Digital Wedding Prints: Proper Viewing Light

[todd frederick]

Today I made up a few prints from my last wedding to give to a

friend who attended the wedding. The images look fine on the

monitor and and the prints are good under house lighting, but when I

gave them to her at an outdoor luncheon today the color was much

more yellow than what I see under artificial light. They did not

look good outside!

 

It also varies with the type of paper used. The yellow shift was on

Epson heavyweight matte, and there was a slight blue/purple shift

under outdoors light on premium luster.

 

I have sometimes noticed this with film prints as well.

 

I make my prints in a room that uses slightly warm, energy-saver

lamps, with a mixture of diffused daylight.

 

I also try to evaluate my prints under a normal house lighting since

that is probably the quality of light under which they will be

viewed by the clients.

 

Any suggestions regarding a light source for evaluating the color

balance of a digital print?

[timcorridan]

no suggestions, but i agree. i am alot happier if i view my photos at home than in the parking lot. tim (film user)

[todd frederick]

Tim,

 

I agree....this is not going to be a prize winning question, but it's a problem I've had with both film and digital prints, and I think it is something we should discuss. I try to tell my clients to view their proofs and to display their enlargements in an "average" home lighting environment, but, what does that really mean.

 

I'm guessing that this question is not going to get many responses, but I think it is important, for both film and digital photographers.

 

Oh well!

[fotografz]

Ott Daylight balanced lamps. Available at craft stores .. and probably can be Googled.

 

I have one over my Epson printer tray.

[david_schilling___chicago_]

Are you using software like spyder to calibrate your monitor?

[bruce_rubenstein]

The issue that Todd is dealing with is metamerism. It is a characteristic of the color materials in the print and not a color management issue. Inkjet printers that use pigment, rather than dye, based inks are less effected by the lighting the print is viewed under. In my work area I use daylight balanced fluorescent tubes. When buying fluorescent lights, you need to check their CRI ratting, the closer to 100, the closer to daylight.

[ben_rubinstein___mancheste]

My digitally printed Fuji Pro paper and Kodak Endura look fine under any lighting, I hate Metamerism, apart from cost, the reason why inkjet will not be an option for me for a while.

 

Another related issue is lighting levels. If you view prints in a dark room then the blacks often look blocked up where even switching on a light can make an incredible difference to the brightness of the prints. I'm always slightly nervous that my clients will view their proof album at home in a dark room and complain about the dull prints.

[fotografz]

The Epson 2200 pretty much solved the metamerism issue (but not 100%). We just secured

the Epson 2400 which supposedly cured it completely, AND solved the Bronzing issue on

papers like Premium Luster. Metamerism is no longer an issue.

[paul_sokal___dallas__tx]

Marc,

 

I'd love to hear about your experience with the 2400 as you gain some. I've been drooling over it since it came out but been waiting on more opinions I trust to pull the trigger. The color of any physical object will change based on the light shone on it-simply and basic physics. Obviously some things more than others. Ben, my understanding was the opposite of yours, unless I misread your post, that metamerism was a problem with pigment inks, not dye inks, which to me makes more sense, but maybe I'm thinking about the bronzing. Set me straight.

 

Paul

[todd frederick]

Thank you for the information. I was not aware of some of these problems. I use an Epson 1280 but I don't know too much about ink variations. I'll check into getting a daylight balanced lamp for the printer area.

[todd frederick]

PS: I've been using my laptop for imaging and it seems that the monitor screen can not be adjusted. Screen position make a big difference as well. I often need to hook up a seperate monitor for color/density comparisons. That's not really my problem. It's the changes I see when viewing the same print under different light sources. Thanks again.

[michael_bradtke]

Todd

 

Metamerism happens on all types of prints to a lesser or greater degree.

 

I have had labs ask me what color temp my (at the time) Cibachromes where going to be viewed under so they could print them for that color of light. That was in 1980

So this is not a new thing and it is not something that happens to just inkjet prints.

What can you do to fix the problem? I am not sure. What I do is view my prints under 5600K. I then try to show my clients their proofs and final prints under the same color temp light.

Everyone has to come up with there own method of dealing with metamerism

[zapped]

Todd, I'm curious why you output to inkjet at all? Even a consumer print from a Fujitsu Frontier or Noritsu digital printer will produce excellent proofs or final prints onto Fuji Crystal Archive for less than the cost of inkjet paper and ink.

[todd frederick]

I do it because I enjoy it.