Tankd

Didn't show any change to the photo, so it must be the calibration and brightness still. On the 'bright' side, I learned what soft proofing is and how to do it. Thanks.

Yes. And one last question on lighting. Is it better to be directly overhead, or anywhere to flood the area?

At this time, I have to live with it until I figure something else out than the desk lamp. Doing my best to get it right. Speaking of the different shade of green/yellow on the grass. If thats part of the calibration for the grass, guess its not good enough.

I happen to have a desk lamp -Fluorescent, 27w, 6500k temp bulb (thanks to the wife). Granted, I will have to keep an eye on the lamp location each time editing. I have attached a new calibration photo (ignore the glare). Is it perfect-no.. Is is close--I think it is. It's a lot different from the first one. If you have suggestions to make it better, let me know. Next question--is there a way to address the tint, like the grass? Thanks for your expertise!

Worked on this most of the day and my conclusion the room is to dark. To come to that findings, I took the photo outside and looked at it and thought it looked good. Came back in and looked again, looked dark. So, in front of me I have a curtained window. I pulled the curtain back, looked at the picture again and it looked good. At this point I figured since this is the first for lab prints, I did a factory reset. I brought down the brightness to where I thought it was a good match. Originally I had been using sRGB for the preset mode for the display. Still the color of the shorts still didn't match. Instead of using the sRGB preset, I used the color temp and dropped it from 6500k to 5700k which made a better color match. I then closed the curtains did couple more recals to get the brightness set to where I thought it was good. Ended up on Spyder, somewhere around 87. Now, this brings me to finding a way to get lights on the desk. Room is to large even for the 3x100w in the ceiling fan to get enough light, so I need to bring the light to me. Desk/floor lamp about the only option as the ceiling is high and vaulted. Sorry for being winded on the path I took. Wanted to let you know how I got to the point of being dark.

Yes, that's I started.

So, I keep lowering brightness and contrast ?

Attempting the monitor calibration today as I received the lab prints. The prints seem darker than the monitor. I have a Dell U2417 monitor and a Spyder 5 Pro calibrator. The lighting is a ceiling fan with 3 bulbs- 100w 1600 lumens 'Daylight' Sylvania LED. I just took back 3 60w bulbs as those had very little output. Right now, the monitor's white balance is at 6500 and the preset mode is Srgb, brightness 18% and contrast 66% I did move the contrast. When calibrating, lights are off, shades closed just diffused light coming in. The calibration value for target 52, current setting 53. Picture attached is with lights on. Thanks.

I'll give it a shot, nothing gained if I don't try. I'll keep working it during some slack time. One way or another I'll get it done, but can't keep the teacher waiting. ?

I'm looking for suggestions for a procedure to remove the wires from the trees. I have been working with the clone stamp to 'grow' a limb to cover some up and granted some don't look quite right and I don't like it. I know it's over my head, but have to see if there a better procedure....besides wire cutters.. Thanks!