Room lighting

GA
Posted By
George_August
Jun 4, 2004
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555
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6
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Closed

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GA
George_August
Jun 4, 2004
I want to set up a uniform lighting for viewing photos with Photoshop. I will black out the window next to my desk, because the light level changes too much, and my room lighting overhead is too dim and too warm. One though is a desk lamp I can bounce towards the back wall…which is vanilla in color… for a soft light. Am working with a 19" LCD, and have a light meter so that I can accurately measure light levels. What do yur experts recommend.
P
pboone
Jun 4, 2004
George,

I’m no expert, but I’ve had good results setting up my work area with 48′ long flourescent ‘daylight’ color balanced bulbs.

Also, sorry to say this, but from what I’ve read, you’ll need a CRT monitor to get truly correct color.
DJ
dennis_johnson
Jun 4, 2004
At the studio, all color and lighting work is done in a "dark room" – no windows, and all overhead lights are off. CRTs are used exclusively, and are calibrated daily – sometimes more often. All setups involve multiple monitors, which helps us spot color cast problems more easily when they appear.

Most cubicles contain small, low-light-level desk lamps, but these are kept to a minimum, and seem mainly to serve the function of preventing people from walking into each other or falling over furniture.

The rule here is the less ambient light, the better.

Ultimately though, matching color between shots is up to a different group – the color timers. We just try to keep things as close as we can.

"Truly correct color" is a concept that eludes even the professionals, George. Ultimately it’s the artist’s perception that determines "correctness" – and that is of course strictly subjective. The best we can do with technology is try to match color between devices, and produce the closest analog to what the artist intended.
GA
George_August
Jun 4, 2004
Thanks for the feedback. I hadn’t thought about the "less ambient light the better." I would prefer a CRT, but I have a very small desk area and this is why I have the LCD. I make sure to always keep it oriented the same so I’m not viewing at different angles. I will probably get a small desk lamp with a daylight bulb and just bounce it so I have no direct light.
PA
Peter Aitken
Jun 4, 2004
wrote in message
I want to set up a uniform lighting for viewing photos with Photoshop. I
will black out the window next to my desk, because the light level changes too much, and my room lighting overhead is too dim and too warm. One though is a desk lamp I can bounce towards the back wall…which is vanilla in color… for a soft light. Am working with a 19" LCD, and have a light meter so that I can accurately measure light levels. What do yur experts recommend.

I think it’s more important that the light be the same all the time and less important exactly what the room light is. Of course you do not want it relaly bright or way off in color balance.


Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.
TL
Tim_Lookingbill
Jun 5, 2004
Walmart has 15 watt 18 inch and 40 watt 48 inch GE flourescent tubes called Sunshine. They run about $6 and have a Kelvin rating of D50 CRI (Color Reference Index) 90 which means they’re pretty accurate to the rated color temp. They also have D65 but with a CRI of 75-not as accurate.

I use two 15 watt D50 tubes. One over my Epson and one underneath my table my scanner, monitor and printer sits on to light a small black viewing table on my left side.

Color targets look spot on with my CRT set to D65 and calibrated.

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