors menu dialog, which allows you to select the monitor
CRT type, and a Gamma box that supports setting the monitor gamma and
color balance. This includes a Desired drop-down menu selection of specific
values, and White Point with two menu selection dialogs. (This screenshot
reflects the result of calibrating and profiling my monitor, and a first-time
user will obtain different value read-outs which reflect default settings.)
At the bottom of the Adobe Gamma window on the far right is a Wizard button.
This starts the Adobe Gamma Wizard, which guides you through the process
of calibrating your monitor and producing and naming a color management
(.ICM) profile file for your monitor, which when completed will set that
profile as the system default. (#4)
When you click on the Adobe Gamma Wizard button, a screen will appear
with two radio button options: choose the Step By Step (Wizard). Then
read the instructions in each screen carefully and follow the directions
precisely, going from one screen to the next until the process is complete
by your naming the profile to be created and clicking OK. When that is
done Adobe Gamma will set the new profile you have created for your monitor
and, more important, will adjust your monitor output to exactly reflect
the screen output to match the profile each time you restart your computer.
Now your computer will know quite precisely what you are seeing. It will
be able to convey that information in relation to inputting images into
your computer using a scanner, or outputting an image to your printer.
This provides accurate color, brightness, and contrast matching between
these devices, based on what you see and perceptually adjust on screen.
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Adjusting Your Monitor On
Your Own
Although Adobe Gamma provides an easy solution to obtaining optimum monitor
performance and a profile which accurately describes to your computer
what you see on screen, there are things you can do to obtain better digital
photography performance from your system. You do this by manually adjusting
your monitor to the following parameters, if you don't have Adobe
Photoshop.
1. As referenced above regarding the Control Panel/Display Properties/Color
Management dialog window, it is now essential that an .ICM profile file
that most accurately describes your monitor be found and selected to set
as the default. If, according to the brand and model of your monitor,
such a profile file cannot be found in the Properties description for
the files available in your system Color folder, I would suggest attempting
to obtain a profile file from the manufacturer of your monitor. However,
many scanner drivers, printer drivers, and photo software applications
install many generic profiles in your system's Color folder, so
at least a generic monitor profile should be available that is a close
match.
2. Also mentioned earlier, on your monitor use the adjustment controls
to set the monitor's color balance to a Kelvin temperature of 6500Þ.
The default for computer monitors is 9300Þ Kelvin, which is much
too blue and cold to provide a good perceptual on-screen image basis for
making photo color adjustments that will result in good print colors.
3. Then, set the brightness and contrast controls of your monitor
to the following settings. First, adjust the contrast to maximum or 100
percent. Then set the brightness control to minimum, or 0 percent. Next,
gradually increase the brightness adjustment until you can just detect
a difference between a dark shadow tone (an RGB value of 10) next to an
RGB value of 0, which is pure black. You can create a visual guide for
this with an image editor like Ulead PhotoImpact by making a New image
with a black background, and then select half of the image with the rectangle
select tool and lighten this selected half of the image until the RGB
values are 10 for each channel. With this image as a guide you can set
the brightness close to ideal when you can just barely detect a difference
between the black and the dark gray with an RGB value of 10 (#5).
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The Remainder Of Setup Is
Easy
If you have a printer installed and connected to your computer, a necessary
precaution is to check to see that it is recognized and its profile is
associated with the device. To make this check, again open Control Panel
from the Start button at the lower right of your screen. Then click on
the Printers and Faxes icon button to open its window. An icon with an
identification of your printer should be in the window space to the right.
Click on the icon for your printer with your right mouse button to open
a menu dialog, and then click on Properties. In the "printer"
Properties window click on the Color Management tab. In the sub-window
dialog in the lower half of "printer" Properties/Color Management
under "Color Profiles currently associated with the printer,"
a file name should be highlighted. If you click on the Add button below,
your system Color folder will be opened in which the named profile for
your printer is located. You may right click on that file in the Color
folder window and select properties to obtain a window that will provide
a description of the device (printer) the profile supports. If it is in
fact your printer, everything is OK. (#6)
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If you have either a USB or
FireWire scanner installed and connected to your computer, you should
also check to see if it is recognized and profiles are associated correctly
with the device. Again, you use Control Panel and then click on the icon
there for Scanners and Cameras. The window that opens should contain an
icon and name of your scanner. Again, by right clicking on the icon for
your scanner and selecting Properties and then clicking on the Color Management
tab you can check out if profiles are associated with the device and what
they are. If your scanner is a flat-bed and will scan both prints and
film there may be two profiles, one for each media. You should select
one as default, whichever media you would be scanning. If you change your
use of the scanner from print (R) for reflective scans which is selected
and set as default, then go back to this window dialog in Control Panel
and select the other film or transparency (T) profile and set it as default.
Some older, particularly SCSI interface scanners may not be recognized
automatically by Windows, especially if they are not plug-and-play. With
some of these scanners the scanner driver software may provide options
or preferences that supports selecting a profile for the scanner. It is
recommended checking this support and, if available, implement it to assure
effective color managed scanning. (#7)
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Essential Application Software
Options And Preferences
The "default demon" is as much of a potential threat of experiencing
the photo blahs through application programs as the operating system defaults
we've just dealt with. For instance, to choose one of the more popular
and highly recommended photo application programs, Adobe Photoshop Elements,
I'm afraid it, too, as installed to run at default values, will
disadvantage digital photography use unless you intervene. This is done
with the application launched and running, and then in Elements click
on the Edit menu at the top and then select Color Settings by clicking
on that menu item from the drop-down list. (#8)
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This will open a small window
that provides three selections that are activated by radio buttons in
front of three different option choices. The first is the default, which
is no color management. The second is limited color management--optimized
for web graphics. This selection uses sRGB as Elements workspace that
should only be used to create graphics for use on the web. It should not
be selected for photo editing and output as it provides a reduced color
range that drops out as much as 30 percent of the color in a scan of a
color film original. That leaves the last option: full color management--optimized
for print. Click on it for photo processing and output. This option selects
the Adobe RGB (1998) workspace profile, which is the same as recommended
for use working with photographic images with the full version of Photoshop.
Another popular and recommended photo image-editing application is Ulead's
PhotoImpact 7. In its preferences and options Color Management is offered,
but only provides the choice of activating color management or not. Do
not activate color management in this application. In other words, be
sure there is no checkmark in the box next to "Enable Color Management"
as you see in the screenshot. The reason is fortunately provided by the
line at the top of the dialog window that tells you that images, graphics,
and text are generated by sRGB Color Space, which as I have explained
will reduce (truncate) the range of colors in your photographs. (#9)
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Without color management activated
in an application like PhotoImpact or not supported by an application
like Jasc Paint Shop Pro, are you left out in the cold where the blahs
will get you? No, not if you have followed my recommendations mentioned
and have a well-adjusted monitor and an active monitor profile. Most printer
drivers, at least those made for printing photos by major brand names,
will reference the default monitor profile as the "source"
for processing an image for printing, and will usually provide a better
print color match with the screen image.
However, with some applications there may be a "preference"
you should look for that functions to match the applications display of
images to the output of your monitor. By following the directions and
making this adjustment you'll get a better match between the screen
display and how it will print. (#10)
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Last, But Not Least, Important
The Windows ICM 2.0 color management functioning has been known to make
mistakes by being confused and picking the incorrect .ICM profile file
in the Color folder on your system. When Windows is installed Microsoft
has already provided a number of commonly used .ICM profile files in the
Color folder. And, when you install printers, scanners, digital camera
software, and photo imaging application programs, each installation of
software usually adds more .ICM profile files to your Color folder, including
generic ones for monitors and color spaces, sometimes duplicating files
already installed. A typical computer with a printer, a scanner or two,
and several imaging applications can have from 100-200 .ICM files in the
system Color folder, enough to confuse anyone! (#11)
It's Color folder housecleaning time, because probably at most you
will only need and use a dozen or so of all of those files. But first
you need to find your system Color folder. Because Microsoft has "hidden"
the folder in various locations in different versions of Windows, I would
suggest clicking on the lower left Start button in your desktop, and then
go to the Find Files & Folders. Limit your search to the main Windows
folder, and type in "color" as the thing to search for. Once
you have your system Color folder open on your desktop also open a "New"
folder and name it "UnusedProfiles." Then in your system Color
folder highlight each file from the beginning, one at a time, and right
click your mouse to then click on the Properties selection item. This
brings up a five-tab Properties window which will allow access to Profile
Information. In the window you will find a description of the profile
as well as the source. If it is a profile associated with a device you
have or one you know you are using, like Adobe RGB (1998), close the window
by clicking Cancel and move to the next. If its description involves nothing
you are using, again click on Cancel, but then drag the file into the
"new" UnusedProfiles folder. This process is slow, boring,
and timeconsuming, but patience is rewarded by getting it done. And I
hope the result, if you have gone through this setup guide and followed
the recommendations, will be consistent quality photo image processing
with your system.
Computer Used: Sony Vaio
PCV-RX660
To create this guide to setting up a digital photography PC I obtained
the loan of a new Sony Vaio RX660 Digital Studio computer. Sony computers
are specifically designed to support all kinds of media processing like
audio, video, and, of course, photography, and come fully loaded with
a sound system DVD-ROM player as well as a CD-RW drive to burn CDs, as
will as a host of bundled software that support all of these media hardware
capabilities, including Adobe Photoshop Elements. This is a mini-tower
PC that is both well designed and substantially constructed. The quality
and performance were as good as I have experienced with a Windows PC,
and the results I obtained using an Epson Perfection 2450 PHOTO Scanner
as well as a Canon Bubble Jet S9000 photo printer I was testing concurrently,
were also as good as I have experienced using a PC. For more information,
visit the Sony Vaio web site at: www.vaio.net.
SPECS
Processor: Intel Pentium 1.8GHz
RAM: 512MB DDR
Hard Drive: 80GB
Drives: DVD-ROM and CD-RW
Connections: Four USB one six-pin iLink (FireWire), one four-pin
iLink, and Memory Stick Media slot
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