Digital BW, The Print

Glenn,

You should have been getting pretty smooth ramps with Paul's curves but if
the cartridges were marginal then that might have contributed to the
problem. I would double check the settings in the Epson driver to make sure
everything was as it should be. Don't every use the magenta slider to adjust
print color. If you want an intermediate tone use two curve adjustment
layers and vary the layer opacity to combine them.

Also give Tyler Boley's curves a try. You will find them in the Files
section of the group homepage. These use different driver settings so be
careful that you don't get the two workflows confused.

There is a fair amount of printer-to-printer variation within a given model
and you may find that some curves are smoother than others. However, none of
them should cause a reversal if everything is working properly. Some flat
spots yes.

Finally you may find that you want to adjust the curves yourself and if you
did through the files section there are some tips from Paul on doing this.

Martin Wesley

http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html



----- Original Message -----
From: "Glenn Thureson" <glennthureson@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 2:24 AM
Subject: [Digital BW] Smoothing the steps (was Re: Clogged Epson 1280)


> Martin,
>
> That is reassuring.  If I hadn't seen this problem being discussed lately
by
> you and others on this list, I would have gotten pretty discouraged when
it
> happened to me.  This community we have going here sure goes a long way
> toward easing the pain of inkjet printing.  Back when I worked a lot in a
> darkroom I was flying solo most of the time.  Something like this group
> would have been a wonderful help.
>
> While I have your attention:  during the little bit of testing I tried
with
> the cartridges I never did get a smooth ramp or steps.  I even had what
> looked like a reversal of values in places -- i.e, a smooth gradation
> suddenly interrupted with an out of place value, then maybe back to
smooth.
> Is this what is called posterization?  Man, it made a favorite portrait
look
> ghastly!
>
> I've looked through the archives, but I haven't found a method to smoothe
> this out.  Well, maybe I ran across it, but I didn't realize it.  Please
> point me to a method.
>
> Glenn
>
(snip)