Digital BW, The Print

on 3/3/02 1:02 AM, lyonscox wrote:

> I have an image I've been playing with this evening.
> Seems that any way I approach it, once I go to print it 'solarizes'
> and I haven't a clue as to why.
> 
> I am printing in RGB with the warm curve for 1270.
> The tone are tight as it is and on the darker side.
> Tried working from RBG scan to greyscale and back.
> Tried working from Greyscale scan to RGB and print.

Hi Cleavis

First things first, it's imperative that you are using the right curves for
your printer and (possibly) OS, and that your Epson driver settings are set
properly. The driver settings also vary by printer.

Check the workflow page on the MIS site to make sure you have the most
recent curves and settings:

<http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/workflow_roark.html>

When I was working with the 1270 curves they were not perfected, but I see
Paul has made a new set since. Still I don't think they were so bad as to
"solarize" so be doubly sure you are printing on the proper side of the
paper, if that's possible with the paper you are using. BTW, what paper are
you using? Paul's curves are written for EAM, which also works quite well
for several other papers, but some papers may require extensive adjustments
from there.

How and when did you apply the curves? My preference is to apply them as an
adjustment layer at the top of the layer stack. As such I can just click
them on or off. Some people prefer to dupe their working file, flatten it,
then apply the curves directly to it. A flat file will be much faster to
print from; if it's not good trash it, go back to your working file and
repeat. The point is you don't want Paul's curves in the middle, or at the
bottom, of a layer stack.

Todd