Testing uploading. please don't look!

ziggys · #1 2008-03-06, 11:32am

Oh gosh. Too many views of nothing to see.

I'm sorry. The last one was so bad I could not keep it here.
Here is the first one I felt good enough to leave on LE. I know the background is awful. But if anyone has any thoughts/ feedback please don't hesitate to say. I have a long ways to go but this is the best so far.

ziggys · #2 2008-03-15, 10:02am

Hmmm, When I examine the bead here and the actual bead I see that there is too much black around the colors, and the silver actually looks gold on my bead not silver like it is here. Sigh...
Levels elude me still. But that's got to be the next step.
And maybe a higher F-stop so that it has more depth of field? Thinking out loud...
But hey! I was able to upload it, which is an accomplishment for me.

And here I am having a conversation with myself. I'm going off the deep end.....

StOrM · #3 2008-03-15, 10:32am

I think you are doing a great job.....I like the bead very much and if you don't like it you can send it my way and i will have a closer look at it

(wink, wink, nudge nudge)

ziggys · #4 2008-03-16, 8:20am

Quote:

Originally Posted by StOrM

I think you are doing a great job.....I like the bead very much and if you don't like it you can send it my way and i will have a closer look at it

(wink, wink, nudge nudge)

Send it your way 'ey? That is the best compliment I could ever get. You made my day.

,

cherie · #5 2008-05-01, 5:11pm

Ohh...you said eh..or ey..which is the same as ey?

I grew up in the U.P. in MI and I say "eh" a lot..and am constantly getting teased about it..

cherie · #6 2008-05-01, 5:12pm

Very Pretty bead btw

Dale M. · #7 2008-05-03, 8:41am

What you are experiencing is a color saturation situation. Also you probably do not have your monitor colors adjusted right!.... IF camera sees a object a certain way, it will reproduce image just like it sees it.... IF you see colors different on computer screen than camera sees colors, it means computer screen is not reproducing colors faithfully....

F stop does not effect focus... F stop is control of light. Colors is in digital cameras "white balance"... once camera sees and reproduce color "temperatures" faithfully, then you can adjust monitor colors to get faithful reproduction in the image.

Key to things are to hold "object" next to computer screen and adjust screen colors to match "object" once you get computer screens color corrected, you than can work with "color" balances and correction..

Try this... load a large image of bead... Get into your Monitors color controls and also the color balances in computers Display setting (in Control Panel) if you can get computers "image" color to match the physical object, you will be getting a lot closer to getting correct color reproduction into you 'printed" images and your "display" image...

There was a good discussion on this a few months ago with Mike Jordan pretty much describing on how to get all your "IMAGE REPRODUCTION to balance... only problem is you can not control poor color reproduction on "others" computer screens... But if object, your screen color and your printers colors (yes printer too) match you can feel confident your images have best possible colors...

Check out this thread....

http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=77349

Remember also that your images on your system are all that matter because through the uploading process and storing and resizing processes and transmission on internet things are going to change and you can prove this by going into a split screen or overlay mode and put original picture on screen and internet provided image side by side and you will see vast difference....

So don't judge by image quality on internet... Go with best "quality image" quality in your system.... Once you press the upload button you have lost all control of image quality...

Funny thing is I use a piece of software called IRFANVIEW (free) and it has feature called "Auto Adjust Colors" and it goes a long way to making image look a lot better then anything else I use as tools (but most of my image work is automobile-technology related)...

Dale

Mike Jordan · #8 2008-05-03, 9:28am

Dale is right that you have no control over how other people see your images. From what I've seen with hundreds of monitors, most are actually close to being color corrected out of the box. But most people have the contrast and brightness cranked up... which is ok if you are on your computer in a normally lighted room (it can be a killer to the eyes if you like a dark room). If you edit images based on what you see on a monitor that has the contrast and brightness set to high, your image is going to look dark and dingy on a calibrated monitor, which will also affect how the colors look. When I first calibrated my monitor I found I had it too bright. When I set it according to the calibration unit I have, my monitor looked to dark. But as I got use to it, I can see how a lot of monitors are way to bright.

From your image, my first guess would be that you under exposed by 3/4's of a fstop and my second guess would be your monitor image is bright and contrasty.

You mentioned Levels, so I'm going to assume you are using Photoshop. If you want a quick and easy method of setting Levels on an image, try this:

When you take the picture, put a piece of black paper (just about anything black as long as it isn't reflective like glass or metal) and a piece of white paper (white cotton or other cloth is also good) where they will be in your image, but you can crop them out. They don't have to be big pieces, 1/2" square or so will work.

Take your picture as you normally do and bring the image into Photoshop. Open up the Levels screen and make sure you have the Preview box checked. You should see 3 eyedroppers. Click on the right one. This is for highlights. Click on the white spot. Click on the left eyedropper. This is for shadows. Click on the black spot. You should see your image shift in contrast and maybe brightness. It should now be a lot closer to the proper levels for the image. If it is, click Ok. If it isn't, you can click cancel.

I've used this quick and dirty method for a long time and it does get it close if the black and white objects are close to being true black and white. A lot of people use Curves. I have to admit that in the 10 or 11 years that I've been using Photoshop, I've never been able to learn to use Curves. Every time I try, I get that Curves line so twisted and tied up trying to get my image right, that I just get frustrated. The good thing is that anything you can do in Curves can be done in Levels and other controls of Photoshop, so I've learned to use them when I need to and I leave Curves to others.

Mike

ziggys · #9 2008-05-03, 4:36pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by cherie

Ohh...you said eh..or ey..which is the same as ey?

I grew up in the U.P. in MI and I say "eh" a lot..and am constantly getting teased about it..

Cherie, I missed this somehow until just now. I grew up outside Chicago so it must be a nothern thing.

Do you drink Pop instead of Soda?

ziggys · #10 2008-05-03, 5:16pm

Dale and Mike, Now I'm curious what you see on YOUR monitors. Are the lines around the shapes silver or gold?

Mike, For awhile I used to turn down the brightness and contrast on my monitor. I couldn't believe how glaring it was once my eyes are accustomed to the night! During the day I would turn them back up. Maybe I shouldn't.

I find that I get bad headaches if I use my computer at night before bed so I've almost given up night time computer use. I'll try Dale's suggestion and see if that fixes it once and for all.

Thank you for the great instructions on Photoshop and "Auto" levels. Funny you never got curves. I can't get levels and was/am ready to give up. But I will give it one more try with your notes in front of me.

Dale, I did get Irfan-ware and really like it. I was amazed at well the auto-focus button worked. Maybe I won't have to do anything more than that and adjusting my monitor!!! Well I can dream can't I?

Either way, I will try everything you both suggested and get back to you on my success... or lack there of.

Mike Jordan · #11 2008-05-03, 8:56pm

Angela, I find if I don't turn a light on at night, it really bothers my eyes looking at the monitor.

On my monitor the lines are gray. What I assume are reds look brown to me. I brought a copy into Photoshop and did a couple of level adjustments on it and when I got it where I think it's suppose to be, based on your comment of the lines being gold, the brown areas are a red.

Mike

Dale M. · #12 2008-05-05, 7:31am

MY computer room/office is in a converted bedroom and I always have overhead light on in room... Sometime I even have additional desk lamp on over computer desk.... I find more ambient light in "work area" and computer screen is actually easier on eyes than trying to work is dark room and turning computer screen up or down...... Trying to change screen setting all the time is always a pain to get it the "same" every time... Room light is just the flick of a switch...

Old eyes need a lot more light....

Dale

Dale M. · #13 2008-05-05, 7:55am

For those wondering what you can do with IRFANVIEW and a few simple "auto adjust" mouse click...

Pane #1 is Ziggy's original image take off web.

Pane#2 is Irfanviews "Auto adjust colors"

Pane #3 is Irfanviews "Sharpen Image" (of pane number #2)...

No other editing was done ....

Panorama was also created in Irfanview..

Dale

ziggys · #14 2008-05-21, 8:41pm

Just a tardy quick update. I tried to caliberate my monitor twice, and got side tracked learning all about XP. I miss Windows 3.1, 95 and even 98!

I used Adobe Gamma in control panel. Had to use a restore point after, talk about hurting my eyes and screwing things up worse! I didn't really understand what I was doing, and didn't bother to research it to death like I always have to do in order to learn anything on PC's. Did I mention I'm buying a a Mac the next time I buy a computer???

Still need to adjust computer image colors (somehow) to a large bead image and physical bead.

Still need to dust my camera off, set up lighting, and take a picture with white and black in it.

Dale, I was surprised at how different the bead image was when I compared it in image software, and after uploading here. I really like what Irfan-view did to improve this bead picture.

Mike I would have liked to see what you did in photo-shop. It's not an easy one to try and get right. Maybe I'll send it to you.

One thing I know for sure. I like melting glass a whole lot and I don't like taking photographs a whole lot.

Oh! I also now know for sure, that it's best to keep the lights on at night when using the computer.