Digital BW, The Print

Plus, what's so wonderful about film grain anyway?  I happen to love its
look, especially on Kodak HIE, but that's personal preference and probably
just based on sentimental nostalgia and what "looks" like a photograph.  To
me, it's the same as why I have a harder time seeing non-glossy print as
"photographs" because my brain is so used to some shine in the print.

If someone likes the look of dither patterns, then fine.  If you don't like
it, avert your eyes....
  -----Original Message-----
  From: Clayton Jones [mailto:cj@...]
  Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2003 9:04 PM
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
  Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Myth: was Any New 2200 BW for PC's?


  Hello Peter,

  > Just do the math.  At 2880x1440 DPI (the maximum for the 2200), the
  > printer can produce 4147200 dots/in^2.   If you are rendering an
  > image at 300 PPI each pixel in the original image gets only enough
  > real estate on the paper for 46 printer dots.   Since each dot of
  > black ink can only be black or ~black, that's not NEARLY enough to
  > represent a full tonal range!

  Sorry, that's just theory.  I _know_, from real experience, that I can
  print both high and low contrast images with the BO technique and get
  beautifully rendered prints that match the digital images accurately.
  It's a fact I can demonstrate.

  I have in front of me as I write this, a print which has both high and
  low contrast elements.  In the foreground is a tugboat in New York
  harbor.  The tug is a high contrast element with whites, blacks, and
  things in between.  In the distant foggy background is the New York
  skyline.  It is low contrast.  Everything is just a few shades of
  gray, with no blacks or whites.  Both are rendered accurately as they
  appear on screen in PS7.

  So your theory may be relevant in the classroom, but I live in the
  real world.  That's the problem with theorists.  They just argue about
  numbers while the people who do real work in the world find ways to
  get things done.  Here's a story to illustrate the point:

  HOW TO TELL A MATHEMATICIAN FROM AN ENGINEER

  1) Place a sack with a million $ exactly in the middle of a long sofa.

  2) Put the mathematician at one end of the sofa and the engineer at
  the other.

  3) Tell them that in a series of successive moves they each can move
  one-half the distance toward the sack.  Whichever one gets there first
  gets to keep the money.

  4) The mathematician immediately jumps up and, with a gesture of
  complete disgust, and walks away saying "That's ridiculous!  Anyone
  with any intelligence knows that if you keep moving half the
  distance you'll never get there".

  5) The engineer scoots over to the sack, picks it up, and walks away
  saying "That's close enough for all practical purposes".

  ---------------

  If I had to argue with you, I'd say that your theory, while probably
  true on some level, is irrelevant for this subject, and therefore is
  misapplied.  BO printing relies upon the eye to blend the dots.  What
  creates different shades of gray is the distance between the dots and
  the dither patterns.

  If you examine a BO print with a loupe you'll see that the Epson
  driver does a masterful job at changing the spacing and the dither
  patterns of the dots in order to render the most subtle difference in
  tonality.  It really is quite amazing and beautiful, and I've grown to
  love it's distinctive look.

  BTW, I agree that BO dots don't look like film grain and I think
  that's a misleading way to describe BO printing.  However I think your
  statement about Nicholas Hartmann in your other post in this thread is
  poorly worded because you are basically calling him a liar.  The dots
  may very well remind him of film grain.  Who are you to tell another
  photographer how he should percieve things?


  Regards,
  Clayton


  Info on black and white digital printing at
  http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm


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