Using the digital darkroom to produced fine
arts quality images for reproduction
by Gordon Belgard-Leckenby

PhotoShop 5 offers very complete image control as a digital darkroom. All my raw images, whether from scanned prints or slides, photo CDs or my digital camera is brought into PhotoShop for work and the final product is reproduced either for the web or for the printer. I use the Epson line of printers along with Lysonic archival inks and acid free papers to produce
giclee reproductions of my work, however there are other high resolution printers from Canon, Lexmark or HP that will allow one to produce creditable fine arts. Fine Arts doesn't mean a scholastic background necessarily. It really means "making learned critical choices" about form and content, composition, and materials. The old chemical darkroom was a place where the
photographer made and tested choices. Now instead of the days, chemicals, time, and mess to develop that that were required by the old, the new realms presented by the computer as a digital darkroom are awesome.

In PhotoShop I use the "Image adjust" menu to shape the image in the following ways. These steps are the primary ones I use in producing my works in a flowing creative manner.

1. Use the "Curves" graphs to change the light/color balance of any photo. Click "Image, adjust, curves" and place the cross hair on the line then click and drag noting what happens as you do so. You can use this to correct any color cast also by selecting the "RGB master", or "R","G", or "B" channel to work on. The effects can be very dramatic, be bold! I've found that with images from the digital camera I can easily pull images up into or away from the light. A very handy way of getting around some of the limitations of the ISO 100 equivalent photo arrays in the current line of Digital Point and Shoots. The two images below illustrate this. The original
was taken indoors with no flash and was enhanced easily with a single movement in a matter of seconds to produce the result shown.

 Isolating elements with the "Magic Wand" or "Magnetic Lasso" is made easier by using the curves to change the white point, noting on the grid how much change you are applying so that you can apply the opposite amount of change later on after the isolation and enhancement process is finished before going on to another adjustment if so desired.

2. Use the "Saturation" slider to enhance or remove color. Click "Image, adjust, Hue/Saturation" and move the saturation slider back and forth while noting the effect on the image. Once again you may select the master channel or the R, G, or B channel to work with on any whole or isolated element. Usually I increase the saturation by about "5". to provide greater color
depth. At other times I'll reduce the saturation so that the image appears to be black and white, until closer inspection reveals subtle traces of color.

Unmodified Image

'Saturation' increased by 5%

'Saturation' pulled out

 3. Use the "Unsharp Mask" to enhance the apparent focus of the whole image or selected element. Click "Filter, Sharpen, Unsharp mask" and set the sliders as follows for general focus enhancement. "Amount = 50 - 70 %", Radius = 2 pixels, Threshold = 3 levels". This will give a subtle, repeating filter to use for focus enhancement. Although one should experiment with moving the sliders to the extremes in order to see the overall effects.

The above actions although not absolute will provide a starting place for your own unique image enhancement choices. The key is experimentation! Other examples of my work may be viewed on my web site FarAlong Studio at http://www.leckenby.com
Gordon Belgard-Leckenby - A Pacific Northwest photographer painter