Re: 16-bit vs 8-bit images
Re: 16-bit vs 8-bit images
- Subject: Re: 16-bit vs 8-bit images
- From: Todd Flashner <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 15:09:48 -0500
Bruce Fraser wrote:
>
So let's accept as a given
>
that we all do high-bit editing to some degree. The question is
>
really when is worth bringing all those bits into Photoshop?
Bruce,
Like you, I take a photographers approach to my workflow, and like you I
prefer to tone my data in PS. Your tutorial on highbit manipulation in the
PIE Magazine tutorial issue was very influential to my workflow. In it you
showed how to use an 8-bit dupe as a proxy image, to use it's tool set to
store masks etc, and then apply them to your highbit file.
Now, I scan RAW in highbit mode and archive that. I also duplicate it and
globally tone the data in highbit mode to where I'd want the image to come
from a scanners driver, IOW, fully toned globally. Then I dupe that and
save. The dupe I convert to 8-bit mode and work using that full-range tool
set.
At this point I have three versions I archive. My theory is if I find my
8-bit version is fine, I'm done, I use it (which is the case almost all the
time). If it's got problems, I use it as a set of stored adjustments and
selections that I can apply to my toned 16-bit version (ala your tutorial).
Or I can start anew with my RAW file. It's very space intensive from a
storage point of view, but it's no-fail from an imaging point of view.
What I also find interesting in the bit depth comparison is the role editing
techniques can play. For instance, if I didn't know about the technique of
using an 8-bit duplicate file to make masks, which can be applied to highbit
images, I might never care to maintain a highbit workflow throughout. OTOH,
editing techniques for 8-bit files [for instance, applying a custom gamma
space to tone the data, rather than a drastic curve, (as you also taught
me)], which are less detrimental to the lowbit data, will also weigh heavily
on ones perception of the quality/facility/merits of each respective mode.
IOW, I'm of the mind that a highly skilled editor will be able to produce
vastly better quality from 8-bit data than a less skilled editor will from
16-bit data.
Thanks for keeping the good info coming.
Todd Flashner
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