Post Processing | Russ Bishop Photography

What You See Is What You Get. Sunset over the Channel Islands and Ventura Pier from San Buenaventura State Beach, Ventura, California — Sunset over the Channel Islands and Ventura Pier, Ventura, California

WYSIWYG (or “what you see is what you get”) is computer lingo for software that optimizes the screen display for a particular type of output. Back when word processing and desktop publishing software first hit the scene this was nothing short of a miracle. The software emulated the resolution of the printer in order to get as close as possible to WYSIWYG, but the main attraction was the ability to previsualize what you were producing prior to printing.

We now live in a far more advanced digital world of 4K monitors, massive image files, and the processors and video cards to handle them, but without color consistency across devices we might as well be living in the dark ages.

Monitor calibration has a reputation as being one of the great mysteries of digital imaging, but it really doesn’t have to be. Printing images that accurately represent what you see on-screen is a reasonable expectation that shouldn’t break the bank on wasted ink and paper. But unlike the out-of-box WYSIWYG experience you get when printing documents, your monitor requires a little assistance when it comes to images.

What you need is a spyder, and I’m not referring to those furry creatures lurking in your garage. Several companies sell highly accurate and reasonably priced kits like the Datacolor SpyderX Elite that include everything you need to guarantee that your output is consistent from screen to print. The spyder is actually a color sensor (called a colorimeter) that plugs into a standard USB port and works in tandem with software to read your monitor’s output. The process is known as calibration and it creates a custom profile that tunes your display to an industry reference standard, which is then used by image editing programs like Photoshop and Lightroom to provide consistent reliable color.

You trust your eyes and photo equipment when it comes to accurately representing your vision in the field, but it’s all for naught if your monitor doesn’t faithfully reproduce those tones and colors. Much like driving in the dark with your headlights off, editing images without a calibrated monitor is a guessing game. So before you buy another lens or camera body, don’t overlook one of the most important investments you can make as a digital photographer. A quality monitor and calibration kit may not be the most exciting gear you’ll buy, but they do guarantee that what you see is what you get.

The Latent Image. Fresh snow on fall aspens and pines, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California — Fresh snow on fall aspens, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California

The Latent Image. Seventeen years ago I made the switch from film to digital and never looked back. The year was 2005 and it wasn’t without a great deal of hesitation, but I knew I wasn’t alone and that the time was right. Not long before National Geographic had finally started accepting digital files from the Nikon D100, and if the quality was worthy of their hallowed pages then it was good enough for me.

The biggest concern for most outdoor photographers at the time was preserving that classic “look” of film that the world had embraced from the early days of Kodachrome and later Fuji Velvia. We were told that if you shot RAW files, profiles and presets could be applied that would mimic any type of film. At the time it was all Greek, but in the years since it’s become standard practice in post production. The lightbox and loupe were traded for hi-resolution monitors and software, but the holy grail of image making was still dynamic range.

Cameras have advanced at lightning speed since then delivering better resolution, wider dynamic range, higher megapixels and price tags to match! But one thing hasn’t changed – the powerful RAW image file. This digital negative can never actually be touched or manipulated, but utilizing RAW processing programs like Lightroom can produce files that match any conceivable style or vision by applying those magical profiles and presets all while retaining the highest image quality.

One of the best features of shooting RAW is the fact that software manufacturers are constantly improving the programs to better utilize all of the image data captured by the sensor. I recently revisited a selection of images from my archive that were made just shortly after I switched to digital. They were made on one of those early bodies, but because I had used a high-quality lens and created RAW files I was now able to create much finer images from those files than the original software would allow.

In a side-by-side comparison I was amazed at the clarity and definition that had been hiding in those images just waiting for a future application to release them. So if you’re still shooting JPEGs you might want to consider switching to RAW. Though each camera manufacturer makes their own proprietary file, Adobe, the creators of TIFF and PDF, developed the DNG (or Digital Negative) – a great format that preserves your RAW file and a JPEG preview eliminating the concern of proprietary files and software going the way of the 8-Track stereo and Betamax.

One thing is certain, change is inevitable and technology will continue to evolve. It’s a wonderful time to be a photographer and reassuring to know that the images we make today can not only be enjoyed long into the future, but like a fine wine will likely improve with age.