Digital Capture

General

Digital Capture (or DC) is how we duplicate originals larger then 12" x 18". These ARE NOT high resolution scans, but simply digitally altered photograph of the original. The end result will not be as high resolution as a flatbed scan, but this is the only way we can capture a large image in one take. The camera output is 6336x9504, 60.2MP.

Process

Digital captures start in Renee's Digital Capture cave, orders should be left in there. Rene should be informed either verbally, or with a note that the Digital Capture's are waiting for him.

Renee will take a series of digital photo's of the original image using his DSLR camera and studio lighting available. He will capture several images, bracketing them with a lighter, medium, and darker light range. When he is finished he will leave the original and a separate Compact Flash(CF) card from his DSLR camera with the .CR2 (Raw) images, at the Digital Image Technician's table. (NOTE: This is Color Services Compact Flash card, and should stay IN THE LAB)

When technician is ready, plug the given card into your computer using a USB 2.0 card reader that can read CF (Compact Flash cards). Copy all the .CR2 (Raw) files included on the card to the customers designated folder on the server. I recommend creating an ORIGINALS sub-folder to keep the .CR2 (Raw) files to avoid clutter, as there may be large quantity of .CR2 files. You want to keep these .CR2 files, and leave them untouched, so we can always start from the beginning if necessary.

Select all of the .CR2 (Raw) files you wish to view, and drag them into Photoshop. This will open the Photoshop Camera Raw utility, letting you view all the .CR2 (Raw) files and make adjustments.

Scroll through all the .CR2 files you imported and select the best version of each image (use ctrl+left-click to add other individual files). Look for the digital files that are the best lit and best match their originals. They do not have to match exactly, the following steps will help you achieve a closer match.

Once the .CR2 (Raw) files are opened in Photoshop, the first step should be to save these files as Photoshop files with appropriate names.

Once the files are saved you can begin to better match the digital files to he original. You can use any methods you deem appropriate to reach your desired end result. I have included several tools/techniques I have found to be helpful. See below for the summary for adjusted Digital Capture files.

Once your files are saved in heir final forms, make sure the finals are all in the same folder titles with the customers name, and create a CD/DVD

Adjusting Files

This is the most complicated part of the Digital Capture process. When matching a Digital Capture to an original image you have to keep in mind several things including, original white color, effect of the studio lights, white of the new paper, back light from computer monitor, vignette, bulging, color shift from different textures etc.

Bulging- Bulging or "bubbling" occurs because a curved camera lens is capturing a flat/square object producing curved or bulging lines that are supposed to be straight in the digital capture. The edges will curve out from the object, the corners may appear pinched in. Solution: Select Filter> Lens Correction This will open the Lens Correction tool, you can fine tune this tool to be specific to your exact camera make and model. However, the default settings should be fairly accurate, as it seems to send the camera settings from the .CR2 file. Toggle the "Preview" check box on and off to see the before and after. Change the tab on the right from "Auto-correction" to "Custom" to manually change the lens correction settings. use the "Remove Distortion" slider to change the amount of bulge distortion.

Vignette- A vignette is the dark "halo" around the edges of the image. This can be removed a few ways, the first is with the "Lense Correction" tool under Filter>Lens Correction. The check mark on the right labeled "Vignette" will toggle the Vignette setting on and off. If this does not give you the desired effect you can remove the vignette manually. Simply create a new "Levels" adjustment layer, increase the midpoint slider to ~1.15. Fill the adjustment layer mask with black, and use a large soft brushes, mask the adjustment layer to apply to the corners of the image where the vignette is visible. Increase or decrease the midpoint slider of the Levels adjustment layer to match the vignette section to the rest of the image.

Different Textures- Alternating textures will cause problems when adjusting the color. Textures that are shinier, or more metallic, will reflect light differently into the camera lens then matte textures, making the color shift for each texture different. This means if you are adjusting the color to match a matte color, the color shift on a shinier piece of the original will not match the shiner piece on the Digital Capture, and vice versa. The easiest way to avoid this is to color correct individually for colors, or parts of the original that are not matching. The easiest way to do this is to color correct the entire image as one, trying to match as many colors as possible, then masking out the colors that are not cooperating and adjusting those colors individually.

Original White Color- Old originals will have a faded, usually yellowish white, instead of a bright vivid white that comes from new prints. When matching the color to an original image using conventionally color correction methods, Photoshop may turn the faded white into a more neutral white, making the imaging look new and brighter, but and wont give the desired "old" effect. Keep an eye on the color of the "original" white on the image to match the digital file too.