Inside the Digital Darkroom, 2.0

By Paul D. Parisi

Please visit http://www.paulparisi.com/neccc2004 for the most current version of this presentation.

In the beginning… getting your workflow started.

Once you click the shutter the fun begins. Dealing with the latent image in your digital camera provides the basis for everything else you intended to do. This image, or file, is the negative. We need to take good care of filing, organizing, choosing, reviewing, editing, modifying and preserving our images.

Workflow Step by Step

a. Transfer your images and create the on-line master.

Take card out of camera and insert it into your reader. (I actually purchased a Firewire reader because it is significantly faster than my USB reader. If you are buying a reader and need speed be sure to look for either a Firewire or USB 2.0 device. Older USB 1.1 devices work but are much slower.)

Copy images to the local hard disk. I call this the “local master copy”. I have a folder hierarchy as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 -- Folder hierarchy for image management.

Notice that I have chosen to store images in sequentially numbered folders. I create these folders chronologically as needed. I keep the folder size to just about 4 GB which allows them to easily fit on DVD disks. When a folder is close to 4 GB I create another folder with the next number. I think you will find it easiest to keep the folders to either 600 MB (for CD) or 4 GB (for DVD) so that they easily fit on the media you are going to be using. You can easily determine the size of a folder by right-clicking on it and choosing properties from the pop-up menu.

I separate the JPEG and RAW versions of the images respectively into JPEG and RAW sub-folders. This allows me to easily browse just the JPEG’s with ACDSee to find the right image I want. Browsing RAW images can be quite sluggish even on the fastest computers. My camera has an option to create both RAW and JPEG files at the same time. I always choose this option. If your camera has the option to create RAW files you should really be using RAW. RAW format gives you many more options to correct image problems after you take the shot. But, we will cover more on that later.

b. Create the off-line master.

I recommend that you immediately copy your images to a CD or DVD, creating an off-line master copy. If you do not do this you will be sorry. Perhaps not immediately but someday you will accidentally modify one of the masters you have saved here. If you have it on CD then you can easily restore it. If not… the original is gone forever!

Burning the data to CD or DVD

I have had the best luck using Nero Burning ROM for saving images to writeable CD or rewriteable DVD.

DO NOT use Adaptec/Roxio DirectCD or Nero InCD or other packet writing technologies. These have had problems being read by subsequent technologies. There is also significant risk of losing an entire disk of pictures when you add to it with one of these products. For CDs , I strongly encourage you to make standard ISO-Joliet multisession CD’s on CD-R media. I don’t think you should waste your time recording CD-RW disks for long term storage. It can be quite a bit slower and because CD-Rs are less expensive, it’is just easiest to stay with CD-R.

I do tend to use CD-RW when taking photos to a photo finisher.

If you have moved over to DVD you should also make ISO-Joliet Multisession disks however you can use ReWritable media. I typically use DVD+RW media as it can usually be found quite inexpensively and because the media density is so much higher the recording time is quite acceptable.

Additionally, on my system the entire Cameras folder is automatically copied (replicated) to a large removable USB hard disk and to another remote PC I have connected on my network. In fact, I also replicate the Cameras folder every night to my brother’s computer in another state over my cable modem connection. I use a tool called SmartSync Pro, http://www.smsync.com, which makes easy automatic work of all this replication. It is only about $30 and you should consider using it yourself.

c. Create an index of the images

There are two types of indices--analog and digital. Analog indices are printed on paper and are also known as Contact Prints. Digital indices are stored on the computer. Each have their advantages. Contact sheets are easy to handle and do not require any power. Digital indexes, also known as catalogs, require a computer, but allow you to add descriptive (meta) information to each image or groups of images. For example you can add keywords to your images. You might mark all of the images relating to flowers with the keyword “flower” and in addition mark all the images of roses with the keyword “rose”. You can create as many keywords as you like. Plus catalogs automatically include all of the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data included in your original image, which includes time and date the image was made, the focal length of the lens you used, the shutter speed, the f-stop and much, much more. Of course you can search all of this information to easily locate an image quickly.

Contact Sheets

If you want to go the analog route I recommend printing out a nice index-print/contact-sheet. Typically I like to print these out in a similar size to a 35 mm negative onto Epson Photo Glossy paper. This paper is relatively inexpensive and is available at Costco for only $19.95 for 120 sheets. I add these printouts to a portfolio book making them very easy to find and store.

If I am creating an index print I tend not to rotate images or delete images. I include all of them on the index print so I can preserve the context of the shoot and also so the indexes look pretty being uniformly all the same on the index page.

Be sure to include the image filename with each thumbnail as well as the disk name on which each page of images are contained. That way when a client has questions about an image you can easily identify the correct file. I tend to keep the disks in their original Jewel boxes clearly labeled with the volume name on the disc itself using a permanent Sharpie marker.

Here is an example contact sheet as produced by ACDSee 6:

1. ThumbsPlus 6.0

ThumbsPlus is my current favorite image cataloging software. I catalog and keyword all of my images. You tell ThumbsPlus which folders (or disks) to catalog and it goes and does it. After the cataloging is complete I open it and add my keywords and rotate the images as required. This gives me a very easy to access on-line catalog of all of my images. ThumbsPlus also has the ability to print out contact-sheets if needed.

2. ACDSee 6.0

While ACDSee has good options for creating contact-sheets and catalogs, I typically do not use it for that. I love it to navigate and review images, it seems to be the most efficient way to do so. FotoSlate integrates with ACDSee and allows for the printing of an entire page of images of differing sizes using pre-designed layouts. This can be very handy when creating wallet size and other common size prints.

3. Photoshop 7 or CS

The Photoshop Browser is nice and does many of the things mentioned in the other products. However, I typically use the browser in Photoshop to navigate to open the correct file.

d. Getting to work.

I usually copy interesting images into a working area in JPEG format. (Remember, never work directly on your local on-line master copies.) I review these copies of candidate images in detail and choose which I want to publish for proofing. I tend to use BreezeBrowser by Chris Breeze to create web-based proof pages. I open BreezeBrowser and navigate to the working folder containing all the images I am interested in. Within BreezeBrowser I can easily rotate, delete or do whatever to any of these images because they are only working copies. Typically I delete all out-of-focus or mis-composed images. I typically do not remove the underexposed images because I have the RAW images where underexposure can easily be corrected. (Remember, with digital, when in doubt underexpose). I do rotate images for proof presentation on my web site. This prevents clients from having to flip their monitor on its side to get a good look at a landscape format image.

If a client is interested in reviewing the images – make web proofs of the subset you want to show them. Have the client choose the images they want. Copy the master RAW files into your working area.

Convert the RAW image into Photoshop PSD format. I used to rely on BreezeBrowser for all of my RAW conversion needs. Occasionally I still do. However, with the release of Photoshop CS, Adobe has added the ability to directly import RAW images from within Photoshop. Now I use Photoshop CS. As far as CS is concerned it is a worthwhile upgrade. However, I have found that it seems a little buggy. I am sure this will be fixed once the first update is released.

Now that we have the image in Photoshop, save it as a PSD file. The RAW converters typically produce a 16-bit image. Photoshop 7 can do a few things with 16-bit images while CS can do almost anything with 16-bit images. Keeping an image in 16-bit is best. Always do as much as you can at the highest quality level. Converting from 16 to 8-bit throws away significant information and you never want to do that. I keep the image in 16-bit and only convert it to 8-bit when necessary.

We will cover the details on editing and printing as we continue. For now this is the point at which you will edit the image. Correct any color issues, levels, clone or heal areas. Then crop and size it for final output. I tend to make a copy of the image before I am going to crop it, which I consider to be a destructive action, in that it throws away data that I may, in the future, want. It is important to backup the results of your work. I have a regular backup routine for all of my files, but especially for the final versions of my images. You can copy data to CD or DVD as we did with the source files, or copy them to a second hard disk drive or implement a tape backup strategy. I do them all. Finally we need to add these images to our catalog. If you have your cataloging software configured to catalog the entire parent folder, above as My Pictures, then all you have to do is execute the cataloging update function in your catalog software.

Image Size – Cropping and Resizing

Cropping should be reserved as one of the final steps prior to printing.

If you are trying to produce a standard size photo you may need to crop your images. Simply select the Crop tool from the tool box.

This is the Crop tool.

Just drag out the area you want to crop to and click inside the marquee and that is it. I find it very difficult to get the image to be a precise size using this technique. If you want a lot more control you can simply enter values into the Crop Tool Information Palette.

Here I have entered the size for an 8x10 inch photo. The crop tool will now be constrained to a selection with a ratio of 8 to 10, try it, it is pretty neat. You can select a large or small portion of the image and the selection will automatically be sized to the size you entered, in this case 8 x 10 inches.

But if you stop and think about, what happens to the image resolution? This is especially important if you are cropping to only a small area of the initial image. If you do not enter a value in the Resolution box in the crop palette the image will be linearly scaled to the desired size. So, if you start with a 300 dpi image that is 4 inches wide by 4 inches tall (i.e. 1200 x 1200 pixels) and you crop one quarter (on the horizontal) of the image we will be scaling one quarter of 1200 pixels to fit into 8 inches. This will result in an image of 300 x 375 (the same ratio as 8 x 10) stretched over 8 x 10 inches resulting in a resolution of only 37.5 dpi. This is not at all enough to be of any use. Typically for proper output we need to have between 200 and 320 dpi.

Now if you were to do the same operation but enter 300 into the Resolution box on the crop palette the image will end up at a full 300 dpi resolution (2400 x 3000 dpi or pixels?) at a full 8 x 10 inches in size. This sounds pretty good and it is, if you are working with images that require very little cropping. However if you enter a value for resolution, you end up making two simultaneous changes as you crop. You are first up-res’ing the image and then cropping to the selection you made. Photoshop does a pretty good job at up-res’ing however there is a better way to enlarge an image. Products like Genuine Fractals do a great job of enlarging images. However if you do not want to invest in Fractals you can use a simple trick inside of Photoshop. The trick is only up-res’ing by 10% at a time. For example if our image is 1200 x 1200 at 300 dpi and we want to crop and still have the resolution stay at 300 dpi we would do as follows. First we need to determine what size we want to make the final image. We know from the example that we want the final image to be 8 inches wide at 300 dpi, or 8 x 300 = 2400 pixels wide in total. Remember we have an image that is only 1200 pixels wide and we want to make it 2400 pixels wide. (Notice how I carefully dropped the “at 4 inches.” It makes it a lot easier to comprehend.) So what do we need to do? In order to make 1200 pixels into 2400 pixels we need to increase the image’s DPI.

Using the trick to increase an image’s size in small increments, about 10% each, you can get a much higher quality result. You do this by entering 1320 (1200 x 1.1) in the width field of the Image Size dialog box.

As you can see this will result in an image that is still at 300 dpi but is now 4.4 inches wide. We repeat that process again, typing 1452 (1320 x 1.1) into the width field. This results in an image 4.84 inches wide. Remember we need to get to 8 inches wide, or rather 2400 pixels wide. We will need to do this operation five more times, once for each of the following steps: 1597, 1757, 1933, 2126, 2339 and finally 2400 (note in this example this last step did not need to be a full 10%). So we just took the long way to getting the image to 2400 pixels wide and 8 inches wide. Magic! Try this at home. Take an image and scale it up in one step then do the same by scaling it only 10% each time and then compare the results. I think you will be impressed at how much of a quality difference there is.

Also, if you think this is a bit tedious, you are right! You could create an Action to scale an image 10%.

Fixing Image Problems and Retouching

Fixing exposure — dealing with over- and under-exposure

You might normally want to jump right to using levels or curves to fix an exposure problem. While this is not a bad idea, always remember that the Levels function has the potential to throw away information. You might like to consider some of the following ideas.

As you can see in this first image the flash was set much too high so the photo is very over-exposed. How can we fix this? Again one answer is Levels. However, the idea here is to make a duplicate of the primary layer, which, at this point, should be your only layer.

Notice the added layer named Background copy. Now the good stuff. For over-exposure change the Blend Mode from Normal to Multiply. Like magic you get this.

Perhaps a bit more as follows:

As you can see this is a dramatic difference! For exaggeration I have made six copies each multiplied over the other. You can easily go too far so just be careful. Also be aware that you can tweak any of the layers by adjusting both Opacity and Fill to get the effect you desire. So, to summarize: to fix over-exposure – multiply.

Now the same goes for under-exposed images but we use Screen as the Blend Mode. Look at the following images:

Now look at this image:

I added one layer with Screen and that did not seem to be enough and two layers seemed to be too much. So I simply changed the Opacity on the second layer I added. Again almost magic, heck it is magic! Remember: underexposure – use Screen.

So what about Levels? I tend to only use levels for quick and dirty corrections or as a step just before printing. If I want to see what kind of detail is in the image I load up the levels dialog and play with the sliders and see what happens?

Just before printing I will typically load up the levels dialog and adjust for the shadows and highlights as follows:

This image has generally good exposure to start with. I would only consider moving the white levels input triangle to the left a bit.

This picks up the whites just a bit.

Curves

Curves can be difficult to work with if you don’t have a target in the image. I include a target in at least a couple of the shots. For example:

Notice that the black patch is a bit too grey… this shows that the image is over-exposed. Here in the curves dialog we use the three eye-droppers in the bottom right corner of the dialog. They are as follows: the left most is for pure black, the middle one is for 18% gray and the right one is pure white. Click on each eye-dropper and click in appropriate area of the target. Here are the results:

Black only

Black and Gray

Now with Black, Gray and White sampled off of the target.

Now comes the important part. Notice the Save button in the dialog? Simply click it and save this Curves set. Now I can easily apply this adjustment to any image I choose using the Load button in this dialog. Especially the images taken during this shoot under the same lighting conditions. Pretty cool!

Removing blemishes

Before:

After:

As you can see here all of the freckles are gone. This took less than five minutes using the mostly the Healing Brush and a little bit of the Offset Clone Tool. We will demonstrate this in our session.

If I were doing this for a final quality image I would probably do a little work on the under chin lines and some of the other lines in the face as well.

Color Correction

Step-by-step

First -- Setup Photoshop correctly.

Second – Setup Photoshop correctly.

Third – Setup Photoshop correctly.

Fourth --Calibrate your monitor.

Fifth --Calibrate your monitor.

Sixth --Calibrate your monitor.

Seventh, Eight and Ninth -- Calibrate your printer.

Not to be too funny, but these steps are really, really important. But here are the steps you should take:

1. Configure the Color Settings from the Edit menu. It should end up looking as follows:

If you would like to download these settings please visit http://www.paulparisi.com/neccc2004 and look for the Color Settings link.

2. Configure the Eyedropper Sample size. Click on the Eyedropper and change the Sample Size to 3 x 3 in the Eyedropper Info Palette. This gives a much more general sample when using the eyedropper.

3. Calibrate your monitor. I use OptiCAL by ColorVision (http://www.colorvision.com) to calibrate my monitor; it includes a monitor Spyder which attaches by suction cups to the front of the monitor and actually reads the colors that it is displaying. You run through this process and their software creates an ICC profile for your monitor which corrects for any inaccuracies in its color. Remember to do this in low light. I.e., try not to have any lights shining directly on your screen!

4. Calibrate your printer. I use Profile Prism from Digital Domain, Inc. (http://www.ddisoftware.com/prism). It is very inexpensive, well under $100, and comes with a precision reference target and some software. The process goes as follows: you open a digital file of the target they sent along and print it with no correction or modification. (I actually have a step-by-step guide for this on my web site as I found the manual confusing.) Once you have this printout you need to let it dry overnight, don’t skip this step or you will be unhappy.

Now that the image is dry, cut it out as indicated on the printout. Now we need to move over to our flatbed scanner, lay both the reference target they sent and the printout you just made on the glass. Scan them both at the same time as one large file. Again do not include any automatic or color correction in the scanning process. We now load this image into the Prism software, indicating where each target is on the scan and it goes to work producing an ICC profile for your printer on that specific paper. What it does is compares what it know the reference target should be to what it is getting from the scanner and notes that correction. Then it reads the target you printed and applies the scanner correction to it and then finally calculates the correction necessary to make your printout match the reference target. Pretty cool! Be sure you make a note of all of the settings you made when you printed your image. Include: dpi, paper type and any other setting you may choose. Also, when you save the profile add those details into the name. This will help you know that when you are using Epson Matte at 1440 dpi to use that profile. You should profile each combination you plan to use. For example you should have a profile for Epson Matte at 720, 1440 and 2880 dpi, if you use those resolutions. It will save you time and frustration in the future.

Selecting and Masking

Ansel Adams is famous for spending hours in the darkroom printing an image. Typically he would cut masks out of cardboard to use as dodging or burning tools while exposing the print. It was not unusual for him to have many pieces of cardboard for an image. Plus he made meticulous notes as to what he did while printing them.

In Photoshop, Masks let you work on one area of an image without affecting another area of the same image. If you keep that in mind, masks will become very easy to understand. The easiest way to get started with masks is to use the Quick Mask tool:

Clicking on this tool changes you into Quick Mask mode. Now you can use the Eraser, the Paintbrush, the Paint Bucket, the Pencil tool and any other tool you want to paint on your image. Don’t worry, this is only creating what will become a selection, it is not modifying your image in any way. I can easily paint the areas I want selected and erase the areas I do not want selected. I can easily zoom in and out and make easy corrections to my selection. (If you have every heard of ruby-lith this is the same thing, just much much easier.)

As you can see here I have done a quick erasure of the facial area. I took a few extra seconds and zoomed in on the right side of the cheek and worked on that edge. Typically I would work carefully to erase or paint in where the selection needs to be. But what is the actual selection here?

The selection is the part that is not opaqued by the ruby color as more clearly shown when I switch out of Quick Mask mode.

If you look closely you can see the dashed line roughly around the face. That is the selection. I can easily switch back to the Quick Mask mode to make any corrections. Additionally once you have spent all this time making a mask or selection it is wise to save that selection. Many people call these selections Alpha Channels. Don’t let that confuse you. It is still only a selection. Here is an example of saving a selection:

Excellent Black and White

Here is a color photo of the US flag in color and then rendered with various options:

Original

Converted by choosing Grayscale
from the Mode menu.

Converted using the channel mixer,
+100 green only.

Converted using the channel mixer,
+100 blue only.

Converted using the channel mixer,
+100 red only.

Converted using the channel mixer,
minus 100 red, + 100 green, +100 blue.

Converted to LAB color,
displaying only Lightness channel.

As you can see, by a close comparison of the above images you can achieve a variety of different effects. Suffice it to say, you have quite a bit of flexibility when converting to black and white. Photos that contain natural elements typically have an even larger degree of change.

Don’t forget about the over- and under-exposure techniques which use screen and multiply blend modes to get the right black and white. Simply make a duplicate of the layer and blend it using the appropriate blend mode and opacity.

Sharpening

Sharpening in itself could be a whole book. Here I am going to go over some basics. First save your image prior to sharpening with all of the layers intact to preserve them. Then you need to flatten the image, i.e. merge all of the layers into one layer. (Be advised - you should only sharpen after you have made any and all corrections or have completed any resizing. Correcting or resizing a sharpened image can have very poor results. In fact I usually save the flattened image under a new name so that I don’t inadvertently overwrite my layered original.) Once I am done sharpening I always save my sharpened images with a descriptive name like; Jackie USM 85-1-4, indicating the setting I used in the Unsharp Mask Dialog. You need to be very careful with sharpening. A little bit goes a long way and it is easy to over sharpen and get poor results.

Original Image:

Just right! Notice the eyes and the hair in front of her right eye.

Too much Unsharp Mask (USM). Notice the skin!

Soft Focus

Here is a technique to create a stunning soft focus effect. Open an image, flatten it. Make a duplicate of the image layer.

From the Filter menu select Blur and then Gaussian Blur, enter 30 pixels for the blur radius.

Now from the Layer menu select Add Layer Mask, Reveal All.

Now choose Fill… from the edit menu, from the Contents drop-down choose 50% Gray.

Voila! Magic! Now for the piece-de-resistance, let’s select the paint brush tool from the toolbox. Make sure the color Black is selected, and carefully paint over the eyes to reveal sharp eyes.

Compound Images

With digital we have the ability to combine two images very easily. Take two images of a static scene, one over-exposed and a second one under-exposed. You will want to be sure to do this using a tripod. Here is an example:

Over-exposed image

Under-exposed image.

Open the under-exposed image in Photoshop. Select All in and Copy it. Now open the over-exposed image, and Paste the underexposed over the over-exposed image.

Now from the Select menu, choose Color Rage… and then choose Shadows from the Select drop-down.

Choose Feather… from the Select menu; enter a Feather radius of 2 pixels. Click OK. Now from the Layer menu choose Add Layer Mask and then Hide Selection.

Then, finally flatten the image. You have successfully added merged the two images. For this particular image I might duplicate the background and then change the mode to Multiply and change the Opacity to about 50%.

I wish I had used fill flash…

Open an image in Photoshop.

Use one of the previous techniques above to deal with an underexposed image to manipulate the image so that the areas that would have been affected by fill flash are exposed as you would like them. You will probably have some blow out in other areas of the image. In this example I have used two Screen layers, one at 100% opacity and a second at 39% opacity.

Next I flattened the image and then selected the History brush and chose the original image as the History source and painted in the background. Voila!

Closing

There is quite a bit of information here. I hope you find it helpful. Please feel free to email me with any questions at help@paulparisi.com. Please note that you saw this information at NECCC.

Be sure to check http://www.paulparisi.com/neccc2004 for the most up-to-date version of this document. As this is being written and printed in April of 2004 I am sure it will be updated by the time you actually read it. Also, please do not make unauthorized copies of this document. This document is copyrighted.