diff --git a/stim/envi/bsq.h b/stim/envi/bsq.h
index 387838d..63f5b39 100644
--- a/stim/envi/bsq.h
+++ b/stim/envi/bsq.h
@@ -650,13 +650,24 @@ public:
 
 		//to make sure the left and the right bound are in the bandwidth
 		if (lb < w[0] || rb < w[0] || lb > w[n-1] || rb >w[n-1]){
-			std::cout<<"ERROR: left bound or right bound out of bandwidth"<<std::endl;
-			exit(1);
+			if (lb < w[0]) {
+				std::cout << "bsq::area ERROR - left bound " << lb << " is below the minimum available wavelength " << w[0] << std::endl;
+			}
+			if (rb < w[0]) {
+				std::cout << "bsq::area ERROR - right bound " << rb << " is below the minimum available wavelength " << w[0] << std::endl;
+			}
+			if (lb > w[n - 1]) { 
+				std::cout << "bsq::area ERROR - left bound " << lb << " is above the maximum available wavelength " << w[n - 1] << std::endl; 
+			}
+			if (rb > w[n - 1]) { 
+				std::cout << "bsq::area ERROR - right bound " << rb << " is above the maximum available wavelength " << w[0] << std::endl; 
+			}
+			return false;
 		}
 		//to make sure right bound is bigger than left bound
 		else if(lb > rb){
-			std::cout<<"ERROR: right bound should be bigger than left bound"<<std::endl;
-			exit(1);
+			std::cout << "bsq::area ERROR - right bound " << rb << " should be larger than left bound " << lb << std::endl;
+			return false;
 		}
 
 		//find the indices of the left and right baseline points
diff --git a/stim/envi/envi.h b/stim/envi/envi.h
index dc04811..1278ec7 100644
--- a/stim/envi/envi.h
+++ b/stim/envi/envi.h
@@ -1046,7 +1046,7 @@ public:
 			else if(header.data_type == envi_header::float64)
 				return ((bsq<double>*)file)->ph_to_ph((double*)result, lb1, rb1, pos1, lb2, rb2, pos2, mask);
 			else
-				std::cout<<"ERROR: unidentified data type"<<std::endl;
+				std::cout<<"envi::ph_to_ph ERROR - unidentified data type"<<std::endl;
 		}
 
 		else if(header.interleave == envi_header::BIL){		//if the infile is bil file
@@ -1055,7 +1055,7 @@ public:
 			else if(header.data_type == envi_header::float64)
 				return ((bil<double>*)file)->ph_to_ph((double*)result, lb1, rb1, pos1, lb2, rb2, pos2, mask);
 			else
-				std::cout<<"ERROR: unidentified data type"<<std::endl;
+				std::cout<<"envi::ph_to_ph ERROR - unidentified data type"<<std::endl;
 		}
 
 		else if(header.interleave == envi_header::BIP){		//if the infile is bip file
@@ -1064,11 +1064,11 @@ public:
 			else if(header.data_type == envi_header::float64)
 				return ((bip<double>*)file)->ph_to_ph((double*)result, lb1, rb1, pos1, lb2, rb2, pos2, mask);
 			else
-				std::cout<<"ERROR: unidentified data type"<<std::endl;
+				std::cout<<"envi::ph_to_ph ERROR - unidentified data type"<<std::endl;
 		}
 
 		else{
-			std::cout<<"ERROR: unidentified file type"<<std::endl;
+			std::cout<<"envi::ph_to_ph ERROR - unidentified file type"<<std::endl;
 			exit(1);
 		}
 		return false;
diff --git a/stim/image/image.h b/stim/image/image.h
index 30e096f..b359405 100644
--- a/stim/image/image.h
+++ b/stim/image/image.h
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
 #endif
 #include <vector>
 #include <iostream>
-#include <limits>
+#include <climits>							//use limits and remove the MIN and MAX macros
+#define NOMINMAX
 #include <typeinfo>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <cstring>
@@ -79,10 +80,12 @@ class image{
 #endif
 	/// Returns the value for "white" based on the dynamic range (assumes white is 1.0 for floating point images)
 	T white(){
-		return std::numeric_limits<T>::max();
+		if (typeid(T) == typeid(double) || typeid(T) == typeid(float))
+			return (T)1.0;
+		else
+			return std::numeric_limits<T>::max();
 	}
 
-
 public:
 
 	size_t bytes() { return size() * sizeof(T); }
--
libgit2 0.21.4