Displaying 16-bit color

RM
Posted By
Ryan_Michero
Aug 26, 2004
Views
200
Replies
4
Status
Closed
Hello, everyone. I’m a computer animator who will be creating texture bitmaps for 3D objects in Photoshop CS for final rendered output to film. Most monitors these days (affordable ones) cannot display color images with more than 8 bits per channel. I want to make sure I’m using the full range of color I can while creating images in 16 bit space, but I can’t figure out how to actually see the whole range of color that is there in the image since Photoshop displays its images in 8 bit mode. Is there any way to display only a certain range of the color space on a regular monitor (for instance, only the shadows, midtones, or highlights) so that I can distinguish the full range of values present in the image?

Thanks,

Ryan Michero

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CC
Chris_Cox
Aug 26, 2004
Use levels adjustment layers.
RK
Rob_Keijzer
Aug 26, 2004
Ryan,

I take it that you want to "proof" the difference between 8 bits/ch and 16 bits/ch.

The only time I see the difference is after severely stretching the contrast.

suppose you’ve got an image of the blue sky with nothing else on it, it consists of shades of blue only.

Now suppose you stretch it so that it contains very dark and very light blue. Caused by pulling apart the available shades you’ll see an effect called posterisation, in which you can clearly distinguish the transitions between the shades.

When it’s 16 bits/ch there are much more shades in there so stretching the histogram can be done (to a certain extend) without this defect.

We usually keep an image in 16 bits/ch as long as possible for editing purposes, but the output is almost always 8 bits/ch (web, print)

Rob
RM
Ryan_Michero
Aug 26, 2004
Thanks Chris and Rob.

Chris – You mean by, for instance, keeping 2 levels adjustment layers in your stack, one set to, say, gamma .45 and the other to gamma 2.2?

Also, is there any way to display 16-bit color values in any place other than the Info window? Like, say, the color picker or the histogram?

Thanks,

Ryan Michero
CC
Chris_Cox
Aug 26, 2004
Ryan – that, or adjusting the black and white points to show you detail in shadows vs. detail in highlights, etc.

No, there is no other way to display the 16 bit values.

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