06-07-2019, 02:18 PM
Yes, I am familiar with all you mention about display calibration. While I have a pair of computers on a KVM switch that I use for photo editing the duller display doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I think it is better for these aging eyeballs when spending many hours working with said display.
Similarly, I had huge problems with printing. The biggest factor was learning about the need for different color profiles to match with different kinds of paper. While I think soft proofing in GIMP and other editing software is useful it looks to me like you still need to allow some out of gamut (blown out) colors because removing them all can deteriorate the overall quality of the pictures. Of course my novice status as a photo editor is likely also a factor. As a result, the amount of correction I'm able to do with soft proofing requires some very subjective judgement.
This whole discussion seems to me to provide a pretty good explanation for why good pictures, that you'd like to preserve, need to be printed. When the only thing you know about the electronic display devices that any audience might be using to view pictures is that they are very different from each other it looks hopeless, to me, to think you can rely on that method for sharing pictures where any semblance of quality is desired. I think that is the main reason for wanting to spend time and effort undertaking the work associated with photo editing. I'm often annoyed by how good the camera does on its' own and the difficulty I experience trying to improve on it.
Anyway, thanks for helping. No doubt this discussion wondered into areas I had no idea of when my original question was posed. I think I can conclude that what I original had in mind simply cannot be done.
Similarly, I had huge problems with printing. The biggest factor was learning about the need for different color profiles to match with different kinds of paper. While I think soft proofing in GIMP and other editing software is useful it looks to me like you still need to allow some out of gamut (blown out) colors because removing them all can deteriorate the overall quality of the pictures. Of course my novice status as a photo editor is likely also a factor. As a result, the amount of correction I'm able to do with soft proofing requires some very subjective judgement.
This whole discussion seems to me to provide a pretty good explanation for why good pictures, that you'd like to preserve, need to be printed. When the only thing you know about the electronic display devices that any audience might be using to view pictures is that they are very different from each other it looks hopeless, to me, to think you can rely on that method for sharing pictures where any semblance of quality is desired. I think that is the main reason for wanting to spend time and effort undertaking the work associated with photo editing. I'm often annoyed by how good the camera does on its' own and the difficulty I experience trying to improve on it.
Anyway, thanks for helping. No doubt this discussion wondered into areas I had no idea of when my original question was posed. I think I can conclude that what I original had in mind simply cannot be done.