Red – Make them look. Make something new.

Saw the play Red on Sunday

Made a big impression (positive) on me

I suspect it’s one of those things you either

Love or hate

If you love art, you’ll probably like it

.

Two Lines from Red Stuck with Me

Make them look

Make something new 

LOOK at ME!!

Not anything new here, but

I hope that it made you look

Calla Lily made with wide open macro lens

Only the water drop & tip in focus

From this year’s “crop” in my front yard garden

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Synopsis – Red

Line by Rothko -

“There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend… One day the black will swallow the red.” 

Mark Rothko is in his New York studio in 1958-9, painting a group of murals for the expensive and exclusive Four Seasons restaurant. He gives orders to his assistant, Ken, as he mixes the paints, makes the frames, and paints the canvases. Ken, however, brashly questions Rothko’s theories of art and his acceding to work on such a commercial project.

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This is a play that makes you think; especially if you’re interested in how art is made

Put another way – if the audience isn’t thinking, then they’re not getting much from the experience

Too bad for them, too – 90 minutes and NO intermission (no escape)

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After my post the other day that discussed color models and

Used the color red to make the point that

Just saying a color’s “Name” isn’t very meaningful

Red?

I was really amused by a scene where Rothko was hurling

Different red color packets at his assistant while saying

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Contrast part 4: Luminosity and Lightness

Part 4 of a continuing new blog series

“All About Image Contrast for Photographers”

.

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Just as contrast itself comes in several “flavors”

1. Tonal contrast

2. Color contrast

The same is true of lightness (brightness)

1. Measured by a device (light meter for example)

2. Perceived by a human’s vision system

Since brightness is “the stuff from which contrast is made“

It’s important to understand how it is

Measured (and perceived)

If we want to control contrast in our images

.

Click to enlarge

Imagine Monet at a field of red poppies palette in hand

(& you at his side with your camera)

Luminosity & Lightness

We need to know how to display lightness in its several forms

Further, we need to know how to adjust the resulting contrast

For example – how to get from #3 to #4, if we were Monet

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The significance of equiluminance was discussed in part 2

This painting by Monet was used as an example

Monet - Impression: Sunrise

Note the sun vs. its background

Wildly different hue, but

Equiluminant

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 In the next part -

How to adjust brightness

Both perceived and actual

(Ansel’s dodge & burn changed perceived)

Also, closely related, different B&W conversions, e.g.

The conversion that shows perceived lightness (grayscale)

Is not the one to display luminosity

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Aspect Ratios + Resolution = Rocket Science (not)

Have you ever noticed how many folks are confused by

The subject of Image Aspect Ratios?

Add to that the subject of

Image Resolution – & you’d think it was Rocket Science!

Ed, Don’t go there….

Too late

 

.

The Brown House

Camp Hoover Shenandoah National Park

President Herbert Hoover’s retreat (in a simpler time)

An image I made for the National Park Service

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Image aspect ratio defined

The ratio of the width of an image to its height

Shown as two numbers separated by a colon (A:B)

Image aspect ratio explained

It has nothing to do with the image’s actual size

It is simply the relation between width & height

A D-SLR image’s aspect ratio is 3:2

“Full frame” sensors are 36 mm wide & 24 mm high

“APS-C”  sensors are 24 mm wide & 16 mm high

In spite of the different physical sizes, both full frame & APS

Produce 3:2 aspect ratio images

Would math (fractions) help?

Probably not, but

In for a penny, in for a pound

In our D-SLR example what if you thought of the ratio

Not as 3:2, but

As 3/2 (a fraction)

At this point

36/24 = 24/16 = 1.5

and equals 3/2, as well

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Aspect Ratios – A Practical Illustration

This is a common situation

Someone has an image to be matted

To make it interesting (and still common)

Assume the mat has a pre-cut window

Further, assume that window’s aspect ratio is 5:4

Along comes a photographer

She has an image with a 6:4 (3:2) aspect ratio

(She likes to shoot green abstracts with her 3:2 D-SLR))

She was told to size her image to fit a 5:4 aspect mat window

She didn’t understand what this meant

and OOPS!!

She needs to crop either the left, right, or both sides

Or – allowing the mat to cover the excess is another solution

A 3:2 ( 6:4 if you prefer) won’t fit in a 5:4 hole

Sorry, but I’ll never understand what’s so hard about this?!?!

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The parallel problem of a 5:4 image & a 3:2 hole

Is left as an exercise for the interested reader

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OK, Ed – I think I understand the point

But where does image resolution fit in?

Go back and read the part that said -

….aspect ratio….

It has nothing to do with the image’s actual size

It is simply the relation between width & height

Actual Size  is where resolution comes in and

Camera sensor size is where it all starts

Assuming a 3:2 D-SLR

A 6 MP model’s sensor is 3000 pixels wide & 2000 high

(3000 x 2000 = 6,000,000)

This is the camera’s resolution

This is the resolution regardless of whether the camera is

Full-frame or APS

For purposes of resolution,

6 megapixels is 6 megapixels

(even if it’s a 4:3 point and shoot

6 megapixels is 6 megapixels)

Resolution is camera and display dependent

Depends on the physical size of a display or of a camera sensor

Typically measured in

Pixels for monitors & projectors

Inches for prints

Below is a sampling of monitor types & sizes

Shown for a given type is -

Aspect ratio (width to height relation) &

Actual size measured in pixels (width & height)

This is resolution part

There are five different 4:3 ratio monitor types shown

Note that their actual sizes (pixels) are all different

One aspect ratio, five different physical sizes (resolutions)

If the display target is a print instead of a monitor

The physical size is inches, not pixels

Swell, Ed – but the image dimensions as they come from my camera

Are in pixels, NOT inches

No problem, there’s a rough rule of thumb that says

300 pixels for every inch of print (for good quality prints)

SO – your 3000 x 2000 6 MP file will make a

10 x 6.67 inch print of high quality

I say “rough” rule because depending on lots of things

Considerably larger prints are made routinely

With less than 300 pixels per inch

This next image of mine

Was printed 3-feet high from a 6 MP file

However, rest assured that 30 pixels per inch

Won’t do the job!

The one imperative, when it come to resolution, however is

The image pixel resolution MUST MATCH

The aspect ratio of the target display

If you’re making a 6″ x 4″ print

Having more than 1800 x 1200 pixels is no problems

Having a bit less also may not be a problem

Having a lot less, say 300 x 200, will be a problem

However – getting back to the imperative -

Whatever X x Y are, the ratio of the two

Had better be 3:2

i.e., matches the target display

Don’t get confused at this level if you see DPI (dots per inch)

That’s for the printer to worry about

Just think aspect ratio, pixels (& 300 pixels per inch)

That’s enough to get you through

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To complete our photographer’s trials & tribulations -

The long side of her mat window was 15 inches

The long side of her incorrect aspect ratio file

Was just over 500 pixels

Overzealous cropping??

SO – she has not one serious error, but two

Not an uncommon situation

How do you get people to understand?

It starts with them being willing to learn….

and putting in a little effort; especially the effort….

Questions? Write to Tim Gray

He’s asked about this weekly it seems

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Go in peace. Today’s Sunday sermon to the faithful is ended.

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Using the Nik Collection in a Stand-Alone Mode?

(I’ll return to the Contrast Series on Monday)

This is a question that comes up regularly

I, among others, have answered it multiple times

Some folks never heard of internet searches

After Google released the newly branded Nik Collection

The same questions began all over

Folks, at this stage the *only* things  Google changed

The name – now Google Nik Collection

The update method – auto update, like it or not

The price – $149 for all six collection programs

Individual programs no longer available

The programs themselves are identical

to when they were called Nik Software

.

Read on for how to run the Nik Collection programs

in stand-alone mode (without PS, or LR , or Aperture)

Note well – there are a few “gotcha’s

Read carefully

.

 Click to enlarge

Sunrise – Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Went back  4 consecutive mornings (up at 4:30)

Waiting for this scene

Sun intentionally “cupped” under the tree branch

Tripod & Grad Neutral Density filter

While I was writing this post

With HDR Efex Pro open as a stand-alone

I opened this image (HEP, alone in the collection, has a File menu)

I quickly (5 seconds each) used presets to create the above

A single exposure; not a bracketed set

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First – disclaimers and cautions

Pay close attention or you may irrecoverably lose your files!

1. Not intended to be run alone (although they can)

These programs were never intended to be run stand-alone

Driven mainly by Lightroom which doesn’t use plug-ins

This means if you have problems don’t expect support!!!

2. RAW files can’t be used

In spite of appearances to the contrary

No Nik program will accept a RAW file

If you missed my previous explanation of this, read here

Obviously this means you must

Use jpeg or tiff files as input to the “stand-alone” program

3. There are no menus in an open stand-alone program

Except for HDR Efex Pro as shown here

Without any menu how do you work with image files?

A good question (to be answered in the next section)

The answer for now is VERY CAREFULLY!

Failure to heed the caution can quickly lead to

LOSS OF YOUR ORIGINAL INPUT FILE

Because – THE INPUT FILE IS OVERWRITTEN

As soon as you click the SAVE button

ZAP – original is overwritten!

Make a copy before you start!!!

As shown above, HDR Efex Pro is the sole exception

It does have a minimal File menu

To quit a program (except HDR), you use the

Cancel or Save options at the window’s bottom right

Every time you finish an image (either cancel or save)

The program closes & you must start over for the next

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I’m willing to take my chances, Ed

How do I run a Nik Collection in a stand-alone mode??

It’s simple

1. Navigate to the folder containing the

Desired program’s executable file

NOTE – executable, NOT plug-in

a. I’ll illustrate with Window’s File Explorer and Color Efex Pro

b. Mac users will have to translate as appropriate

Click to enlarge

2. To repeat: you’re looking for the executable, not the plug-in

Don’t bother looking in your PS, LR or Aperture folders

Find a Google folder containing a Nik Collection folder

The yellow highlighted line above tells it all

If you used the default Nik Collection installation

The above is exactly what you should see

3. Drag & drop the image to be processed

On top of the executable file entry line you just found

IN THE FILE EXPLORER WINDOW!

Voila – the program is running just as it would within a host

(until you’re ready to save and/or exit;

you read that part above, didn’t you??)

Note – if you open the executable first and

then drag the image into the program’s window

It won’t work (at least not on my Win 7 PC)

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If you own either PS, LR or Aperture -

I don’t recommend doing this

There’s no reason plus there’s the potential file loss

There is one exception

It’s if you use PS Elements and have none of the others

HDR Efex Pro will not run in PSE

Stand-alone is your only option

Fortunately HEP has its minimum File menu

to keep you out of trouble

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That’s it!

It’s very simple really

I added all of the extra stuff because nothing is fool-proof

Fools can be very foolish if not held by the hand

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Contrast Part 3: Measuring Tones & Color

Part 3 of a continuing new blog series

“All About Image Contrast for Photographers”

 

Measuring & Describing Color

“That rose is red” is a subjective statement

To actually use & work with color, we need to do better

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Many physiological factors influence color perception

These factors keep us from

Making objective verbal descriptions

Further, everyone

Verbally describes a color differently

What is needed is an objective color standard

Fortunately, such standards exist

(as well as devices to perform the measurements)

 

There’s red – and another red, and yet another….

Saying that this rose is red is correct – as far as it goes

(which isn’t very far)

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Color Models  (Standards)

A means of representing colors by a set of numbers

Typically as three or four values or color components

In the illustration, figure 1 below, the RGB model

Represents the circled color by the three numbers shown

Every color (within a practical range)

Can be represented by a similar set of three numbers

Figure 1

This series on Image Contrast for Photographers

Will only consider the two models shown above

(with emphasis on HSL)

If you’re interested in a broader discussion

Go here

The HSL & RGB models are the most familiar & useful to photographers

Most post-processing software has one or both available

For purposes of tonal and color contrast measurements

HSL is the more useful of the two

Lightness is one of its parameters

Thus tonal contrast is more straight forward

(but not perfect, see L*a*b below)

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I opened Figure 1 in Photoshop Elements

and – Opened the PSE Color Picker (see figure 2)

I entered Figure 1′s RGB values (must convert to a 0-255 scale)

and – You can see the color picker’s rendition of the color

Stating that the color is R=51, G=153, B=205

Is more precise than saying it’s “sort of blue-green”

(but not as descriptive )

You can see that PSE provided the corresponding HSL values

H=200, S=75, B=80 (done automatically)

Click for full size

Figure 2

Open PS, LR, or whatever you use

Find its color measuring|setting tool (color picker in PSE)

Convince yourself that these are the values for B, W, R, G, B

…….RGB………………..HSL

B…..0/0/0……………*/*/0

W…..255/255/255…..*/0/100

R…..255/0/0…..360/100/100

G…..0/255/0…..120/100/100

B…..0/0/255…..240/100/100

NOTE – an asterisk (*) above means any number will work

- The HSL hue for red is 360 (or equally valid, zero)

G is 120 & B is 240

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You can see from the above that even the HSL model (as shown)

Does not give us the entire “tonality” story

i.e., the tone you’d see on a histogram’s luminosity channel

That level of tonality is embedded in two HSL values

Both S & L

Tones get brighter with decreasing S & increasing L

Pure white (histogram’s right side) is when

S = 0 & L =100 (regardless of H’s value)

Important note!!

The model shown as HSL is more correctly known as HSV

(V for value; an art term denoting lightness)

In PS it’s labeled HSL which is unfortunate

Since there actually is a HSL model which is

Very similar but different enough to confuse you

I’ve chosen to go with the PS nomenclature shown in HSL above since that’s what most users will encounter

I’m sorry for the confusion this causes

Blame Adobe

There’s yet another model, L*a*b, where

L is the same tonality as shown in a luminosity channel

Unfortunately, apart from full PS, it’s not a common feature of most post-processing programs

More here

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Enough for color

Tomorrow –  tonal contrast

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