Seeing advice about room lighting.

[Doc_Pit]

I was reading some material from Eizo that advised trying to keep the ambient light in the work area as close as possible to the brightness and color temperature of the monitor.  If I tried to install a florescent light to replace the overhead ceiling light in the room, it would reflect on the monitor surface as a hot spot.  My only solution would be some high intensity floor lamps that can take 6500K bulbs and bounce light off the ceiling.  I'm wondering how others might have addressed the relation between monitor brightness/color and ambient brightness/color in the workspace.  Or, is it a real problem at all?

[Conrad_C · Accepted solution]

To lower the amount of glare and hot spots, a standard solution is to add a black hood to the display that extends beyond the top, and at least part of the sides. Many pro displays either come with a hood or have one as an option. The following Eizo link is an example.

https://www.eizo.com/products/accessories/hoods/

They can be pricey; it’s quite acceptable to just cut and fold your own display hood using black mat board, I’ve done that in the past.

If I’m just casually editing, or not working on color, I don’t control room light very much but when color perception is very important, I’ll lower the overall room light level by closing the windowshades and only running low ambient light. That way, the display is a much higher percentage of the light I’m seeing and there isn’t much other light bouncing onto it.

It can be more than about the room lighting, too, it has to be thought about holistically. For example, I’ve read about very picky colorists who paint the walls of the room neutral medium gray, because if you have the right lighting but the walls are painted green then that’s going to influence you. And some note that if one day you wear a brightly colored shirt, its reflection on the display can alter what color you think you’re seeing.

So like a lot of things in life, you sort of figure out what amount of effort you want to go to in order to reach a certain level of certainty, and you go with that.

[Trevor.Dennis]

@D Fosse is our Eizo expert, although Conrad is officially very knowledgeable .  He will get an email about this thread and be along shortly.  

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

Well, I don't know if this qualifies as professor nutty, but at work (where this is pretty critical) I've covered the wall behind me with black felt.

I picked the space so there is no direct window light hitting the screen, but the room otherwise has normal ambient daylight, which is important for giving the eyes a neutral visual reference. For the same reason, I use a light application interface, not the default dark (a very important but underrated factor!) I also turned off direct overhead lights.

With all this, the hood doesn't really make much difference.

All of this mainly affects how you see the dark shadow values on screen. The highlights punch through anyway.

[Doc_Pit]

Thanks for the tip about the light application interface.  I'll need to try that.

[NB, colourmanagement]

@D Fosse "I use a light application interface, not the default dark (a very important but underrated factor!)"

Yep, totally agree with that. It's VERY important. 

 

The default all dark PS interface (above) makes final images seem lighter than they really are when it comes to reproduction (often leading to 'dark' print).  For final image judgement (only), I like to use a very light grey image surround - I like a value about L98. 

First I'd set the interface to light grey, as you mentioned

I don't tend to check "neutral color mode" but some may like to, it neutralises color in buttons etc. 

 

Next: right click or control click in the area surrounding the image to open the contextual menu and 

select custom color

I dial in L98, 0, 0 as below and click OK

Viewing a FINAL image as below makes it FAR easier to judge lightness/ shadow etc. 

Of course I don't edit like that all day as it may cause eye strain - better to choose something like the light grey or medium grey option until judging final image density.

see below

 

This way of viewing was inspired by my experience with prepress scanner operators long ago in the days of shooting on 8x10 transparencies.

Upon receipt of transparency they would almost invariably judge it by viewing on a lightbox with some white lighted border showing around the trans. Maybe an inch.

Whereas we photographers would invariably mask the light box right down, making the trans seem far brighter. I remember providing a final transparency to a client and accompanying it to the scanner station, whereupon the scanner operator said "I could use that in ****** a welding mask" [expletives deleted].

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net - adobe forum volunteer - co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management
Help others by clicking "Correct Answer" if the question is answered.
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I hope this helps neil barstow, colourmanagement net - adobe forum volunteer - co-author: 'getting colour right' google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management Help others by clicking "Correct Answer" if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

[Lumigraphics]

Any decent photographer has ways to handle lighting hotspots and coverage. You could hang a diffuser below the light fixture, for example, or install indirect lighting. Personally i doubt it will make that much of a difference.

[Trevor.Dennis]

Doc, I'm thinking you are getting pretty serious about this stuff if you have invested in an Eizo monitor, or am I reading too much into what you wrote?   

[Doc_Pit]

Serious as a heart attack, Trevor.  I work with a Cintiq and two Dell monitors, all of which are several years old.  I was surprised that I could no longer update my Dell/Xrite calibration software.  I needed a monitor that I could calibrate reliably.  So, I mortgaged my house and purchased an Eizo CG 2700S because it has a self-calibration feature that does hardware calibration.  I don't have enough money left for beer, which is another positive.

[D Fosse]

I was reading some material from Eizo that advised trying to keep the ambient light in the work area as close as possible to the brightness and color temperature of the monitor. 

By @Doc_Pit

I think that's a bit backwards and I've never seen any need to re-engineer the whole room (unless you have some very weird lighting). Adjust the monitor's white point so that it's visually matching a white sheet of paper and you'll be fine. The main thing is to see paper white on screen.

You'll probably need different calibration targets for daylight and nighttime with only room light, but that's about the extent of it.

[NB, colourmanagement]

@Doc_Pit pitching in a bit late:

Generally, when set up right, the screen's viewing environment is too dark for print viewing, there are standard recommendations for this. [more below]

This means that if your room light is bright enough to view a print correctly [500 ± 125 lx] then the light in the room is far too bright for screen viewing [ambient illumination shall be less than, or equal to, 64 lx and should be less than, or equal to, 32 lx].

Many Pro users work around the need to compare print to screen by using a light booth / photo viewing booth near the screen in a room with very subdued light. 

"ISO 12646

Softproofing

For a comparison of a printed proof and an on-screen soft proof ISO 12646 applies and specifies as follows:

The viewing booth should have an illuminance value of 500 ± 125 lx and a color temperature of D50.

[a dimmable viewer allows for this level of luminance

This viewer luminance allows for a more reasonable working display screen luminance in the region of 110 - 120cdM2]

A little on ambient light:

INFLUENCE OF THE VIEWING ENVIRONMENT

Colours (and even white painted walls which may include optical brightener) in the area surrounding the viewing surface will affect the operator's perception, which is why the standard prescribes neutral - grey, low-reflection ambient conditions. The reflectance of the coating of the display screen viewing environment is of great importance. Of course, surfaces within the light-booth also require this same low reflectance grey finish.

ISO 3664:2000 extract

Viewing conditions – Graphic technology and photography. This International Standard specifies viewing conditions for images on both reflective and transmissive media, such as prints (both photographic and photomechanical) and transparencies, as well as images displayed in isolation on colour monitors. It is not applicable to unprinted papers.

Ambient conditions

Extraneous light, whether from sources or reflected by objects and surfaces, shall be baffled from view and from illuminating the print, transparency, or other image being evaluated. In addition, no strongly coloured surfaces (including clothing) should be present in the immediate environment. Walls, ceiling, floors and other surfaces which are in the field of view, shall be coloured a neutral matt grey, with a reflectance of 60% or less.

Surround

The surround and backing shall be neutral and matt, The surround shall have a luminous reflectance between 10% and 60%. For many applications, a mid ­grey of 20% reflectance is convenient and is recommended where no other condition is defined. However, whatever value is selected, it is important when images are being compared that the surrounds for each are similar. The surround shall extend beyond the materials being viewed on all sides by at least 1/3 of their dimension.

ISO 3664:1999(E)

4.5.4 Ambient illumination

When measured at the face of the monitor, with a cosine corrected photometer and with the monitor switched off, the level of ambient illumination shall be less than, or equal to, 64 lx and should be less than, or equal to, 32 lx. These limits must also be achieved when measured in any plane between the monitor and the observer.

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net - adobe forum volunteer - co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management
Help others by clicking "Correct Answer" if the question is answered.
Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

[Amit38897856gfvp]

1. Light room ko masking tape 

[munna_0074]

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