Digital BW, The Print

> Many of the posts I've seen on monitiors concern what you see 
> on the monitor matches your prints. What I do not hear about 
> is the type of lighting in the room while your viewing your 
> prints and whether or not you as a person have ever tested 
> your vision to see if your color vision or monochrome is as 
> good as the hardware that your buying into.
> 
> As much as I enjoy the banter back and forth, having worked 
> in the field of eyes/retinas for over 30 years, even the best 
> hardware isn't worth the cause if the lights in the room or 
> hardware in your head are at fault.
> 
Tom,

You bring up a very valid point and one that we have discussed occasionally
without the benefit of any knowledgeable input. Most of us realize that
calibrating a monitor/print system is aimed at one specific set of viewing
conditions and if you carry the print into some other lighting situation all
bets are off.

Practically though we need to make prints that look good (not necessarily
accurate) in all lighting situations with a preference towards the type of
lighting we thing our prints are most likely to be seen under. I try for a
print that looks best under a 50/50 mix of tungsten and halogen floods but
is also pleasing in indirect daylight and acceptable under cheap
fluorescents.

The other vision issue I encounter is that as a print approaches a true
neutral point slight differences in color vision have a strong effect on how
we perceive the slight hue or color of the prints. My impression that this
not only varies from person to person but also with an individual varies
through out the day and/or over time. Coming from one lighting situation,
say daylight, into another such as tungsten causes a shift in what you see
that slowly changes as your eyes adjust.

Martin Wesley
www.carolynfrayn.com/Guests/MartinWesley/pages/MW_01.html
www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html