[nldunne]

I am using my S 600 SONY P and S cam. Next, I have tried to calibrate the screen as close as I can to the grey card with the gamma tools. Other folks say I have come very close with it.

What I have done since this image in ELEMENTS 2 is:
1. I made a work copy of my image in B M P
2. On that work copy I made a LEVELS AUTO FIX, COLOUR CORRECTION AUTO FIX and UNSHARP MASK copy and SAVED AS - LEVELS
3. On that work copy I made a CONTRAST AUTO FIX, COLOUR CORRECTION AUTO FIX and SAVED AS - CONTRAST
4. Next I resized the copy down tjo posting size in B M P and add NSHARP MASK.
5.Then I SAVED AS to J P G

Next I put both copies side by side, overlapping and studied them very carefully. Then I added the original image to the mix and studiled the group some more.

What I found many times is - LEVELS gives a minutely softer overall image than CONTRAST - which I like - as it can be more 'artistic' - depending on the subject.

Then both of us studied all three images for the final choice as to which image we liked best of the three. Many different light levels were done in this test along with flash. I have made a note as to which one we chose for which light level it was done under.

On top of that, I also did b & w's using the same three images on some - not all - images. We made choices for b & w's the same way.

One thing I feel about this - it is a good starting point for beginners who have not had a lot of experience with P C image correction or for those who do not like playing on the P C too much.

Best Wishes

Norm D