Digital BW, The Print

On Dec 1, 2011, at 7:01 AM, Stephen Petegorsky wrote:

> Another way of thinking about the lighting for your printing area is 
> to consider the lighting under which the prints will ultimately be 
> viewed. In my commercial photography, I specialize in photographing 
> artwork, which in the best circumstances will be seen on the walls of 
> galleries and museums.
> 
> Since I work in museums frequently, I have had the opportunity to ask 
> preparators what lamps they favor, and they often tell me that they 
> use 3500 K lighting in the galleries. By the time these lamps are 
> dimmed to light levels deemed not a threat to the longevity of prints 
> and other works on display, the ambient light temperature in the 
> galleries is really about 2800 K.

Low K values are directly related to low luminance levels; the rods in the eyes kick in at these low levels. So there are multiple factors to consider in proofing lights:

Full spectrum lighting, which can come at multiple color temps: tungsten and daylight both offer even, broad spectrum response, but at different balances.

Multiple color temps, to check for metameric (color constancy) effects.

Appropriate luminance levels at each of those color temps, if you want to see actual color balanced results for each, rather than just checking for metamerism.

And bad light sources; to mercury vapor etc, to show what images will look like under lighting which does NOT offer a full spectrum.

I find tungsten, daylight fluorescent, and skylight (blue sky from a north skylight) to be the three best for checking color constancy with a new system, but the only two I find a constant need for are tungsten and daylight.

C. David Tobie
Global Product Technology Manager


Datacolor
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