Zone system Pins...

Curvemeister pins are like a memory bank for colors. Discuss techniques and applications for pins. Find out about new pin files here!
ggroess
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 2:15 am
Contact:

Postby ggroess » Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:34 pm

OK; so why would you need these....

I have been using these with some measure of success for single channel curving as a part of a modified Picture post card workflow.  Instead of guessing on the shadow and highlight I am using the Zone 8 and Zone 2 or 3 pins in each color channel I am choosing to edit.  It gets me into the "zone" faster.

They are by no means perfect...

I created these pins using Values found on the web for LAB associated with the Zone system.

Comments welcome including but not limited to...These are junk go away....

Greg
Attachments
zone-system-txt
(999 Bytes) Downloaded 2 times

leeharper_admin
Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2013 2:39 pm

Postby leeharper_admin » Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:16 pm

They're wonderful Greg - thanks for uploading them ;D

Do you still have the link for the webpage where you found the Lab zone system values? I'd like to have a read...

I still haven't got to grips with working the zone system into my regular workflow yet (keep meaning to ;)); these pins are a great carrot!

Cheers,
Lee.

ggroess
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 2:15 am
Contact:

Postby ggroess » Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:28 am

I keep finding that they help me in the single channels; for instance If I open a RGB file and open the G channel in PS I can then use the pins to help me place the tones for that channel more accurately it take some of the guess work and estimation out of the process and ki am finding right now that they help me set a much smoother curve. 

Maybe it's me...I don't know yet but I am liking the results as I use it more...I'm hoping to post something soon that will show this off a bit.

Greg

leeharper_admin
Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2013 2:39 pm

Postby leeharper_admin » Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:49 pm

Hi Greg,

I've just tried the pins on a few images, and so far - I am really impressed with the results I'm getting ;D

Do you think that there is any chance of getting Mike to have these install by default, so that they are easily available to everyone? I think that they are really useful; they would be a nice addition to the default installation.

One thing I'm curious about though - why does zone 0 have an L value of 2, rather than 0?

All best,
Lee.

ggroess
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 2:15 am
Contact:

Postby ggroess » Fri Jan 28, 2011 8:42 pm

For my money 0 would drive the blacks all the way out...If you place it wrong you lock up a whole lot of image area...I found it made little difference in the end but had a strong aversion to 0 on the L channel. 
I set my RGB Limits to be 5,5,5 when using CM in any case.

here is a screen shot from the page I found most of the data on...The author goes way too far with the explanation and covers some stuff that is not really relevant...

Greg

Attachments
screenshot001-jpg-14
screenshot001-jpg-14 (79.75 KiB) Viewed 12721 times

mikemeister_admin
Posts: 4927
Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2013 8:29 pm

Postby mikemeister_admin » Sun May 08, 2011 5:39 am

hi and thanks for this thread and the zone pins

I bought CM about 2yr ago, and put it aside - I had so much basic photoediting to learn first! now that I have more context for it I am coming back to CM. I just upgraded to v.3.3.2.0 (is this the latest and greatest CM for XP32bit/CS3? - I haven't d/l the zone pins yet so will they work with this version?)

as soon as I saw the title of this thread I knew this idea was a winner! the CS5 professional user's handbook in its treatment of correcting colour describes a technique where the individual channel curves are adjusted for shadow and highlight (input values, with the aid of Threshold display, until shadows and highlights just begin to clip). can these pins be used in RGB (ie outside of LAB)?

obviously this is what you are achieving with these pins

further development of techniques based on these ideas would be welcome

just to repeat my questions:

do the zone pins work in CMv3.3.2.0

do they work in RGB

thanks

Neil

mikemeister_admin
Posts: 4927
Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2013 8:29 pm

Postby mikemeister_admin » Sun May 08, 2011 5:48 am

one further question

how can these pins be added to CM, is there some help with this somewhere?

thanks

Neil

ggroess
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 2:15 am
Contact:

Postby ggroess » Sun May 08, 2011 2:33 pm

Neil,
There are a few ways to get the pins into the correct place.  You can right click on the pins gallery in CM and select "Manage Pin" files.  Copy the text file to the directory the other pins are located in and then right click and choose refresh pins or re-start CM.  The pins are generic for version and will work in older versions back to 3.0.1.  You can use the windows file manager to do the same thing if you are comfortable navigating to the "swatches" folder.

They work very well in RGB. 
I created them in LAB so that I could work only with the L channel value.  CM translates them to RGB when you use them.  I have been finding pretty good results with these if you set the shadow and highlight using zone 2 and 8.  they can be pushed harder if needed.  Play around with them.

The way I use them is to open an Image in PS.  Select a single channel say Red...With Red selected I open the CM filter on the Channel.  You will get a B&W image with 1 channel in the CM interface.  Add your pins and adjust the contrast in the middle with a contrast pin as needed.  Then go on to the other channels.

I am working on a CM 201 Class that will work with this techniques and others that are just as interesting...in the mean time the next CM 101 class is coming up in a few weeks....

Keep asking and we'll get you the help you need.

Greg


ggroess
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 2:15 am
Contact:

Postby ggroess » Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:58 pm

Update:

We have found that the Pins for brightness behave differently in Grey-scale vs RGB.  I have a new set of Grey-scale pins and some process changes that I will be writing up and posting.  Needless to say some of the difficulty in Pinning to the zone system has been resolved a bit...

More to come...
Greg

sjordan93436
Posts: 462
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 4:23 am
Contact:

Postby sjordan93436 » Tue Jan 29, 2013 2:53 am

Sorry for a stupid question...

Pins. 

1.  I alt clicked a sample point. 

2  right clicked, save sample point. 

3.  Then copied pin as text. 

4.  Then edited the group.  adding pin to color and tabs between fields.

5.  Pasted the text in.  adding pin to color and tabs between fields.

I noticed that the line with the pins needs tabs?? 

Is this the best way?

Pin to color?  Pin to hue and saturation? 



Return to “Color pinning”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests