Room full of people - Help!

[JimC]

Yes, I should have been a little nicer, since it was only a quick edit of a low rez file (and pushing a jpeg like that is going to cause some issues). Sorry about that.

Those white shirts sure stand out after the edit though (that would be my biggest concern, even if the posterization and color casts could be avoided), and it was brightened enough to blow some highlights in the white shirts (you can see the overexposed areas using some editors with a feature for displaying blown areas, without the need to measure them, and most monitors are going to show some loss of detail in the fabric in surrounding areas that are almost blown, too). It's pretty bright. I'm not talking about the text on the shirts, I mean the shirts themselves.

There are not a lot of blown highlights, but portions of the shirts are still blown in some areas, and the shirts are bright enough to be a distraction from my perspective.

Of course, what's acceptable and what's not is always subjective. A few blown highlights are not a problem in most cases, unless they detract from the image and the OP has a full size image to work with that he could avoid that kind of thing with.

I just wanted to voice another opinion on it (I sure wouldn't go that bright. since I think it focuses too much attention on the shirts).

[Ronnie948]

Hi Jimc, Hi Mark,

That first picture was just to see if His lab would be able to color correct the picture when they printed it. It was not meant to be printed or used other then a little test to see if he was OK on his project. He is. He still needs to watch out that they do not cut off a subject by cropping. His print size seems to be 11.486 wide & 8.653 high. If they crop to 8 X 10 or 5 X 7 there will be a problem. When I have a print that I like and it is very close to the sides and I need a 5 X 7 print etc. I will put a black border around the area to be viewed. It works great and I never had a complaint yet.

Ronnie

This a little better?

[JimC]

That's much better to my eyes.

[Ronnie948]

Hi jimC,

This is how I do the border if needed.

Ronnie

[JimC]

Let me show you something real quick, using your last edit.

See the black splotches I circled on the white shirts on the left side of this screen? Those are areas that the highlights are blown in (resulting in loss of detail in the fabric). I've got an editor setup to show me those kinds of things (turns black on overexposed areas, white on underexposed areas, similar to how ACR can show you the same thing. It's measuring the actual RGB values of those locations in the image, and sees them as maxed out.

Note the X I placed on the pole on the right hand side of this screen shot? That's an area I measured with an eyedropper. It's got a bit of a color cast to it. I circled the measured values. I see the same color cast on some of the white shirts on the sides, etc.

That's still much better (not as much posterization, with the color looking a bit better to my eyes compared to the previous color cast). But, for print purposes, I'd still try to get it a bit closer if it were me.

I know -- just a quick edit. I just wanted to show you those areas. in case your monitor (due to contrast or calibration issues, etc.) isn't letting you see them.

What the editor is seeing for areas of blown highlights, color casts, etc., has nothing to do with my monitor calibration versus yours, since it's measuring the actual image, not how it's being rendered on my display.

[JimC]

Of course, with the lighting, shadows, clothing, etc., it would be tough to get it perfect. I just didn't know if your monitor was letting you see those kinds of things or not and wanted to point it out. What counts is how the finished print looks after the OP gets it done.

[Ronnie948]

Hi jimC,

It looks very good on my monitor and it printed up very good. I'm sure Mark had a real chore getting that lively group together. I just hope he uses a good lab that will do nice prints for him.

Ronnie