Print Clipping Warning Action

Members Only
1

I’ve created a Photoshop action that shows clipping for blown-out areas in red and blue, just like you would see in Lightroom or ACR. But I have also added clipping warnings for showing loss of print detail.

I learned from master printer Charles Cramer that when your Luminance value falls below 10 in your shadows or goes above 90 in your highlights, you will lose detail when you print, even though the data is not clipped. This action shows you this visually rather than using the eyedropper to check the Lab values. Shadow areas that fall below 10 are shown in Cyan, and Highlight areas above 90 are shown in Magenta.

Ensure that you keep the group of clipping masks at the top of the layer stack at all times, if you create adjustment layers above the group, they will not work properly. Enjoy!

Download Action

Print Clipping Warnings.atn (4.0 KB)

CleanShot 2023-04-07 at 12.55.02@2x
CleanShot 2023-04-07 at 12.55.02@2x2218×1482 955 KB

CleanShot 2023-04-07 at 13.12.14@2x

4 Likes
2

This is great, David….I’m traveling right now and can’t give it a try but am anxious to once I get back. By the way the second image isn’t loading? At least it isn’t on my iPhone?

3

Thank you very much, David. Wow, that sounds very interesting.

I really need to check this on a few images that I’m having trouble printing.

All the images are displayed correctly on my device.

1 Like
4

Cool - thanks, David!

1 Like
5

Can someone point me to instructions on how to install a plug-in? :roll_eyes: I’ve googled it, but I can’t figure it out.

6

To install an action in Photoshop, you can follow these steps:

  1. First, download the action file to your computer. The file will have a .atn extension.
  2. Open Photoshop and go to the Actions panel by clicking on Window > Actions in the top menu.
  3. In the Actions panel, click on the menu icon and select Load Actions.
  4. Navigate to the downloaded action file on your computer and select it.
  5. The action will now be installed and ready to use in the Actions panel.

You can then run the action by selecting it in the Actions panel and clicking on the Play button at the bottom of the panel.

1 Like
7

Thank you, David! I was confusing plug-ins with actions. Sorry you had to take time to instruct me.

8

No problem Bonnie! I meant to include that anyway.

9

Thanks David. I have it loaded and on the TK8 My Actions panel. Which reminds me that I have to rebuild some actions from the old computer.

1 Like
10

Thanks, David. I look forward to using this action. Isn’t Charlie Cramer terrific!? I appreciate your instrructions.

1 Like
11

David, this is great. Thank you.

1 Like
12

Thanks, David, I knew nothing of Actions in PhotoShop but I easily downloaded it and applied it with your instructions. And it “saved” me on an image I was just going to print – I discovered Print Highlight Clipping in a key area of the image!

1 Like
13

Thanks again, David. I have the action installed. On one image I have cyan shadow clipping showing.
How do I open up these shadows for just this area prior to printing? Thanks. Larry

Screen Shot 2023-04-24 at 2.05.12 PM
Screen Shot 2023-04-24 at 2.05.12 PM5120×2880 2.18 MB

14

Hi Larry, there are many ways to do this. My favorite is using luminosity masks to select the very dark tones, create a levels adjustment with that mask attached, then set the blending mode of the adjustment layer to Screen. You can then duplicate that layer if you need more of the effect. But keep in mind that details in the shadows are not necessarily a good thing, make sure you do test prints to see what you prefer!

1 Like
15

Thanks, David. This is quite helpful. Larry

1 Like
16

Printing can be such a headache…! I look forward to trying the action and giving feedback. Many thanks!

1 Like