It seems that by refreshing the the Soft Proofing tutorial
earlier in the year I have somehow encouraged a number of
Computer-Darkroom
readers to take the next logical step which is to consider making their
own Proof Prints. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of material
describing how so I've put together a short tutorial describing my
approach to using
an Inkjet Printer as a Proofing Printerwhich describes the
method that I use.
RGB Soft Proofing
in Photoshop - Since the colour gamut and dynamic range
of the printer is vastly different to our monitor, it will be virtually
impossible for the RGB monitor to closely match the printer without some
additional help. Different types of paper and ink all conspire to make
things even more complicated. However, if we can obtain an accurate
preview on the monitor of the likely appearance of our final print, we
can go some way to fine-tuning the image to our needs. This is an
updated version of the tutorial describes the technique for Soft
Proofing.
Basic Tone and Colour Correction in
Photoshop - This tutorial describes the basic tools that maybe
used within Photoshop to correct/adjust the tone and colour of images
before printing. In addition to Brightness/Contrast, Colour
Balance, Levels and Eyedropper tools the tutorial also
demonstrates the use of "Adjustment Layers" and Curves.
Perspective control - This
short tutorial describes a technique that can be used to correct the
converging verticals that so often plague architectural photographs
taken with wide-angle lenses. It demonstrates the use of the Perspective
control tool to great effect.
Monochrome from Colour - This
tutorial demonstrates a very simple Photoshop technique by which we can
convert colour images into Monochrome. Even better, with a little
practice we even manage effects similar to the "sepia tone" and "split
tone" processes practiced in the conventional wet darkroom.
Using colour negative film has many advantages for the digital
worker; not least the wider dynamic range that can be capture relative
to reversal type film. However, scanning negative type film for optimum
results can be difficult. This tutorial
Alternative Scanning Method for Colour Negative type film
describes a technique that can help us overcome many of the problems
associated with scanning colour negatives on low end scanner software.
Photoshop 7 &
CS for Mac OS X - Centring Prints on the Page - With the
introduction of OSX Mac users users were promised new all singing
and dancing OS with features that would Windows users would die for. Yeh
pull the other one! As with each new version of Windows the third party
software and hardware vendors hadn't been let into the secret and of
course we the users pay the penalty. Epson printer users quickly found
that many of the features that they had become sued to using simply
didn't function or worse - exist. This tutorial demonstrates a method of
overcoming the missing Center Print feature.