Comments on: How Many Bits? Is Eight Enough? http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/ Photography in Small Doses Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:27:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: photographyVoter.com http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-804 photographyVoter.com Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:20:52 +0000 http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-804 How Many Bits? Is Eight Enough?... If you are serious about photography, you should answer this question very carefully: "Is eight bits of color depth enough?" Explore the effects of editing in eight and 16 bits.... How Many Bits? Is Eight Enough?…

If you are serious about photography, you should answer this question very carefully: “Is eight bits of color depth enough?” Explore the effects of editing in eight and 16 bits….

]]> By: Christopher Scholl http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-808 Christopher Scholl Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:16:43 +0000 http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-808 Wow - great article. But I have a question. My usual workflow is: Shoot in RAW, import to Lightroom and make most, if not all, changes there, export to Photoshop if necessary, and save as - presumably - a 16 bit Tiff. I assume because I'm working in RAW, then following it with 16-bit Tiff that I'm better off than if I was saving it ultimately in 8-bit Jpeg at that point. Are you saying I'm just wasting hard-drive space? Wow – great article. But I have a question. My usual workflow is:

Shoot in RAW, import to Lightroom and make most, if not all, changes there, export to Photoshop if necessary, and save as – presumably – a 16 bit Tiff. I assume because I’m working in RAW, then following it with 16-bit Tiff that I’m better off than if I was saving it ultimately in 8-bit Jpeg at that point. Are you saying I’m just wasting hard-drive space?

]]> By: Aaron http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-809 Aaron Thu, 07 Jun 2007 23:19:45 +0000 http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-809 Thanks, Christopher! I'm definitely not suggesting that maintaining the highest bit depth possible throughout your workflow is a waste. The aim of this article was to demonstrate that a judicious use of bit depth can result in a fine compromise between storage space and print quality. If I need to make edits in Photoshop that would really damage an 8-bit file, I will change my Lightroom settings and load that one image in 16 bits. Most of the time, though, I have found that the edits I perform in Photoshop aren't destructive in eight bits; not enough to be noticeable in a print, at least. Cheers and thanks for writing. Thanks, Christopher! I’m definitely not suggesting that maintaining the highest bit depth possible throughout your workflow is a waste. The aim of this article was to demonstrate that a judicious use of bit depth can result in a fine compromise between storage space and print quality.

If I need to make edits in Photoshop that would really damage an 8-bit file, I will change my Lightroom settings and load that one image in 16 bits. Most of the time, though, I have found that the edits I perform in Photoshop aren’t destructive in eight bits; not enough to be noticeable in a print, at least.

Cheers and thanks for writing.

]]> By: John Mackay http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-811 John Mackay Sun, 10 Jun 2007 01:30:29 +0000 http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-811 Don't forget that you can avoid many of the destructive effects of working on 8 bit images if when working with PhotoShop you instead work with adjustment layers rather than working directly on the image itself. The good thing about this is that you can always come back to your curve, gradient, levels adjustment layers and--well adjust it to taste without causing irreversible damage to your image :) Don’t forget that you can avoid many of the destructive effects of working on 8 bit images if when working with PhotoShop you instead work with adjustment layers rather than working directly on the image itself. The good thing about this is that you can always come back to your curve, gradient, levels adjustment layers and—well adjust it to taste without causing irreversible damage to your image :)

]]> By: Aaron http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-815 Aaron Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:42:32 +0000 http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-815 John--When I say "destructive," I don't mean that unrecoverable damage is done to the file, although that may certainly be true. Because I am using a Lightroom-based workflow, I am actually editing a copy of the original file, so I can always go back to it. Your suggestion of using adjustment layers is absolutely a good one, and anyone out there who isn't using adjustment layers for as much of their editing as possible should be taking a lesson from you! Still, whether you use an adjustment layer or not, an 8-bit image will suffer the same aliasing and banding artifacts that I demonstrated in my examples. Those effects will be easily reversible by removing the adjustment layer, but it won't make your prints look any better! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. John—When I say “destructive,” I don’t mean that unrecoverable damage is done to the file, although that may certainly be true. Because I am using a Lightroom-based workflow, I am actually editing a copy of the original file, so I can always go back to it. Your suggestion of using adjustment layers is absolutely a good one, and anyone out there who isn’t using adjustment layers for as much of their editing as possible should be taking a lesson from you!

Still, whether you use an adjustment layer or not, an 8-bit image will suffer the same aliasing and banding artifacts that I demonstrated in my examples. Those effects will be easily reversible by removing the adjustment layer, but it won’t make your prints look any better!

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

]]> By: John Mackay http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-817 John Mackay Mon, 11 Jun 2007 05:29:15 +0000 http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-817 Actually, done correctly you shouldn't see any banding artifacts at all when using layer adjustments. Where most people make the mistake is in creating an adjustment layer, say for curves or levels, where they leave the layer mode set to "normal" in which case they might as well have not bothered with the layers curve at all as "an 8-bit image will suffer the same aliasing and banding artifacts" as you've point out in your reply. However, if you set the curves adjustment layer to it's correct mode "Luminosity" there should be little if any clipping or banding present in the histogram. I have posted an explanatory PDF on my website which demonstrates this in more detail if interested: http://www.wildframe.net/documents/8bit_editing.pdf [Adobe Acrobat Format 500kb] Actually, done correctly you shouldn’t see any banding artifacts at all when using layer adjustments. Where most people make the mistake is in creating an adjustment layer, say for curves or levels, where they leave the layer mode set to “normal” in which case they might as well have not bothered with the layers curve at all as “an 8-bit image will suffer the same aliasing and banding artifacts” as you’ve point out in your reply.

However, if you set the curves adjustment layer to it’s correct mode “Luminosity” there should be little if any clipping or banding present in the histogram.

I have posted an explanatory PDF on my website which demonstrates this in more detail if interested:
http://www.wildframe.net/documents/8bit_editing.pdf [Adobe Acrobat Format 500kb]

]]> By: Randy Geske http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-837 Randy Geske Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:56:27 +0000 http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/06/how-many-bits-is-eight-enough/#comment-837 Aaron and John, You're both thinking too abstractly when you need to just look at your images. 8bit color depth is plenty for 99 percent of the images. Aaron, when's the last time that you applied a levels move to a real image like the one you applied to that gradient to expand the tonal range. John, you're just fooling yourself if you think that final histogram in your explanatory PDF is any better. All you've done is hide your levels move in the color of the image. Yes, 16 bit color has more shades of gray in each channel, but 99 percent of the time you won't need them because you won't perceive the difference. We're visual artisst. Let the appearance of the image rule this discussion! Aaron and John,

You’re both thinking too abstractly when you need to just look at your images. 8bit color depth is plenty for 99 percent of the images. Aaron, when’s the last time that you applied a levels move to a real image like the one you applied to that gradient to expand the tonal range.

John, you’re just fooling yourself if you think that final histogram in your explanatory PDF is any better. All you’ve done is hide your levels move in the color of the image.

Yes, 16 bit color has more shades of gray in each channel, but 99 percent of the time you won’t need them because you won’t perceive the difference. We’re visual artisst. Let the appearance of the image rule this discussion!

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