How to make digital prints look less digital

[cyaw]

Just printed some shots from a G2 & a F410. 4R glossy at KTDI. Compared them to prints from a film pocket camera. You can see the difference. The colours are a little unreal in the digital prints - not all but some. Particularly reds - both for the Canon & the Fujifilm. Also the skin tones in the digital prints have "highlights" (washout?) that the film prints don't have.

Did very minimal adjustments for some of the shots in PS. Basically I cropped shots that needed it and did the default auto levels and contrast for some.

Am I missing something or that's the way it is for digital cameras? A friend with a 300D said that she has the same experience.

 

[showtime]

get the ICC profile from your regular printer... install it in photoshop and then make the necessary adjustments on PS.

this is because different printer have different colour cast to them. so knowing and being familiar with your printer or rather the shops printer helps....

i print my digital stuff on a fuji frontier 350 machine and i really love the results.

 

[showtime]

digital pictures look digital because there is no grain on the pictures.... add grain on PS to give the film feel to it... and especially for B&w shots, the mood really gets expressed with a bit of grain.

 

[linse]

I have printed shots from a D100 and the they look pretty close to prints from negatives. However, I shoot raw all the time and adjust the curves using Nikon Capture. Nikon's dSLR matrix metering exposes for the highlights so I don't have a problem with blown highlights.

With consumer cameras and the 300D, at the default settings, the saturation and contrast are higher than the "average" film. Also, a lot of people oversharpen their photos causing the photos to look "artificial". The auto levels and contrast for photoshop will not beat eyeballing the image on a properly calibrated monitor.

 

[SuRfTeC]

digital pictures look digital because there is no grain on the pictures.... add grain on PS to give the film feel to it... and especially for B&w shots, the mood really gets expressed with a bit of grain.

showtime...

so whats the normal settings for the film grain filter..??

Grain - ??
Highlight Area - ??
Intensity - ??

 

[Zerstorer]

The default auto levels function in photoshop generally won't give you correct colours. It also tends to make images overly contrasty, try to use the levels or curves adjustments with a fine touch instead.

Blown highlights are a problem in digicams due to the limited dynamic range, this can be aggravated with higher contrast settings, try to turn down your flash when taking the shots to minimize the effect.

 

[Watcher]

I have printed shots from a D100 and the they look pretty close to prints from negatives. However, I shoot raw all the time and adjust the curves using Nikon Capture. Nikon's dSLR matrix metering exposes for the highlights so I don't have a problem with blown highlights.

With consumer cameras and the 300D, at the default settings, the saturation and contrast are higher than the "average" film. Also, a lot of people oversharpen their photos causing the photos to look "artificial". The auto levels and contrast for photoshop will not beat eyeballing the image on a properly calibrated monitor.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Me too. There are complaints/comments that the D100 takes photos that are 1) underexpose 2) dull. This is because in comparision to the P&Ses and other brands (no name here :nono: ), the camera tries to prevent the blow ups like the thread starter mentioned. The colours, especially if shot with AdobeRGB with RAW is much closer to the natural look and feel.

The P&Ses are targetted to people who want zero or very little post-processing. As most people are attracted to brightly exposed, contrasty, (over-)saturated images (don't believe me? Do a testing yourself), these cameras makers give what the buyers want...

 

[coke21]

so whats the normal settings for the film grain filter..??

Grain - ??
Highlight Area - ??
Intensity - ??

The good thing about photoshop is that there is no specific setting. Play ard with the numbers till you are satified with the grain level.

 

[showtime]

showtime...

so whats the normal settings for the film grain filter..??

Grain - ??
Highlight Area - ??
Intensity - ??

no normal settings
but for me,

grain - 20
highlight area - 0
intensity - 0

all this is on a duplicate layer set to soft light blending mode.
then the opacity is set to any desired level... i usually do between 75% to 100% depending on the feel i wanna achieve.

 

[cyaw]

1. Sorry basic question - how to install an ICC profile in PS?

2. As KTDI seems quite popular at this forum, does anyone have their ICC profile?

3. What instructions would you give to the printer after you have tweaked your PS with their ICC profile? No adjustments?

 

[SuRfTeC]

no normal settings
but for me,

grain - 20
highlight area - 0
intensity - 0

all this is on a duplicate layer set to soft light blending mode.
then the opacity is set to any desired level... i usually do between 75% to 100% depending on the feel i wanna achieve.

Thanks...showtime..!!

the soft light blending mode is cool..!!