It is the single most common mistake we see when new photo editors start playing with their images.  Let me start by saying ” I don’t blame them”, whenever you bump up the contrast is makes your image burst of the monitor.  The adjustments to your new file will also “burst” off the page, literally.  One of the biggest short comings in this digital photo world we live in is that your printed matter will never match your monitor perfectly.  As printers we can get very close but nothing will every have the brilliance in illuminated colors like you see in your monitor, and transparencies are the next closest thing.  However, most of us do not have large light boxes on the walls of our home to display our prints.  Let’s get back to the problem at hand:  Adjusting your contrast will really brighten your picture on the screens and give your image that pop and look as to be razor sharp, but what it really has done is made the lighter areas lighter, and the darker areas darker, and the mid tones are forced to go one direction or the other.  The final result with all of this is typically “hot spots” or areas that look pure white, and what has really happened is that when you turned up the contrast you have taken what little digital information there was in the lighter areas and thrown it away, “POOF” they are gone, and once you have saved the file this way, there is no bringing them back, even if you try decreasing the contrast after you have received your unsatisfactory prints. If you have Photo Elements or Photoshop there is a video here showing me editing the same images listed below: http://www.mastercolorcanvas.com/helpfulvideos.html It is really very simple to do this adjustment:

1. Open your original file in Photoshop
2. Go to “Image” on your tool bar and scroll to “Adjustments”
3. Select “Levels” and the histogram of your color balance will appear

Once your “Levels” control panel is open it is simple to make the adjustment that will give your image that extra snap, but yet maintain the “hot” or heavily lit areas of the photograph.  Notice your Histogram looks like a “wave”.  Start by simply moving the triangle under the right side of the histogram to the left so that it is just inside the “wave”, next do the same with the left side triangle, moving it to the right so it is just inside the wave.  The left side of the histogram represents the dark tones of the image and the right side the lighter tones.  After you have done the extremes, move the triangle in the middle to adjust the mid tones.  You can play with moving each and then clicking the “preview” square in the bottom right corner.

The histogram above is not a perfect model, the perfect histogram will resemble  more of a “bell curve”, but the sample above does show that even in a really dark picture you can bring back the detail in most areas that were dark, but yet not “blowing” out the white areas.

If you use this method of correction, I know you will be happier with the results!

Mastercolor Labs is lucky to have established a nice market share on the internet, and usually the first question we are asked about becoming a customer is how is the best way to send orders to our lab, and the answer is simple: Remote Order Entry Service.  You will not find a faster uploading software on the internet.  It does not matter if you are ordering a 30 x40 digital photograph, or 1,000 8×10 units for school photography, the compression method the software uses is amazing.  After using the easy cropping tool in the ROES software it crops the image as you have selected and sends it to Mastercolor Labs at 300dpi at the size you requested.  No information is lost and the quality is the same as if Mastercolor was printing straight from your disk.

The ROES software also is perfect for creating Digital Wedding Albums, Canvas Gallery Wraps, Greeting Cards, Digital Proofing, or ordering a few simple standard prints.  All of our services are offered within the ROES Software, and since it is quick and easy, we normally are shipping your order within 1-2 business days.

Well Mastercolor and it’s 33 year old body is moving in with the new generation.  We recently signed up on Twitter, and joined Facebbok a few months back.  It’s hard to see & track where this is helping our business, but we do have people from time to time say the found us through these internet networks.  On Facebook we have run a number of Internet specials on Canvas Gallery Wraps, and we will be offering more on assorted digital prints, so sign up to follow Mastercolor on both Twitter and Facebook.  Let us know your thoughts and what you would like to see as specials.

It seems whatever digital camera you buy, there will be an editing software included.  Many of these softwares will also point you on the direction to where you can host your images, or have them printed.  Wonder why they give this away free?????  Because, if you chose the easy route of locking into their software, you have done exactly that, locked yourself in unless you save your files on your computer or external storage.

Most us these storage sites or printing houses store your files for free, but then only let you access the images in a much smaller format UNLESS you are buying from them.  We run into this issue constantly when we are printing Holiday Cards, Giclee Prints or even simple digital prints or enlargements.  I am not saying to avoid these services, but make certain you back up your files so that you have a copy of them at their original files size, and not the 900k file that they are quick to share.

• Whenever I am clearing my card I simply transfer my files to a new folder on my desktop, a folder that I either tittle by the event that I just took or by the date of the transfer.  Storing files by date can really help find an image down the road when you need it.  Folders that contain your files at their original resolution as jpegs or tiff files can easily be uploaded to our ROES Software.  Then when your files are transfered to us through the ROES software, we will receive them at the digital print size requested @ 300dpi.  Use the ROES software to order Giclee Prints (Gallery Wrapped or flat art work), folded note cards, or any size digital photograph ranging from 30″x40″ down to simple wallets.

• Once you have your files on your desk top in your new folder, save them to your Hard Drive in a Master Folder, and the master folder can be divided into sub folders named by the month they were created.  Once the year ends, put all these files in a Yearly folder.  I know this sounds simple, but one of the most frequently asked questions we receive at Mastercolor is what is the best way to store my files?

• Always back-up your files, either to to CD or DVD, and also to an external hard drive.  Can you tell I am paranoid about losing my files?  You would be amazed by the number of customers Mastercolor has had that come in ready to build a photo album of all their children’s memories, or order a portrait, but only have the 900k files they downloaded from their free hosting site or they have lost them due to a “dead computer”, or that they just do not know where their files are saved.  They ask how we can help, and the only thing we can offer is our sympathy.

Please back-up your files.

C.Wright