On 2006-01-28 10:22:04 -0400, "frankg" said:
I’ve been asked by a client to prepare photos so that Shadows do not fall below 5, and Highlights do not fall above 250. Shall I do this in Levels and set the Output level numbers to 5 & 250 respectively, or is there a better way?
If you’re talking a single channel photo – grayscale,
set it to 5-250, and in the levels output is easiest. Curves can do it, but more complex.
If you’re talking color photos on a pre-press, you need at least 20 shadow and 242 highlights.
Unless you get specs from printer, you’re good with these.
It’s always best to confirm in photoshop with the eyedropper and info palette. Never trust camera raw or any other utility since they will pick the highest and darkest point in the image. WRONG
For printing on a pre-press, your trying to get the highlight and shadow clipping in the areas that you WANT
detail to print…
If you have a black border at 0, why would you set it to 5? if you have a spectral white shine on skintone..
why would you set it to 250 ? Utitlities are mechanical and have no sense of what needs to print detail and what doesn’t.
It takes experience.
If you have to convert RGB to CMYK, for godsake’s set it to US sheetfed or US web coated, depending on the pres
—
Cheers
PacMan
http://homepage.mac.com/brown.joey/portfolio/