Digital BW, The Print

I've read both tutorials (scanning and getting real blacks in the print).
The main point in the post-scan workflow is not to set white/black point, as
this "stretches" all tones and may result in posterization and harsh
midtones: you should keep the image as comes out of the scanner, and work
locally to darken shadows until they reach black (and, I suppose, lighten
highlights until they reach white).
It makes sense, but I think it heavily depends on the image itself and the
film used: with my Canon I found that silver B&W film generates scans where
setting BP and WP is a small adjustment, whereas Portra400BW (chromogenic)
generates very low-contrast scans (the histogram is very narrow) and
therefore leaving the scan as is yields very flat images.
OTOH, I don't think you can increase contrast in a scan at hardware level,
all you can do is change exposure (but this should only lighten/darken the
image), so if a scan has low contrast, all you can do is set black and white
point with your s/w (maybe not to 0 and 255).
Then again, all this extra-care in being very gentle with your pixels may
turn out to be (practically) invisible in the final prints.

Any opinions/experiences?

Alessandro Pardi

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Julian Thomas [mailto:julianthomas@...]
> Sent: martedì 25 febbraio 2003 9:57
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [Digital BW] HWM v. EEM v. HPR, was: HWM rated more
> archival than EAM/EEM !?
> 
> 
> I've been doing this for years now, but 'I've only just 
> started reading and
> following JC's tutorial on shadow detail - there are just 
> sooo many tricks
> to learn!
> 
> Julian
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <bob@bobmichaels.org>
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 2:33 AM
> Subject: Re: [Digital BW] HWM v. EEM v. HPR, was: HWM rated 
> more archival
> than EAM/EEM !?
> 
> 
> > Alessandro & Julian: Thanks, I will try your suggestions as they
> > really make sense. I have to agree that so many of my 
> printing issues
> > and questions come back to basic use of Photoshop, an area where I
> > still need improvement.
> > Bob Michaels
> >
> > --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, 
> Alessandro Pardi
> > <alessandro.pardi@i...> wrote:
> > > Hi Bob,
> > >
> > > one reason might be that the image hasn't 100% blacks. You can
> > verify it in
> > > Photoshop: if the darkest parts of the picture, those 
> that should be
> > pure
> > > black, with no detail, even read 1 or 2 rather than 0, you're not
> > getting
> > > the best blacks in the final print.
> > > As someone else posted not long ago, checking this is worth as a
> > standard
> > > routine before printing, but the more so when comparing papers.
> > >
> > > Hope this helps,
> > > Alessandro
> > >
> > >  -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Bob_Michaels <bob@b...> [mailto:bob@b...]
> > > Sent: domenica 23 febbraio 2003 0:18
> > > To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: Re: [Digital BW] HWM v. EEM v. HPR, was: HWM rated more
> > archival
> > > than EAM/EEM !?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Truman: This is amazing. I pulled out an image I just 
> printed on all
> > > three papers. Critically comparing the HPR and EEM prints side by
> > > side, I simply can see no difference in the blacks, 
> shadow detail or
> > > highlights. And, the base of the EEM is very slightly 
> whiter than the
> > > HPR. All different from your observations. Maybe they vary in
> > > production batches. Anyway, very puzzling.
> > > Bob Michaels
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
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Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and
other resources as they are often being updated. The page is at:

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