Digital BW, The Print

> From: Johnny Eades [mailto:jeades1@...]
>
> GG 1.8 is my working gray profile defined in color settings in
> Photoshop. The monitor is set at GG 1.8 and Photoshop is set at GG
> 1.8. The 21 step grayscale is showing 148 at 50% at GG 1.8, and it
> shows 127 at GG 2.2 (if I assign it GG 2.2). I do all of my work at
> GG 1.8 now. I just am curious as to the reason for the majority of
> the Grayscales I've seen using 127 as the 50% reading.I someone had a
> monitor set at GG 1.8 and didn't know it, they would have a hard time
> getting the numbers to match the grayscale; wouldn't they?

It sounds like you're trying to make things more complicated than they are.
If it shows 148 at 50% at gamma 1.8, and 127 at gamma 2.2, then you didn't
assign the profile, you converted to it. Assigning doesn't touch the
numbers, it just redefines them; converting changes the numbers to keep the
same appearance in the new space.

The main thing I use step wedges for is to see if there are any faint color
casts in certain parts of the scale. So I don't know what you mean by "they
would have a hard time getting the numbers to match the grayscale." What
numbers, or what grayscale? Are you talking about trying to use a step wedge
as a guide for manually tweaking the monitor to match some print? If so,
then it depends upon how you printed the print, and how you're displaying
the wedge on the screen. If everything is color managed (e.g., if you're
viewing in, and printing from, Photoshop, then it doesn't matter what the
gamma of the image is, because it will be corrected for automatically, both
for printing and for display. If, however, you're viewing the wedge in a
non-color-managed application, then, yes, you'll have to make sure that you
assign the proper gamma when printing, to match the nominal gamma of your
display.

--

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...