Program Issues

<p>Hello all,<br>

While doing some post work the other day I noticed a major difference in the programs I use. I use Windows photo gallery to weed out the blurry, not in the right position, eyes closed, etc. because of the ability to quickly flip through and ease of deletion. I then use picture project, and lightroom to edit. When I was flipping back and forth I noticed a major issue for me, and want you guys to chime in.<br>

The amount of noise and general distrortion between the programs is quite dramatic. My problem with this is, when I send out my work to the people to proof, a lot of them are using Widows Photo gallery as their default program(I called and confirmed this). I also looked through the other programs installed on my computer with similar results.<br>

Now just a general complaint, I can not instruct people to download trial versions or buy software to see the "Actual" "Better" product. I do not know where to go with this but I am concerned that the work they are looking at is not how I thought it was going out.<br>

Thoughts?<br>

Thanks.</p>

 

<p>Any photo viewed in non-color managed software or on an uncalibrated monitor will look different than the final product will. I would simply add a blurb to this effect when sending out proofs. If they care to, they will find a way to view it in a controlled environment, or if they have done business with you before they will hopefully know the quality of the final product will exceed the quality of the proof.</p>

<p>While you have no control over the monitor and software your clients use to view images, if you transmit well-adjusted images in sRGB color space, you will do well enough to get by. The key is to make well-adjusted images. That requires two things - a calibrated monitor and software which is color-managed.</p>

<p>From what you describe, you could probably get by with Adobe Lightroom ($300) for opening RAW files, adjusting them in a color-managed environment, and saving them in a format suitable for transmittal. You might want Photoshop eventually, but Lightroom will do nearly all you need.</p>

<p>Monitors, particularly LCD monitors, need initial calibration with monthly follow-up adjustments. You need an hardware device to read the screen, which comes with software to generate a calibration profile, which is used by the system and color-managed programs to display images accurately.</p>

<p>There are many calibration systems to choose from. I prefer X-Rite (formerly Gretag-MacBeth) for their accuracy and straight-forward software. The cost ranges from about $500 for a basic system to over $1500 for one which will also calibrate scanners, projectors and printers.</p>