Adjusting Photoshop levels for diffrent outlputs - Which to do first?

net1994

Hi All,
I just got a new printer that is not very good at shadow detail. To compensate I go into levels and set the black point 'Output' level to 22. This helps substantially and I'm happy with the prints. But the destination for my photos also includes my website, and lab prints (usually Adorama.com).


When should I use this adjustment though? I'm worried that in adjusting the black point output (shadow detail) to match my home printer this will mess up how it is viewed on the website or when printed by Adorama.com?



Whats the best way to satisfy all three destinations? Thinking it would be to work on the photo until satisfied and save as a master. Then soft proof and adjust for Adorama prints (if any). Finally take the master and only then adjust the black point levels for my home printer??



Or, do I adjust this setting right before I start working on the photo for the fist time? So confused. Whats the best method?

BinaryFx

Can I presume that you use Photoshop?

If so, do you also use Camera Raw?

Do you use Lightroom?

What versions of what software do you use?

Can you go into an overview step by step of your workflow? This will help with the response to your questions.

P.S. Please define what you mean by "best method" (sorry, but that is a too common request and often has different answers depending on too many variables, what is best for me may not be best for you. Often there are no simple answers. It all depends, as there are always exceptions).


Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

colourbox

net1994 wrote:

...To compensate I go into levels and set the black point 'Output' level to 22. This helps substantially and I'm happy with the prints. But the destination for my photos also includes my website, and lab prints (usually Adorama.com)...Or, do I adjust this setting right before I start working on the photo for the fist time?

One good school of thought is your "master" adjustment should be a "best possible" version that is not restricted for any printer. Then you do your soft proofing for a particular printer and make any necessary adjustments in an adjustment layer, not directly to the image. This keeps the adjustment separate from the image. Now if you go to a newer printer or better printer with better shadow detail, you have not permanently limited your image. You turn off the adjustment layer that you made for your less capable printer, restoring all your original data, and now you make a new adjustment layer with a specific adjustment for your better printer, and again the adjustment is not permanent and can be changed anytime.

This is not just important when printing to different printers, it's also important to be able to switch your adjustments on the fly even when printing to different papers and inks on the same printer since those also affect shadow detail etc.

Those who do this often store multiple adjustment layers in a single file, each containing the optimizations for different conditions, with the only one turned on being the one you are outputting to at the moment. If you need to pile adjustments together, make a layer group (looks like a folder) so that entire stacks of adjustments can be switched on and off at will.

arodney

net1994 wrote:

Hi All,
To compensate I go into levels and set the black point 'Output' level to 22. This helps substantially and I'm happy with the prints. But the destination for my photos also includes my website, and lab prints (usually Adorama.com).

Such adjustments are output specific. You don’t want to apply such settings (and some would ask “why 22”) on the master image. The proper workflow would be to soft proof to the printer using a good output profile, with the paper white and ink black in effect, view a copy of the image without this on (as your “before” reference), and then apply the edit as an adjustment layer, in a layer set labelled so you know this one or more adjustment layer is output specific (name the layer set” Epson 3880-perceptual-Luster”). That way you can produce multiple output specific edits that do not adjust the underlying image master since all devices may require a different set of tweaks.

When should I use this adjustment though? I'm worried that in adjusting the black point output (shadow detail) to match my home printer this will mess up how it is viewed on the website or when printed by Adorama.com?

It sure could and likely will.

Whats the best way to satisfy all three destinations? Thinking it would be to work on the photo until satisfied and save as a master. Then soft proof and adjust for Adorama prints (if any). Finally take the master and only then adjust the black point levels for my home printer??

Exactly. Work to make the master the best possible. If you can, do this in the raw converter on raw data.