Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

Since many of us use our Qimage in various ways for various jobs, it might be fun while being helpful to new Qimage people as well as long time users to pass on some "stuff" that Qimage does easily.
It occurred to me when I was helping a lady in the Profile Prism section on the forum to print a target. She was having so many questions and concerns.

Qimage has in it's store of tricks, an auto setting for printing a target, whether for Profile Prism, or Cathy's Profiles, or Munki or whatever else.
Simply click FILE. RECALL; then click the button marked "J" for job.
Depending on the sort you have, the target printing selection will be the first or last.
Simply select it and click OPEN.
All the settings will be set correctly for printing your target image.

Sending photos by email.
Two ways in Qimage:
Simplest: click on the thumbnail to select the image. You see it has changed some to indicate it is "selected"/ If you want more than one to be sent in the email, simply hold down the CTRL key while you select other thumbnails.
When you have a few selected, Right Mouse button click on any thumbnail image and select SEND via EMAIL.
You will have a choice of sizes; just pick a size. Qimage will create the images to email in a few seconds, and then open your email program for you where you just put in the email address of the person or persons that will receive it.
Click SEND as you would any other email.
What is so special?
No need to resize. No need to convert from raw or from Tiff to jpg. You just select your thumbnail with no concern to what format that image might be in.
Qimage does it all.


Oh but you knew all that!
Here's one perhaps,you didn't know.
Suppose you  wanted to make 25 images for a slide show presentation and you wanted to make them into sizes that wouldn't bloat the slide show file.
You wanted let's say 1024 x 768 or close.
You simply put the 25 images into the queue, right click on the filenames in the queue, and select Create Email Web Size copies.
Uncheck SEND VIA EMAIL, Name a folder to collect the new images that will be created, and Pick your size, or type in your desired size, and click GO.

Last one for now, I promise.
Suppose you want to make a quick change to some enhancement that you made in the batch filter, even just for a look.
You don't want to wait for your 25Mb images to have to load up in the queue. You just want to see if a little touch up might improve.... lets say, even trying a nice Oval Cutout.
You select the thumbnail, right mouse click, and select Create Associative Filter/Quick Edit. (I Know you like a Quickie)
You will get an instant editing tool chest. Add a tick of Fill light, take some off, try a cutout, take it off by typing NONE into the cutout name box, add a little noise filtering to see..... change colorspace....whatever you would like to try.... and do it quickly,
Click DONE!  Bam! It's done!

I lied about LAST ONE!  :)
Last one...
Suppose you want to take a file to a store that will print large prints for you. The store says, bring me a TIF for a 16 x 20 print at 300 ppi.
You go to FILE, PRINT TO, and select FILE.
Tell the screen to set to 300 ppi, and the size to 20 x 16. Select sRGB or printer profile with smart sharpen included. Click OK
Click The Print Button in Qimage, select your options, you will find TIF in there too, and you made the file you need.

Now, let's hear some of the stuff you found extra helpful in Qimage; some things that others might not have found.
Have fun with Qimage!!

Fred

Very helpful list, keep them coming, as you say some we know but who knows everything? especially regarding Qimage except Mike of course.

Jeff

 

Here are some more suggestions;
Fred said If you are going to project images on a big screen, it is best to size them to the projector resolution, typically 1024x768 pixels. The appearance on screen can be improved with a border around the image and placing the image on a black background, particularly useful for vertical shots remembering screens are always a horizontal format.
I do this using Print to File with a black page sized to give the 1024x768 resolution horizontal format, and place the image on the page, I allow a small region of black to show around the edges and then add a thin border.

Do you print "album" pages with multiple images on them? Try making a collage using Freehand placement mode. Allow images to overlap, try placing one image in the background to fill the page with the other smaller ones on top. Use the Send to back or Bring to Front in the Full page editor to get the best overlap arrangement.

Something more technical (Studio edition only I think). We sometimes see on the forum, questions about which rendering intent should be used or is one profile better than another. The answer usually is "make a test print". In Q-SE it's possible to make a page or queue of test prints with each image having a different profile and/or rendering intent. Just right click on an image in the preview and select Custom Color Management. You can do all your comparisons in one session, to save time and paper.

Terry.

Here is another with a couple of tips which I've just remembered. This is useful of when you want to send images again from the e-mail folder, or perhaps, you want to add a few more.

Remember, when creating additional e-mail copies and the "To" folder is left blank, Q will delete existing images in the {Q}e-mail folder. However, if you browse to it from the e-mail copy dialogue and thus specify that as the "To" folder, the existing files will remain and the new ones will be added. After creating the new files, Q will then ask if you want to browse to that folder, say Yes.

After browsing to the e-mail copies folder,  click Utilities in the menu bar and choose Explore Current folder.
Here you can select the images you want to send, right click, select Send To and choose your e-mail client. It should then open with the images attached, ready for you to add a message and send.

Terry.

Ok, so you wore out the features that Terry and I suggested in earlier posts.
Here's another that is probably undocumented.... (Who has time to read all the stuff)  ;D
It does say, in Help, Features, "With "lock all" checked, curves apply to all colors equally. You can uncheck "lock all" and apply different curves to individual colors by using the "Apply to" color at the bottom of the window.

So what does that mean?
It means, with a little practice you can change the color or intensity of a color without bollixing the entire image.

You do this in Curves from the Qimage Batch screen.
At the top, you replace RGB with the color you want to change.
At the bottom, you uncheck Lock all and select the color on which you want the selected color at the top to apply to. (Do not end a sentence with a preposition) OK OK!

The first two snaps 055 and 056 show the original flower color, and one where the red only was changed.
I am not saying I improved it, I didn't. I just wanted to illustrate what Qimage can do if you had a flat red and wanted to goose it a bit.

The last two snaps refer to the leaves below the flower.
The first two shots had Curves set Use Red-- Apply to RED
The second set of  snaps refers to USE GREEN--- Apply to YELLOW
You can see that change only affected leaves that had some yellow in them.

I have to split the 4 screen snaps into 2 posts. Please forgive me for that.
So see the red here, and the green/yellow in the follow up post

Hope this makes the imagination come to life.

Fred

Here are the snaps of the GREEN on YELLOW

Fred,
Show us a screen snap of the curve please, and the tick boxes.
Terry.

Thank you Terry for reminding me.
I was having trouble getting 4 screen snaps to be accepted.

Here are two more snaps.
The first one shows the preview box with the unfiltered/filtered slide cutting the right side leaf in half.
That shows you what the leaf looked like before the color was adjusted, and to the right of the filter line, after the color was adjusted.

You can see by the Curves screen that I "reduced" the green that was applied to the greenish yellow leaves, thereby making them look more yellow than they were before.

Fred

bollixing

That's a nice word,  I had to Google it to see what it means :)

Jeff

Fred, I've been enjoying this thread. I reminds me of all of the Qimage features left to learn.

This latest on selective (more or less) color adjustment may be useful in some instances, but I prefer to be able to be really selective. Here's an example of what I mean. This is two images - the top row is #1; the bottom #2. #1 shows a standard color reference chart displayed on two monitors (running in two separate browsers). #2 shows #1 after post-processing the right hand chart in row #1. (I did not do this in Qimage. I was finishing a color management tutorial, got bored, read your latest, and decided to take a break. Sorry that it's a bit off your Qimage topic, but I thought it might be interesting to anyone who saw use for your trick - but with more control over the bollixing.)

In the right hand chart of row #2 (the "after image") you'll notice that the red square had its color changed. You'll also note that the change didn't affect any other colors at all. In fact, I did not even allow it to affect the same red square in the left hand chart. The entire process took less than 30 seconds. Capture NX 2 with U-Point technology (which works for cameras other than Nikon - except the RAW conversion is Nikon only.

If this post is too far off topic, feel free to kill it. As I said, I was getting bored and thought - there's a maybe better way to skin that cat without "bollixing" up everything else.

(http://ed-k-photo.smugmug.com/Other/Demo/02-copy/820007161_wLxqD-L.jpg)

Thank you Ed, for that fine display of a very formidable piece of software.
It certainly does that job well. (No bollixing at all.   ;)

It also adds more strength to the value of a Qimage purchase since that seldom needed feature can still be accomplished using Qimage, with no need to purchase yet another piece of specialized software, at about 2X the cost of Qimage Studio.
I too have seen this done in Photo Shop where they lasso the area and change that color by selecting the area with marching ants!

If ever you want to see a color get bollixed, let a nest of marching ants have its way with your image.   ;D :D 8)

Fred

Hi Ed, thanks for this interesting stuff from Nikon.
I must say that I often think using basic methods of image editing, like the use of curves, are falling by the wayside and being forgotten in favour of  some of the new fashionable adjustments like "Vibrance" and "Clarify".
You talking about being selective prompted me to show some examples of selective curve manipulation.
I expect most will know an "S" curve will increase contrast and saturation and the reverse shape will do the opposite. The basic rule is that an increase in the slope of the curve increases contrast and it does not have to be over most of its length. Quite small "kinks" can increase the contrast (or the opposite) in a localised area.
In Qimage, very fine adjustment can be made to the curve by RGB value directly rather that dragging on the curve with the mouse. Note the little number boxes on the images below.
The examples below (linked) are no great works of art  :o but illustrate the point; I have exaggerated the effects to make it more obvious.
RAW images processed in Qimage and then the RAW image further adjusted with a filter curve.

The castle was back lit with a bright sky; I have increased the contrast of the castle walls and the sky region.
(http://www.pbase.com/tjm04/image/123050137/original.jpg)
The horse & windmill scene was taken on a very dull afternoon. The curve increased the contrast in the grey sky so there is some more variation in tone and the field and background "livened up" without making the dark areas too black.
(http://www.pbase.com/tjm04/image/123050136/original.jpg)

Terry.

Thanks are again due to Fred and Terry for their input.

I am printing out hard copies of these posts  - and many others.

I have been using PS Elements a lot lately to 'touch up' portraits and create fancy backgrounds so Qimage has been a bit neglected.

These articles will be of great use when I get back to Qimage.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff for your feedback.
Hopefully many other who have not "come out", are doing the same.
How do you live without it?  :o I have a compulsion to make prints on a regular basis, perhaps I should see my doctor  ;D
Terry.

To expand on Fred's undocumented but necessary features...

There are programs out there, such as Genuine Fractals ($159.95) by onOne Software and Blow Up by Alien Skin Software ($249.00) which allow you to up-rez your image, for instance to 20x30 inches. Save your money.

Select File >> Print To >> File
In the Print to file dialog box, set your desired page width (i.e., 20 inches), page height (i.e., 30 inches) and the resolution for Printer (i.e., 300) - also use Printer ICC and print sharpening. Click OK

Set Printer/Page Setup to width 20 >> height 30 >> resolution 300

Set Qimage's Interpolation and Sharpness...

Set Print Properties to Custom and "Enter specific SIZE"
Enter the Specific Size to the right - for my example (20x30)

Add image (Double click on thumbnail)

Select File >> Print
Note new resolution (6000x9000)

Set "Save Pages As: JPG; quality 100 (good for almost all laboratories, including those making canvas)

Set File Saving: to wherever you want to save the resultant file.

Click the Print button and take a break.

I have made prints and canvases from Canon XTi images with no problem using this method. Also, the quality compares to the two applications mentioned above. One of the advantages of the Genuine Fractals program is the ability to determine what the canvas edges are going to look like (there are a couple of choices) and it provides a blank area for the folds in the canvas.

If you are going to use this method to create canvas prints, you'll need to allow the additional size for the edges. For instance, if you are going to create a canvas with one inch edges, then the print size needs to be set at 22x32.

Best,

Dennis

I presume you mean buy Qimage as it's cheaper and has better interpolation methods.  ;)
Qimage (Studio Edition) does this too and offers mirror and stretched edges and part of the border functionality. It is possible to add a second outer border to provide material to fold over the back of the frame and print fold guide lines.  8)
Terry.

Good post, Dennis, very thorough.  I tried this for the first time a few months ago and got a knockout 18x24 from an 8 mp P&S.  Sharp as a tack even on close examination.  And I did indeed take a break while Qimage cranked out the 18.8 mb file.  Didn't have to touch the original image with any program but Qimage.

OK, Here's another UN-documented feature in Qimage.
This one is quick and easy to do, easier than the Curves tool and you will use it often.

It is the undocumented Clone tool that hides inside the Blemish tool.
Ok so maybe it wont remove a building from your shot, but it can clean up you scans and miscellaneous.
It's fun and comes along with Qimage.
See 2 screen snaps below; a before and after removing some tears, wrinkles and age lines from the image.

Notice there was also a crease above the head slightly right of center which has also been removed.
PS If anyone asks, Who was that handsome guy, he/she wins a dollar, but you have to visit to collect!!  :D ;) :)

Fred

I'd be on my way but BA aircrew are on strike again  :'(

This post is a coincidence because I used it today on a couple of photographs I took at a wedding on Saturday. The bride had an off-the-shoulder dress which revealed (wait for it  ;)) some skin blemishes. The Blemish tool made short work of them. Also, a flash photo of a person with specs created distracting reflections on the glass so they were soon removed too, leaving only the eye catch lights.
The other use is for scanned images, either prints or transparencies. Dust removal tools can sometimes do more than just remove dust and spoil the image, or are not effective at all. The blemish tool can remove dust spots, but just a little tedious if there are a lot.
Terry.

You have exceeded my eye sight, I cannot see any difference in the two images except the creases in the paper.

I often use the tool for removing what I call hot pixels in the sky of HDR images before creation of the final print file.

Jeff

Jeff. This is an easy one.
I think you are trying too hard to find small repairs.
This is a big, obvious discoloration and blemish to the scan.
There's a large horizontal discolored line running from left to right, above the head. (You are clicking on the image to enlarge it right?)
That line makes a right turn and heads down the right side of the print. You can see this clearly in the image marked, Orig.
Gone from the repaired image below.

Have another look or we may have to give you a restricted Qimage license: No driving your Qimage without your glasses!!!

Fred

Hi Fred,

Very interesting, but you should really have a look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ScWu7pG7r0
It shows the amazing 'content aware' cloning possible in cs5.

Best wishes,

Ray

It was hilarious!  What a slob to live in a room kept that way!    :-[
Really, Ray, it was cute, and a lot better than the old clone tool, but my point wasn't to say that Qimage was doing any serious ridding of laundry or even finding 2 spare girls for the user, but to say to the Qimage user; look what you can do with the application that you already bought. Qimage !!

I even said in my post that Qimage wont remove an unwanted building from your photo, but it can do simple clean up jobs as shown in the post screen snaps.

IMHO, I can see that tool in use for perhaps wedding shots where you shoot candid, and cannot always arrange the "furniture" to suit, but mainly I suspect a plethora of YOUTUBE flicks showing new magic tricks that rival Criss Angel and David Copperfield.  :) :D

Now, if it really cleaned the house like that fellow did his room, then it might be worth the purchase price!

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Fred

C'mon, Terry.  Tell them it's another one of those Yank bastardizations!   ;D ;)  It's the censorship of "bollocks" in the kinder, more gentle Colonies LMAO.

I knew exactly what it meant  ;) no translation needed, we have much in common.  :)
I'm surprised to you still refer to being a colony, you must be an Anglophile  ???
Terry

Something more useful I hope: -
Today I was making some 5x7 prints, borderless and I had to set up some Qimage features to get the best result. This prompted me to post this item.
We regularly see questions relating to prints where parts of the image are missing at the edges because borderless printing is being used. It's not always realised the borderless is achieved by the driver "over-spraying" or expanding the print beyond the edges of the page. Some drivers allow you to reduce this expansion  but not completely.
The reason the expansion is done is to ensure the paper is covered with print and allows for errors in paper transport through the printer.
Qimage allows you to overcome these limitations and print almost 100% of the image in borderless mode.
In the Page formatting menu, Disable Overspray and Size Expansion. This ensures the printed area is exactly the same as the page size.
However, you still then have the problem of page transport errors through the printer but if these are reasonably consistent and the guides are set "snug", Qimage allows you to compensate for any white slivers on edges of the print.
This is done by adjusting the page margins in Page Formatting. One or two test prints may be required to finalise the adjustments.
On the edges where there is a sliver of white, enter a negative additional margin value for that edge. You may need to add a small positive value on the opposite side. The feature is described in the Help.
On the prints I did today, 127x178 mm (5x7") I added a 1.5 mm coloured border. After setting up, I was able to print with the border varying no more than 0.25 mm and no white slivers, better than 99% of the image area.
Terry.

Thanks much, Terry.  I've been intending to experiment with those settings.  Sounds like this will solve my problems with "expanded" borderless prints.

Okay, here's my contribution.  Not a biggie, and nothing exotic.  But fun & easy.

First of all, see this link: http://bighugelabs.com/motivator.php

Give it a try.  "Make your own motivational poster online" pretty much sums it up.

I've used it several times to make gag gifts for family members.  Works well, but the downside is that you have essentially no way to control the quality of the image you use to make the poster.  You can download and print the job, but that's about it.  Give this a try & you'll see what I mean.

Right after I used it to make a Christmas gift for my niece (something she could hang in her dorm room), it finally occurred to me, "Hey, I can do this in Qimage."

Easy as pie.  First of all, do whatever editing is required for the photo you're going to use.  Set page size (in my case, 13x19) and your (probably custom) image size.  Locate the image on the page as required to leave space for the text below the image.

If you want to duplicate the appearance of the typical motivational poster, set page background color to black.  Set a white B+ Qimage border to get the white line around the image.  Add the desired floating text.  Print from Qimage, as usual.

Pardon me for not posting the finished product, but there's no way I'd put this young lady's picture on the internet.

Sorry Fred.

Yes I could see them, but I was looking for other corrections in the face, my error in not reading your post correctly.  Put it down to age.

Jeff

I have another sort of undocumented Qimage item.
This is the use of the Unsharp Mask sharpening tool.

Most of us know how to judiciously use USM with numbers like 1/100  or 1/250 and equalizer at 75%.... like that!

Have you ever experimented with large radius and small strength settings?
I saw a shot in a friend's house of a cold beer bottle sweating condensation on an outdoor cafe table.
I used a 5 and 50 and the beads of moisture jumped at me without over sharpening.

Later on, I tried experimenting with faces and found some interesting effects.
I think I mentioned at an earlier time that you can also use a - strength (minus number) for strength which will minimize wrinkles in a face.

This time I want to give you a sample of a shot I took about two weeks ago of a friend.
I have the out of the camera version with only the preset sharpening of the Raw image decoder.

I also show the screen snap of the same image with a radius of 10 and strength of 25 with no equalizer in play.

I think it cleaned and clarified the image without being over done.
You might like a tad less, or a radius of 5 instead of 10.

That's fine. The object is to make you aware of the versatility of Unsharp Mask and hope that you experiment more than you do now.

Have fun with Qimage

Fred

That's a very useful technique known as Local Contrast Enhancement.  I've been using it for a few years, albeit in Photoshop.  Here are some descriptions:

http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/contrast-enhancement.shtml
http://www.lonestardigital.com/photoshop_quicktips.htm
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/techniques/local-contrast-enhancement.htm

So have I, on and off. This came up on the old Qimage Yahoo forum some years ago but there were problems with using a large radius in Qimage USM. It is now limited to 16.

I've attached  a samples showing the same image with and without Qimage USM  Rad 16, 50% % Eq 25%, values shown in the file name.
The photo was take when cloud had covered the sun and made the scene duller than I'd hoped and I could not tell the ship to wait just there  ;D
Both have the same contrast curve applied so the only difference is the USM.

It would be nice if the limit could be increased to, say 50, to get the full benefit of this technique in Qimage.
Maybe Mike can comment?
Terry.

I've used the Comparator tool in Qimage many times, but usually to compare images taken at slightly-different exposures, or to confirm point of focus.

But I just used the Comparator to determine that my Nikon 18-55 kit lens exhibits severe diffraction at smaller apertures.  The texture of a leaf and the wood trellis behind it are clearly rendered at 5.6.  At f22 or 32, the fine detail suffers badly.

First time I've used the Comparator in this context.  The EXIF info displayed at the top of each image is a great convenience.

The only improvement I can think of would be the ability to load more than two images into the Comparator.

Owen, I have a few lenses that exhibit s similar, seemingly reverse response to a small aperture as you describe.
On the flip side, I have two lenses that are sharpest with a wide open aperture, and that makes for good shutter speeds.
It was the usual expectation that stopping a lens down produced a sharper picture. It really isn't so. Stopping a lens to it's sweet spot aperture will produce a sharper picture.

One thing I found worth trying before I condemn or wrinkle my nose at a lens, is to use the Right Click Swap function in Qimage in the comparator.
Left versus right side can show a difference on some monitors, and on my monitor, there is  definitely a difference between the top half and the lower half of the screen.
Just some thoughts
Fred

Thanks for the tip on the Swap function.  I'll give it a try.

Nikon used to publish (and perhaps still does, though I can't find any) detailed lens specs which identified the sweet spot, often f8, if I recall.  Beyond that, you got greater DOF, of course, but more diffraction.  I remember seeing lens reviews which indicated that even Micro-Nikkors exhibited diffraction when stopped down beyond f8 or f11, even though they could be stopped down to f32.

But you're certainly correct that many lenses show improved performance when stopped down a few notches from their wide-open aperture.

Oh, well, I've been meaning to try a focus-stacking program, anyway.

From another thread it was suggested the info' be posted here about print crops and saved jobs and sessions.
The original query was:

First thing, Qimage remembers the last PRINT crop you used for an image at a particular size, so no worries there.

If you are  talking about actual saved "Jobs", then you cannot combine them directly as you recall.
However you can combine saved Sessions.
Here is what I would do:
Recall each job in turn and remove the images you do not require, then save as a separately named Session.
I assume all the printer settings would be the same for each job you had saved so they will  be in place.
Now recall each Session in turn and when asked, choose "Append", in that way each set of images will be added to the queue. You can then save the lot as a new Job or Session.

I like to use Sessions because of this sort of flexibility and it allows me to change the paper type late in the game if necessary.

Terry

I have another Undocumented feature in Qimage that comes in very handy every week.

Let me set the scene.
You just printed a wonderful set of three 11 x 14s all neatly cropped and one with a nice matching colored border, with your "Photo by Terry M" in the lower left corner.
Two days later, you found you needed to do the same job or part of that job again due to damage to a print by forgetting that you left it on your chair and you sat on it, or someone liked the prints and wanted a set also.
Oh Gee Whiz! I must set the size, what was the border I used? What were the names of the image files? What folder were they in, I can't remember.

Watch this!
Click File. Open Automated Job Log.
There are all the print jobs in a file, from latest on....
Look for the date of two days ago, click, and read the filenames, and size etc.
If you found the correct one, highlight it, click OPEN at the lower right, and you are ready to print.
There's your PHOTO BY, you border, your size, your setup, everything.
Put the same paper into the printer as you used, even the printer paper selection, the profile, the driver settings will be all ready to go.

There is one Caveat.
You will have to have turned this feature on earlier for it to be logging the prints.
Make sure it is turned on by going to EDIT Preferences, Job Logging, Status, Keep all Jobs. (or other preference)

Hope this one helps a little.

Fred

Thanks, Fred.  I had literally forgotten about this feature, even though I've used it exactly as you describe.

Owen,
It looks like you and I are the only ones passionate about our beloved Qimage.  ;D :D ;)

Here's another somewhat obvious, yet obscure feature of Qimage.

Print Cropping!
As we all know, print cropping is decided after you decide what size print you are making.
If we intend to make an 8 x 10, and we go into the Full Page Editor screen, clicking on the Cropping tab, we see our image in an 8 x 10 frame.
Upper right corner gives us a movable image and a zoom bar to adjust the crop to exactly the extract we want, keeping the 8 x 10 ratio.

Let's suppose that besides printing an 8 x 10, aunt Gladys wants a 5 x 7 for the coffee table.
Simple!  Just tell Qimage that the next print will be a 5 x 7.
The print crop box now changes to a 5 x 7 shape. This is obviously not nearly the same ratio as the 8 x 10, and will call for a new look at the print, it's zoom, and cropping attributes.
You make that print.!

Next day.
Oh Boy, you forgot. Aunt Gladys called and wants two of each instead of one of each.
How will you ever get these to be exactly the same as yesterday's prints?
Easy! Qimage remembers the crop for each print and all you do is set the print size for 8 x 10, and add the same image.
Qimage says, I remember printing that. Here's the way it looked last time in 8 x 10, and I even have the 5 x 7 size ready to repeat too.

Fred

Qimage is indeed the only program on my computer I am enthusiastic about.

Good post, here.  In other programs, I've certainly had the frustrating experience of trying to re-create a crop.

You mention the zoom bar in the Full Page Editor.  Just this past weekend, after using the Comparator feature, and then switching to the FPE and using the zoom bar, it occurred to me: If I zoom to the max, am I viewing that segment of the image at 100%?  If so, printing a 100% crop and saving it as a new image would be child's play.

I'm hoping that's correct.  If so, it will greatly simplify a little job I want to do.

I believe you get an 8X zoom, and then click on HQ. You will be able to see the sharpness of any section of that image by sliding it around using the hand.
You will have to click the HQ button every time you move the image, or change the setting from Thumbs/small to All or Selected images, and you will get your HQ High Rez image all the time.
If you click and hold the mouse button either on the zoom button slider, or the blue word "zoom" it will read out the ppi for the selected print size as well as the zoom factor.

Have fun.
Fred

Yes, that is correct but  think it gives more than 100%. X 7.4 seems to give about 100% on my screen, that is  ~ 106 ppi (18" wide and 1920 pixels)
Once you have that sorted, an image can be made either by E--mail copy, convert or print to file.
Terry

Thanks, guys.  Fred, I didn't know that you could see the zoom factor and the ppi with just a click...although I wonder what "8X" means.  Eight times what?

Terry, I'll experiment a bit with the slider.  8X appeared to be about the same as 100% on my monitor, and in any case will be close enough for what I'm trying to do, which is:

1.  Earlier in this thread, I mentioned how easy it is to use the Comparator to check for lens diffraction at small apertures.  It is of course very easy to set up on a tripod and shoot a subject at several (or all) different apertures, and it's child's play to use the Comparator to compare the photos side-by-side.  My Nikon kit lenses show noticeable diffraction at small apertures.

2.  I mentioned this finding on a Nikon forum and was promptly asked to post photos, so I started looking for a way to:
   a.  apply the exact same 100% crop (preferably) to about four of my test photos (no problem in QI)
   b.  create new email/web size copies (ditto)
   c.  arrange the new images side-by-side for easy comparison (Freehand placement in QI, right?
   d.  create a single new image from the four test images (Print to File, right?)
   e.  post the image to the forum (this I know how to do!)

An EXACT 100% crop isn't absolutely required, of course.  And I believe that I can use the Floating Text tool to identify the aperture used for each photo.

Now...what have I overlooked?  Your comments, please.

Miss out step b and arrange all the images on a single page for Print to File. Choose a suitable page size and resolution for PTF and use compact placement so they all line up in a row or matrix. Use a border to separate them a little and add text for descriptions before "printing".
Terry.

That's super, Terry, thanks much.

In trying to help Art, one of our members to get his queue returned to where he was yesterday, I finally remembered a feature in Qimage that is perfect for that chore.
Just click FILE, Open Automated Job Log.
Second item from the top is called Last Exit Job.
Open that, and you have your Qimage with yesterday's images, settings, etc., all ready to continue working on your project.

You didn't have to Save a JOB and name that job, and later, delete that JOB.

Really nice feature.

Fred