Mike Chaney's Tech Corner
March 29, 2024, 03:32:42 PM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
News: Qimage registration expired? New lifetime licenses are only $59.99!
 
  Home Help Search Login Register  

Professional Photo Printing Software for Windows
Print with
Qimage and see what you've been missing!
  Show Posts
Pages: 1 ... 13 14 [15]
211  Mike's Software / Profile Prism / Re: Why are my white punch-outs overlapping onto the black areas? on: July 03, 2011, 03:20:10 AM
Thanks Terry for the feedback.

I don't know what is going on here with the "walking white punchouts."  They are centered on the ITF-8 target, just the TIF RAW print from the new Canon 9000 Mark II printer is presenting problems.  I get Excellent on the ITF-8 target on the TIF RAW scan, so something is different with the print's color squares dimensions maybe?

I'm thinking of trying to rotate the TIF print from the landscape mode to the portrait mode and then trying it in the scanner.  Maybe the paper isn't moving the same speed through the printer rollers?  I don't know why it is different, but it is.  It's as though the print must be compressed (rollers slipping?), then normal (where the white squares are centered), and then stretched or compressed as the squares move onto the black separation lines as Profile Prism tries to read it.

If by rotating the print format, if the white punch-outs move up and down instead of along the horizontal axis as they do now, then the printer must have some paper feed issues maybe?  Too new and maybe needs some break-in time?

Mack
212  Mike's Software / Profile Prism / Re: Why are my white punch-outs overlapping onto the black areas? on: July 02, 2011, 05:50:32 PM
This is odd.

With the latest version of Vuescan, the white punch-outs start in the center, then they move to the right a bit, then go to back to center, and then they move more to the left until they rest on the black areas before they move back to the right and center themselves on the right-hand side.

I went ahead with a profile even though it reported some 63 square error.  The ITA-8 target reported "Excellent" in everything.

The ITA-8 target punch-outs are centered well, just the "Printer's TIF target" has centering issues for some reason.  I tried a 4 times scan too in Vuescan RAW which seemed to help over the one-time scan in the number of squares in error.  That went from 123 square errors with one pass, down to 63 squares in the second with 4 scanner passes.

Mack
213  Mike's Software / Profile Prism / Re: Why are my white punch-outs overlapping onto the black areas? on: July 02, 2011, 12:18:23 AM
Thanks Terry.  Seemed it was flat on the scanner as I use a piece of black velvet and a weight on the cover.  Looked fairly square in Profile Prism as I moved it side-to-side too.

Vuescan has a new version out today (July 1, 2011) so I'm re-trying that and seeing if it can be more squared on the scanner.  I believe the color target themselves measure out to be 7 5/8" x 5 3/8" to the color square edges and not the black border.

Anyway, trying another scan with the newer version as he mentioned "HP updated" (flatbed scanner I'm using), but issues were only with Mac and Linux.  I'm using Windows 7 64, but who knows?

Mack
214  Mike's Software / Profile Prism / Why are my white punch-outs overlapping onto the black areas? on: July 01, 2011, 05:10:07 PM
On the printer test target, Profile Prism shows most of the middle vertical white-punch outs to be overlapping onto the black bars that divide the colored squares.

The punch-out at the corners are fine and centered, just the mid-section is overlapping for some reason.  I've tried the "Jiggle Corners" on and off, but still they overlap around the center area, especially vertical portions.

Ideas?

Mack
215  Mike's Software / Profile Prism / Using "Kodak Color Print Viewing Filter Kit" for an ICM editing correction? on: June 23, 2011, 09:29:40 PM
I've got an ICM profile made for my Epson using Profile Prism 7 and Vuescan.  It's a bit green and looks better through the Kodak Viewing Filter guide that has those viewing filters (05M, 10M, 20M) they use.

Do the corrections in the "Edit ICM" side of Profile Prism or Qimage Ultimate follow those values, or are they arbitrary?  I.E.  A 5 Magenta filter would be a 5 correction in either program?

Mack
216  Technical Discussions / General Photography Discussion / Re: Can you print good color on a B&W monitor only? Maybe. on: January 12, 2011, 12:57:48 AM
That video (#7) is past what I was looking at.  That one is some illustrator thing.  I believe his is "Tones and Color Adjustments" and maybe video #3?

I found a link that pretty much explains the method I was commenting on.

http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=35148

More like a "Paint by numbers" approach and you really wouldn't need a well balanced/calibrated color monitor to do it.  There's no painting involved or skin replacements or morphs.  There are others on other skin colors too in the Lynda.com series.  One that Lee Varis shows in his is his daughter sitting and all the color casts in it that he takes out using the CMYK adjustments.  The curves get rather camel-humped like with all the adjustments to balance it out.


Mack

217  Technical Discussions / General Photography Discussion / Re: Can you print good color on a B&W monitor only? Maybe. on: January 11, 2011, 10:24:01 PM
Mike, he uses those methods in the Lydia.com video and it's in his two "Skin" books.  You could watch the entire video in black and white on the TV and turn the color on only when he gets to the end and then go "Wow!"

True, there are differences in skin color and that is what he concentrates on as being "the most important color in a photograph with a person in it."  You can have a little more cyan in the sky or blue or red in the trees and no one notices.  Do the same thing with skin color and they will go nuts!

Just that if you watch his videos on skin color and correction, he also digs any color imbalances out of the shadows in the color photographs with skin too using the CSx Color Picker Tool  (He also corrects for some shadows are too red or too blue, but he takes it out using CMYK adjustments and probably a lot better than most people accept on the web as "That's a good skin color when some yell it's too yellow, too blue, to red, etc."  He nails to skin color far more accurately that most can visually and what he does with the Photoshop CSx's Curve Tools on his daughter's portrait where he alters the color curves for shadow color casts (no painting allowed) is pretty remarkable and does not require one to look at any color, only the RGB and CMYK colors that are what the printer is using in the final print.  Almost like the color monitor be damned.

Yes, it's nice to see an accurate monitor and accurate matching printer work together, just that most people view the print as the final say and what he does using the Threshold and Curve Tool (for the color channel) does not require that accurate a color monitor, if at all, and could be done on a black and white one as the Threshold and Curves (RGB/CMYK) Tools don't really need the color monitor to the degree most espouse.

You need to see him work in the Lydia.com video (i.e. "Beyond Skin: Going Deeper With Photoshop CS3 With Lee Varis" from Lynda.com) and then pass judgment on how one must have a "better than" color monitor.  He uses it as a reference, but favors the numbers and curves far more if you watch and I have no doubt he could do it on a black and white monitor and let the printer do it's color work using the values he picks and get a good print from it.   And yes, he does use other CMYK values for other races and skin colors, but he still does better than a lot on the web do without setting the curves to the both the skin's well-lit color and shadow color cast as well.

I've been using his method more and more lately and that's why I feel the color monitor stuff is pretty overstated for post-processing compared to what "Really needs to be done inside the photo" and the only way to get there may be by evaluating the colors in that photo's select skin area.  I probably could get the better color for skin on a black and white LCD (if one exists?) now if I had too.  I've been watching the color bickering on one photo forum and they all disagree on the subject's skin color, but probably because they all are looking at some wacked color monitor too.  Opening it in CSx and examining the skin color shows who is right and who is wrong, even if they say their monitor is some $1,000 job and recently calibrated.  You can even pull out the color-crossover numbers (e.g. shadow to highlight) too regardless of the color of the subject's skin color.  It's more objective than subjective.

That's why I brought it up.  Food for thought for those who have tried his methods.



Mack
218  Technical Discussions / General Photography Discussion / Can you print good color on a B&W monitor only? Maybe. on: January 11, 2011, 07:25:41 PM
I'm going out on a limb here, but after reading and looking at a lot of Lee Varis's Lynda.com videos and books (i.e. "Skin") it seems that one may be able to get some pretty good color prints just using just a B&W monitor.

He uses Photoshop a lot.  He seems to set the black and white points by searching out the thresholds in the print using Photoshop's Threshold Adjustment Layer which is strictly B&W.  He pinpoints the max. black value and the max. white value with the Photoshop Color Picker Tool to get the RGB values for black and white (something like 5,5,5 and 245,245,245 he seems to like) and then he sets them all (RGB independently, and RGB combined) in the Curves Adjustment Layer inside Photoshop.  Don't need a color monitor to do that.

Then he picks a skin value normally between the brow or forehead.  That value he sets with the Color Picker Tool to the CMYK channels and puts the Yellow at the same value as the Magenta or a point or two higher than the magenta.  The Cyan is about 25% that of the other two or lower.  Again, you don't need a color monitor to do that either.

Results are pretty spectacular when viewed in color when he combines the layers.  He tosses out the Threshold layer as it's strictly for the contrast control and just keeps the Curves layer.

Seems all this "You must have a calibrated monitor" is really not as much of an issue if one examines the print using the Color Picker in Photoshop and setting up the curves properly.  Probably even better than eyeballing on a calibrated monitor as the printer is getting the RGB/CMYK values maximized in Photoshop and not necessarily with a color monitor either.


Mack
219  Mike's Software / Qimage Ultimate / Re: v2011.111 issues/comments on: January 10, 2011, 07:18:20 PM
Mike, when I opened Qimage there was an Epson printer plugged into the computer at the time.  I don't have profiles written for it but I do have them for the Canon which is wireless so I decided to change printers.  I switched the profiles under Preferences > Color Management > Printer to the Canon profile I had and unplugged the Epson.  When I went to print, the message popped up before the Canon printer settings box appeared.

I just closed Qimage, then restarted it with the Canon printer and all was well.  Just seems something got messed up when doing the printer switch with Qimage being active under Color Management and Printer selection (i.e. USB to wireless maybe confused it and threw the error message up?).


Mack
220  Mike's Software / Qimage Ultimate / Re: v2011.111 issues/comments on: January 10, 2011, 04:05:21 AM
Got this odd error message while going from an Epson printer to a Canon in this version. Same image in the folder.

Qimage
Access violation at address 77788C19 in module 'ntdll.dll.'  Write of address 00000014.


Clear as mud to me.  Huh?

Windows 7 64 bit, fwiw.


Mack
221  Mike's Software / Qimage Ultimate / Re: v2011.105 issues/comments on: December 12, 2010, 10:05:51 PM
I don't know if this a bug or not, but in Windows 7 64-bit I was printing directly off the SD card through Qimage.  When done, I pulled the card out and it was gone.

However, when I went to close the program down, it popped up an "I/O Error" message.  The card was long gone by then so the only way I could close Q.U. was to Task Manager and "End process" as the normal shutdown and exit via Qimage kept up with the "I/O Error" messages.


Mack
222  Mike's Software / Profile Prism / Re: Vuescan "Color" setups to use for Profile Prism Scan on: December 08, 2010, 11:26:22 PM
Fwiw, Terry's screenshot opened perfectly for me (when I clicked it and it auto-enlarged here) and was perfectly readable as well.

Just wish I had read his RAW stuff before I had spent two days in the TIFF part with making 150 image scans in VueScan using the "Right-Click on a gray image" to get an initial "White Balance" setting and then fiddling with all the other settings (White point.  Balck point. 3 Colors. Etc.) to get even close to a null point (i.e. with fewer "X"s).

I must say, I did get a better white balance on the "Right-Click on a Gray" and let VueScan get some sort of initial reading to go to when I was messing with the TIFF side.  Just it took too much time and effort with all the other program settings to get a workable (a low "X" number count).  The RAW setting got me to a better scan and fewer X's on the printed target (not the IT8 one) though than the TIFF side did.

Thanks Terry.  Your RAW method saved me a pile of time and work scanning in TIFF.


Mack
223  Mike's Software / Qimage Ultimate / Two sRGB profiles showing up only in Qimage? on: December 06, 2010, 09:52:30 PM
I'm seeing two sRGB profiles in the Preview Pane > Embedded Image Information part of Qimage Ultimate.  Thumbnail colors are definitely different too.

In Qimage's pop-up "Embedded Image Information" window, I see either of these two ICC Profiles: One is *sRGB* and the second is *sRGB IEC61966-2.1*  The *sRGB IEC61966-2.1* appears to be the correct one while the *sRGB* photo appears very red and grainy as a large preview thumbnail.

I do get the warning pop-up in Qimage when starting asking about using the either the Windows profile or the Qimage one.  If I say "YES" to the question (or "the recommended" one), then I see different color thumbnail images between the two sRGB profiles.

How am I seeing two different sRGB profiles even though the editing program (Paint Shop Pro X3) is the same editor?  The files are dumped from Nikon RAW (NEF) files through Adobe Lightroom 3 into TIFF files which I edit further with PSP X3.  In PSP X3, the images all appear normal sRGB 8-bit images and no color differences are seen, only in Qimage do I get these two different sRGB profiles and different color images too?

Thanks.

Mack
224  Mike's Software / Profile Prism / Problem profiling Canon Platinum paper. on: November 30, 2010, 06:25:08 PM
New user of Profile Prism here.

Equipment used: Canon MP970 printer (which does not show their Platinum Paper as one of it's selections even with their latest drivers.  Canon says to use generic Glossy Paper settings on the paper insert which I know is wrong.).  HP Scanjet G3110 with it's HP scanner software.

Anyway, I managed to get a printer profile for Canon's Glossy II paper.   It may be a bit light on density for my taste, but the color is far better on the Macbeth Chart off the "printer test.tif" print included with the program and my own Macbeth chart printed via Qimage.  Formerly, the cyan was much more blue than cyan (upper right square of the Macbeth chart) and the profile for that paper on the Canon MP970 was much too light in density over what came out of my Epson.  Canon support was "That's the way it is" and would not even comment on why the Epson printed side-by-side print I sent them off a SD card plugged into both printers came out far better on the Epson.  Go figger.  So I'm satisfied with my first profile for the Canon I made with Profile Prism.

Moving onto the Canon Platinum Paper.  I can get the scan of the IT8 target and get it as acceptable as I did with their Glossy II Paper.  However, when I move to the printer-target-40.tif print the yellows and oranges appear with "X" in them.  Maybe 130+ of them and as high as 250+.  Seems the paper is too bright and causing me the problems no matter how far down I turn the scanner's "Highlight Control" slider (It has adjustments for Hightlights, Shadows, Midtones (and each of those is -100 to 100 in value I can set), and Gamma which I leave at 2.2.

I've moved the Highlight to -100 and the yellows and oranges of the test print target still have too many "X"s in them? 110 to be exact on my 51st attempt.  Huh?


Fwiw, on their Glossy II paper, I could check the box "Check Clipping for Highlights" and see the small red boxes highlighted in the test-print-40 target print and then slide the "Highlight Control" until they were gone.  Then uncheck it, and then check the "Show Shadow Clipping" control and do the same with the "Shadow Control" (which shows little green squares in the printer-target-40 print) and maybe a bit of the "Midtone slider" adjustment as well.  Doing that got me pretty close to the final Profile Prism ICC file for the Canon Glossy II paper.  I got that paper right after the 7th scan, but this Platinum Paper. Ugh! 51 scans an no where close yet.

Tia.

Mack
Pages: 1 ... 13 14 [15]
Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
Security updates 2022 by ddisoftware, Inc.