Monthly Archives: April 2012

Yin Yang Effect

abstract photograph of blue swirlsHave you ever witnessed the yin yang effect in your life?  Well, I believe I experience it frequently or maybe it is some kind of mid life crisis. I especially see it in my creative interests.  One month I am photographing prisons and graffiti and the next I am mixing paints to create some vibrant macro abstractions guaranteed to make your eyes pop.

Or maybe the swing in interest is due to my birth date, which happens to be right on the cusp between the Zodiac signs of Cancer and Leo. I have been told at certain times it can (and does) create conflicting feelings and actions.  Cancer being the conservative homebody and Leo the outgoing risk taker.

There’s a theory in photography, a person should totally embrace what they like to shoot and focus only on that one interest in the hopes of achieving perfection. I certainly see merit to that, although, for me I also see a certain amount of boredom setting in.  I look at my portfolio and see a huge range of diversity and that is only viewing what is online .  Maybe it is due to the length of time I have been shooting or maybe it is the yin-yang effect in my life. I just don’t seem to be able to settle into something permanently. Once I shot a magazine containing portraits of 100 different woman from all walks of life. While the experience was fun, I learned a lot and met many different, wonderful women, I was happy when it was over.  Ready to get back to art.

Regardless of the cause, I am happy with opposite interests in my life.   Here are a couple of examples of what I have been working on from the Abstract Category on my website.

 

blue abstract photograph

Color Profiles

This week I have been wrestling with Color Profiles and Photoshop’s CS5.

Now, my typical workflow is to shoot in RAW, my camera set to Adobe RGB Color Profile.  From what I have read there is a greater color gamut using this profile and my current thought process is more is always better.  My software of choice is  Adobe Bridge, Photoshop’s CS5 along with plugins from Nik and Topaz. I save my files as layered TIFF and prior to uploading to the web, I will re-size, convert to sRGB  and save as jpgs. For some of my  prints, or commercial print projects I often need to convert my files to CMYK.  This workflow has served me well over the last several years.

However, I have just been working on a batch on images and I noticed many of my Tiff files have the sRGB profile as their Working and/or Embedded Color Space.  Initially I wasn’t sure how this happen, thus it motivated me spend time researching more about color profiles.

Now I am by no means a techie person, so I try to decipher things down to simplistic concepts that I can easily remember. Like most photographers I am the happiest behind the camera in my creative zone.  I am however aware of the importance of a calibrated monitor,  printer and selecting correct printer paper profiles and  I do this to the best of my ability. But now I am looking at embedded profiles and working color spaces, what is this all about??

After doing several hours of reading, I found out a few core things that have helped clarify my mind on this subject.

Now we all  know color is defined by numbers and a Color Profile is how color’s numerical value visually appear, however, I didn’t know that a Raw file has no Color Profile and any type of profile is pretty much device specific.

The Working Space defines what color profile is used in the different color models such as RGB and  CMYK. These profiles are specified in the Color Settings Dialog Box in Photoshop (Edit  > Settings) and provides the info for an embedded profile.  Mine was set to sRGB causing the previously mentioned problem.

The Embedded Color Profile is the numeric value a monitor or internet browser uses to display colors and often they display in sRGB, especially the internet.  It is embedded in the image when an image is saved.  The data for the embedded profile comes from either EXIF data captured when your image was taken or what is in your Color Settings Dialog Box in Photoshop if a Raw file is launched into Photoshop without using an interface software program, such as Bridge Camera Raw.

In Photoshop, once you have established your parameters to the Color Settings Dialog Box,  you have the option to use the command Convert To Profile to change an Embedded Color Profile. You can even convert an entire folder easily using the Image Processor. Choose File > Scripts > Image Processor. Another handy tool is the  Assign Profile, which allows you to view how colors in an image will look with a different profile, but this is not an effective way to change an Embedded Profile.

Below is a link to an interesting read about the subject from someone who knows far more than me. I also found some useful information on Adobe’s website.

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps12_colour/ps12_1.htm

You can view my work at www.susanmcanany.com.