Digital BW, The Print

Hello

Given the relatively high cost of good paper and ink I was wondering how
people go about doing rough proofs for their B/W work?  I do test strips on
final paper/ink combinations, but what about other ways of getting a 'real'
image to hold and pass around, other than just looking at a screen?

I've found two ways quite useful, but what do other people do? Or is
everyone on the list wealthy enough to have large printers with expensive
driver software, rolls of paper, and densitometers? :-)) :-))


My 2 ways

1) An old Apple LaserWriter Pro - it's 300 dpi if you use 'photograde' (more
grey levels)  The prints are robust and very cheap. I use them for index
sheets of scans (aka 'contact sheets')

2) An HP OfficeJet K80 - does anyone on the list use any HP printer for
final prints?
Not really a cheap printer (fax and copier as well) but I was given one in
return for a bit of work. HP won't support this printer on the Mac, but
HPIJS and Gimp-print do on OS X (10.2.x only)
<http://www.linuxprinting.org/macosx/hpijs/  and
http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3>
Initially I wondered if you could get good prints from a system with no
printer or paper profiles and standard inks? :-)) I printed a 21 step wedge
(grey ramp - RGB file) from Photoshop onto HP coated inkjet paper(51634Z)
and was pleasantly surprised at how neutral the tone was. After scanning the
print (Epson 1200U) I used Photoshop to create a custom curve to correct for
deviations from a linear response. The principle has been regularly
discussed on the list, but if anyone wants any more details - please feel
free to contact me. The idea is to create a curve adjustment layer that
works to counteract errors - if for example the 45% point prints too light
then the curve makes 45% a bit darker on your image. You apply the curve
just before printing - but do remember to deactivate it before you do a
'real' print! Final tweaks were done to the curve by eye, and lo! I had a
very linear response. The prints are surprisingly good and bring out
tremendous shadow detail (that curve really helps) They are not nearly as
rich as my final prints, but the cheaper paper allows me to do for example
3-4 A4 sized prints with different settings, pin them to the wall and step
back and compare them.

bye for now   

Keith Cooper

http://www.Northlight-images.co.uk
Tel +44 (0)116 291 9092  Mobile +44 (0)780 162 9397




--OS X Techy bit----------------------------------------------------
NOTE on HPIJS

If you download the hpijs installer, there is currently a problem with
everything defaulting to 300dpi on some printers. There is a fairly simple
fix and a new package should be available in the near future. A new
'cupsomatic file is needed from:

http://www.linuxprinting.org/cupsomatic

Save this text file as 'cupsomatic'

From a terminal window you will need to make it executable and copy it to
the correct location.

chmod 755 cupsomatic
cp cupsomatic /usr/libexec/cups/filter

This fixed the problem with the K80 for me. If anyone has problems with the
bit of 'UNIX Stuff' above let me know...