Posterizing

[Chris Saper]

If I understand correctly, the difference is (or could be) that film has been "processed," and comes back to you as a "finished product," in that it has been transfered from negative to photo paper, where yet more "clumping" takes place.

Film photos are made my exposing light to layers of emulsion on the photo paper. DIgital images work with pixels, and there is not as much value compression.

Yes, you can definitely tease out information both in lights and darks with digital images - which isn't the case with film.

Brenda, I am certainly in the slow learner's group with Photoshop compared to you! Having started out with painting from film-based photo images, I still continue to assume that the color will be wrong,the values will be incorrect and that the edges are completely false. I still make those assumptions even though I now use digital images. From my sense of time utility, I don't really try to get the color I owuld get from life, because I don't think I can. (Although Bill Whitaker regularly produces spectacular color in his subject photos)I just try the best I can to interpret what's in front of me.

Posterizing can be a helpful tool, but it's just not the answer.

[Richard Budig]

Brenda, Chris -- thanks for your comments.

Brenda, you say that your eyedropper used the color from one pixel, and that you use Photoshop. I use Phototshop Elements, a slightly stripped down version of Photoshop. However, in Photoshop Elements -- and I'll bet it's this way in Photoshop, also -- you have an option to sample one (1) pixel, nine (9) pixels or twenty five (25) pixels when you click your eyedropper anywhere inside your image area.

In Photoshop Elements, when you click on (select) your eyedropper, a little box appears in a "task bar" just above where you find your eyedropper. It shows a small, square picture of your eyedropper and a drop down menu. This drop down menu lets you decide whether you're going to sample a "point sample," which is just one pixel; 3X3 pixels (9), or 5X5 (25) pixels.

If you choose the 3X3 or the 5X5, you will be selecting an average color from the larger pixel area. This is a nice feature because, as you say, each pixel in a digital picture is one color, and one color only. So, if you happened to land on the only green pixel in a field that seems to be red, you'd be in trouble. But, you would be alright if you had used, say, the 5X5 (25 pixel) sample.

Hope this makes sense. Surely, Photoshop has a similar situation in which you can choose how many pixels you are going to sample.

Note: I just discovered that Photoshop also allows the same sampling options. Just look straight up to find the "task bar" where the drop down menu appears.

[Brenda Ellis]

Ah! Thanks, Richard. I haven't come across this little menu bar. When I click on my dropper, no bar comes up. I'll try double-clicking. I still am cautious about trusting whatever color that dropper comes up with. But it gives me a good idea of the range, I think.

[Richard Budig]

Brenda:

Look at the upper left of your screen where you will see your "menu lineup" that runs across the top from left to right. Immediately below that is another "tool bar" that has little pictures that run from left to right. And, just below this is the part of the "task bar/menu bar" where the little picture of the eyedropper and it's attendant drop down menu will appear. It appears kind of like magic. Instead of double clicking, try selecting different items from that vertical row of boxes that contain your tools for working on pictures. As you click different tools, look up in that area in the upper left of your screen. You'll see that area just below where your "file" menu item appears. When you click on your eyedropper, it will change again, showing the eyedropper and it little drop down menu (the box the the little down arrow).

Hope this makes sense.