Print Viewing Lights

[Bruce]

All

What lights and bulbs (temperature in degrees Kelvin) are you using to evaluate your prints.

Bruce

 

[Bob Carnie]

Bruce
In the darkroom I use daylight tubes, after time I have found out my drydown and such.
Once prints are finished , I look at the prints under different conditions, and if I know where the prints are going I will look at them under that type of light.

pretty basic , and you should not lose too much sleep over it.
Bob

All

What lights and bulbs (temperature in degrees Kelvin) are you using to evaluate your prints.

Bruce

 

[Ian C]

The print viewing light should match the environment in which you plan on displaying the prints.

That can vary quite a bit. With the scheduled 2012 demise of tungsten lighting for general illumination in buildings in the US, that can be a daunting task. We simply don’t know the color of light that will be common in a few years.

It would be useful to know this ahead of time, but things are changing quickly. Most of the newer energy-saving light sources use florescent tubes of some sort. They tend to produce a non-uniform spectrum. That’s why we avoided photographing with color film under fluorescent lights whenever possible. The best compensating filters were only a partial correction at best.

The same problems exist for print display. Beautiful sepia toned prints that look warm and inviting with rich reddish tones in daylight or in tungsten light appear dull, lifeless, and lacking color under florescent light. Color prints suffer likewise. Even cold tone black-and-white prints look quite different in fluorescent light compared to daylight or tungsten.

 

[MattKing]

This thread might help you:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Vaughn]

Another factor is the UV output of the bulbs -- with fluorescents putting out more than tungsten, with some coming in thru windows.. UV excite the optical brighteners in photopaper -- making the whites seem whiter.

I tend to judge color prints with tungsten floods above the critique board in the classroom -- figuring it is the closest to a general light source around here (the room lights are fluorescents which are reddish).

I think what is also important is the wattage of the light -- too bright and your prints will tend to be printed too dark.

Thanks, Matt -- I tend to post here and on the LF Forum -- I can never remember which topic has been discussed where.

 

[Bruce]

All

Thanks everyone.

Bruce

 

[RalphLambrecht]

All

What lights and bulbs (temperature in degrees Kelvin) are you using to evaluate your prints.

Bruce

I use a 100W tungsten bulb at a distance of 2m, which gives me abut EV6, measured at 100 ASA. This is a bit on the dim side for display lighting but good for wet-print evaluation. I never use a daylight bulb, because my B&W prints are not exhibited in store windows or in the great outdoors.

 

[tkamiya]

My method isn't all that scientific. Once the print is dry, I usually take my prints to more than one place to review them under different lighting conditions.

1. My desk with desk lamp at standard (my standard) distance
2. Bathroom #2 with bright light
3. Hallway during daylight

I can get pretty consistent results by doing all 3. This means I often have to wait until the next day to fully evaluate my print but I'm usually not in a hurry to finish my work anyway. It actually helps me to make test prints one night and wait until the next day to decide on which one I like the best.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I remember using a viewing booth when I worked in a color lab. It think it had a high CRI with. Doesn't fluorescent lights thats richer in UV can make whites whiter because of brighteners?