Everyone must be out getting image work this month because we've had a rash of letters from folks wantint to understand levels and histograms... I'd like to see an online seminar on

*understanding* histograms

Dear DT&G:

 > A request is all I have at this time.  
 > I'd like to see an  online seminar on 
 > *understanding* histograms. 
 > Can you help?

Histograms are simply a bar graph of the brightness values of a given image. That's it. A lot of people get nervous when the topic comes up, and that's why we've written the special insert for this month's DT&G. We hope to demystify the topic of histograms, and briefly show some of the usefullness found in this powerful utility.

Adjust histograms before scanning?

...asks M. Brunt:
      "Is it necessary for me to adjust the histograms in my scan software BEFORE (during) the scan, rather then in Photoshop AFTER the scan? I'm looking for premium quality, but it seems redundant to adjust histograms/curves in both applications. If it is necessary, why? Thanks M Brunt Graphic Artist"

Don't waste your time

It will do you little good to set the histogram prior to scanning. In fact it does more harm than good. First of all the scanner has no idea what you want as a finished result. Secondly, you don't want to inhibit that scanner from capturing as much from the image as it possibly can. That's self defeating.
      The idea of working with the levels and resulting histogram is to utilize what the image contains and enhance that beyond the original scan. If you intentionally take away values from the image during scanning, you'll have less to work with on the output end.
      Besides, I've yet to see a scanner produce perfect
      Lastly, by doing this you're making a double step for yourself. As for me, I like to do as little as possible --- knowing I'll have to work on the post scan image anyway, any tweaking I do before the scan is just so much more work to bother with.

Special "Histograms" supplement to DT&G

It's posted in the Publishers Warehouse loading dock. Just click the "Photoshop" department and there it is in both PDF format and downloadable Aladdin dot-sit format.

 

Thanks for writing!

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