Viewing B&W and Color Prints

[Kirk Gittings]

As my eyes get older, I find that my ability to judge subleties of color has diminished and I wonder if a particular light source for viewing might help. This problem is true whether I am trying to judge the effect of a particular developer on a b&w paper tone, the degree of a selenium tone or I also print vast quantities of color prints for my commercial clients. The problem is especially true when I am tired and printing late into the evening. I have tried warm, cool and color corrected (like they use on light tables) flourescents as well as regular incandescent and the new "full spectrum" incandescents without much help. Today I delivered some color prints to an architect client that looked great under my full spectrum incandescents, but looked way to warm in his office, which was lit with coolwhite flourescents and daylight. This never used to happen to me.

[clay harmon]

Some of the digi-printers here in Houston swear by a screw-in fluorescent bulb that comes in different color temperatures. A specialty lighting store sells the things, and you can buy a bulb that is specifically 4800K or 5000K or even 5500K. What with all the metamarism problems with digital prints, they say this is the only way to reliably judge their output. They generally use the 5000K bulb in their viewing lamp fixtures.

[Bob Fowler]

My wife does a lot of needlepoint. She bought an Ott light at the craft store which is perfect for viewing prints to check color balance. Hers is a floor model (kinda pricey) but there are also less expensive desk models available.

[Tim Curry]

Kirk,

This is a problem every time I print, as I never know in what lighting I will actually be viewing the finished print, unless it is for myself. I think it might be better if you knew in advance the light you would be viewing the prints under. I understand it isn't possible to have "one of everything," but, since lighting is critical when viewing a finished print, it might be a good idea to have a reading of the ambient light if you can manage it. A set of known values in bulbs which cover the usual lighting you would encounter in a home or office might be the only way to deal with it. If you know it will be hung on a wall, you could take a reading off of a gray card for a black & white and be reasonably certain of the final print, because you can duplicate that amount of light when you are printing in your studio.

Color has its own set of problems, as intensity and temperature come into play. How about a color temperature meter? You do need the tax deduction for next year, right? Just add the cost on in a way it isn't too obvious, but since it is crucial to the finished work, the justification seems reasonable. "Pass the savings along." I know this isn't much of a solution, but I don't know of any other way you can be reasonably certain of the final print's values when it is shown.

[Don Bryant]

Kirk,

FWIW, I've just moved into my recently remodeled office studio. When I installed new lighting I included two flourescent fixtures in my suspended ceiling over areas where I retouch prints or need to make critical assement of color. I used Phillips 5000K tubes and it makes all the difference in the world in my color accuity and my judgement of color rendering.

As others have mentioned Ott lamps are also a possibility but I find there output limited when I need a lot of intense light. They are good for a reference lamp in a dimmed down environment for digital editing. My wife likes them for her sewing and fibre arts, she uses the free standing floor model which she can move about when needed. Either way 5000K light sources will help a great deal with your vision and proper perception of color.

Good luck,

Don Bryant

[Michael Mutmansky]

Kirk,

Dump the so-called full 'full spectrum' incandescent lanps. They are merely a marketing gimmick by the lamp manufacturers. What they did was take a normal incandescent lamp (that has a very high color rendering index of nearly 100) and put a bit of blue filtration on it that shifts the color temperature up toward 5000K, which is generally considered a normal noon-day sunlight temperature.

This blue filtration reduces the color rendering index (CRI) of the lamp, and heavily reduces the amount of yellow/reds that will be displayed under the light. If you use this light to color balance, you will probably always be much to heavy on the yellow end under more traditional light sources.

As a professional lighting engineer for my day job, I sometimes find my industry shameful. There are people out there who lare buying these full spectrum lamps with the impression that they will improve their health or quality of life, and the research just doesn't support the claims that these manufacturers have made.

The Ott lamps mentioned do a good job simulating the spectrum of daylight while still having a high CRI, which makes them good for color balancing, unless you are planning to display the lights under incandescent, where they may tend to be a bit too yellow again.

There is no one solution to the issue. I look at a print under incandescent, and North light, and sometimes under fluorescent to get a sense for how it will render under all of these.

---Michael

[Henry Ambrose]

I delivered an Epson print to a client once that looked so green in his office that I almost had a stroke. Fortunately he was a good client and easy-going. I snatched the print from him and told him I would re-print it right away. I did and we both were happy. I counted this as my one lucky break because it could have been someone more prone to judge me incompetent. The first print looked fine under my lighting conditions but pretty horrible under his office lighting. Ever since I've stayed away from those prints for real work. The latest Epsons are better, I hear, but I don't own one of the latest generation. Ever since I've used the Durst Lambda (the best prints I've found) or Fuji Pictro (second best and I own one of these machines) prints for clients and I'm not so anxious about delivering something that might look wrong. If in doubt I make additional prints with alternative interpretations and look at them the next day. Amazing how I can pick the right one given just a little rest for my eyes. I've about convinced myself that working on scans and retouching/correcting/altering files on the computer for extended periods leaves me incapable of fine judgement. It seems like the glowing CRT image erases my ability to view a print critically. All my equipment is excellent quality and carefully calibrated but after I've worked on a scan for 2 or more hours I've looked at it too long to really know if the color is right on a print. Frequent breaks help. Often I order extra prints even with the Lambdas (which I have to pay someone else to make) I feel better picking the best instead of having only one choice. A couple extra $20 prints won't kill my budget - certainly not the way delivering bad work would.

So I think slowing down and picking your prints later might be a good answer. I like to grind out the job and get paid but sometimes slower is better. And after all, if making great prints was real easy then we'd be in big trouble.

[Darin Cozine]

Kirk, I remember reading about someone who made a lightbox with parts from a dichoric enlarger head. This allowed him to adjust the color temp for his own use, as well as show the effects of different lighting to clients.

Something else that may help you understand the lighting you are viewing your print in.. Get a color temperature meter so you can be sure what the ambient light of the room is.

[Kirk Gittings]

Useful tips thank you all! I am not familiar with the OTT lamp. Where does one find them?

Tim, I do own a color temp. meter. I am an architectural photographer and couldn't get by without it, but I don't think reading the clients light sources is the answer. There are simply too many variables even in one office, halogens in the entry, cool or warm flourescents in the hallways with a daylight mix in the senior offices! And then alot of my prints are done for design competitions off premises and who knows what is going to there.

Michael, Thanks for the heads up about the problems with full spectrum bulbs. I will try some of the other suggestions.

Is anyone here in their fifties? I've been at this for 26 years and I find that my eyes adjust to different light sources much slower than they used to.

[Mark Sampson]

As some people have mentioned, the problem is not with your eyes. Current photo materials, analog or digital, show colors differently under different colors of light. I believe this is called "metamerism", and I think it's more of a problem than it used to be. The lighting industry is perfectly happy to produce and sell the ugliest non-full-spectrum lights, too. Perhaps the best way is to set the standard yourself. The lightbox makers offer 'print viewing booths' that use 5000k lamps, some offer tungsten and fluorescent as well. If you balance your prints there, you will at least have a standard... so when your clients view your prints under sodium-vapor parking-lot lamps and complain, you will at least know you did it right.