Digital BW, The Print

I've never seen posterization using the inks and curves you are using.
What kind of papers are you using? maybe a different paper could help.
Is there any evidence of posterization whatsoever on your monitor, at
high magnifications?

I've ued piezo, but switched to VM inks when I got the 1280 printer and
never looked back. I also have the Agfa T2500 scanner.

Hopefully someone who does portraiture every day will have a better
answer for you.

Jerry

Jeff Magidson wrote:
> 
> Hi Everyone;
> 
> I have been making digital BW prints for over a year now and have hit
> somewhat of a brick wall.
> 
> 1/2 of my photographs are of landscapes and building. These images with
> sharp lines and distinct textures print quite beautiful and problem free
> using my Epson 1280 , MIS VM inks and Paul's curves.
> 
> The other 1/2 of my images are of portraits and nudes. These are much
> more problematic in their printing. It seems that images that are soft
> in focus in some areas or have very delicate wondering tonal transitions
> are quite prone to posterization.  It is almost like when the piezo
> heads have detail to print the do really well but when there is not much
> detail to hold on to things go haywire.
> 
> I am following all the well established procedures of good imaging. I am
> scanning well exposed medium format tmax-100 in 16 bit and an agfa
> T2500. My scans are so good that they require very little curve changes
> before printing. My histograms look good.
> 
> I am wondering at this point if it is one of two things that is causing
> posterization on some of my images. (1) could it be that the set of
> Paul's curves that I am using are just not fine tuned enough to work for
> some images with my setup. Would switching to a professional RIP such as
> ImagePrint or the Piezography Plugin and other inks allow me so print
> these softer images without posterization? Have users of these RIPs
> noticed a reduction in posterization problems?
> 
> (2) Could it be that the Piezo technology is just not capable of
> printing these kinds of softer focus grayscale images with out some
> posterization? Has anyone out there been able to print such images successfully??
> 
> Any input would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> -Jeff Magidson
> 
> 
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