Digital BW, The Print

Mark,
What kind of toning do you end up with? Is it sepia, 
selenium,platinum what? I have been trying to get a duotone that I 
really like, but nothing so far, close but no cigar. Thanks.

Tim
www.portraitsofnature.net











--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Mark Tucker" <mark@m...> 
wrote:
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Antonis Ricos" 
> <antonisphoto@y...> wrote:
> > Mark,
> > 
> > regarding monitor preview: this is unrelated to whether you 
> >tone or not. An 
> > RGB file should preview correctly if you follow good color 
> >management 
> > regardless of contents. 
> 
> 
> I thought the same thing. It *always* looks "close", and "close" is 
> a very vague and subjective word here. But I was surprised to 
> actually print out the same file, having toned it in different 
ways, 
> and see how different toning methods didn't match the monitor 
> exactly. I can only guess we're getting into gamut limitations 
> here.
> 
> 
> >One way to avoid the games that ColorSync can play 
> > at the system level, is to process the file through whatever 
> >printer profile you 
> > have and then send it through to the printer after you turn off 
> >any Color Sync 
> > functions available at the driver level.
> 
> 
> This is interesting too. Interesting to compare the same exact 
> file: one, converted to the output space, and then printed with 
> "Same as Source"; and then the second, with just an embedded 
> profile, like ColorMatch RGB, but then output through the custom 
> profile.
> 
> Even yet another interesting approach that showed up with yet a 
> different result: Choose ColorSync in the Epson print driver, and 
> print the file THAT way, using the custom proflle. I found a 
slightly 
> different look to that even.
> 
> 
> > 
> > Regarding crossovers: That is a common profile problem. You 
> >would have to 
> > optimize a profile for gray neutrality and even then, since you 
> >are fighting with 
> > the innards of the Epson driver over which you have no control, 
> >it's not a 
> > foolproof way. 
> 
> 
> Yes. The first phase of my custom profile was the grey-chip 
> linearization test. But as anybody who's ever tried to print a 
> 21-step grey wedge, using six colors (CMYK,c,m) can attest, it's 
> VERY tough to get all 21 chips to be the "same color" of neutral. 
It 
> seems deceptively simple; but I dare you to try it sometime.
> 
> 
> >Just to make sure: you are talking about using 4 or 6 color inks 
> > in an Epson right? If you are using MIS VT or other printers or a 
> >RIP, please 
> > clarify. 
> 
> 
> I'm on a 7000, using MIS lightfast dyes (six colors). Using Epson 
> Smooth Fine Art.
> 
> 
> > 
> > Regarding toning procedures: When you say you are using 
> HSB, that means 
> > you measure your colors in HSB  - or is your file written in 
HSB.  
> Are you 
> > working in Photoshop? There is no such file format there.  Do 
> you have a 
> > reason that you don't like a Hue/Saturation layer set to 
> colorize? Regardless, 
> > saving your settings or layer is by far the best way to come 
> back to a known 
> > point.
> > 
> > Antonis Ricos
> 
> 
> Yes. Probably said that unclearly. I am toning using 
> Hue/Saturation/Brightness most of the time. In RGB mode. And 
> using "colorize". But, I have also toned just using the different 
> RGB channels; moving the middle gamma slider left and right, 
> while in different individual channels. I *will* say too, that 
toning 
> using H/S/B sometimes gives this weird "banding" look when 
> radically-different tones are adjacent. Sometimes, using Levels 
> seems like it tones smoother; smoother, as in the gradation. But 
> Levels also seems more limited in how saturated and how 
> extreme you can tone.
> 
> I don't really work in layers very often; I just do many multiple 
> "Save As"'s along the way, ending up with numerous 
> slightly-different files. Somehow, working in layers seems kinda 
> sissy; ie. "just commit, one way or the other". Again, this is just 
> the way I work; may be VERY different for other people.
> 
> -MT