Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "A. Huntley" <Alan.Hun=
tley@c...> wrote:
snip
>... Doesn't the final print have to be tailored to your chosen workflow
> in order to produce first-rate consistent results? I've been kind of curi=
ous
> about this lately... Three years from now, when we all have the bestest,
> greatest, straight out-o-the-box quadtone printer available, or we're usi=
ng
> some other ingenious workflow/inkset developed by Paul, will we be able t=
o
> r eproduce the same prints we're generating today using the same files? M=
y
> guess is...not unless you're workflow is based on some standard gray work=
ing
> space throughout, like GG 2.2; assuming, of course, that 2.2 will be the
> "standard" working space a t that time. Any other method using some sort =
of
> "custom tailoring" to properly produce the final print would have to be
> re-worked, would it not? Just a thought................

Right. This is one of the premises of color management. The the image is ke=
pt in an ideal image space, not output referenced. Then the chosen device at=
 print time, characterized by a profile (or whatever), as accessed via a con=
version to that devices profile, the file left intact.
For color it tends to work, there are widespread accepted end goals, and co=
lor management evolves daily. For B&W output, we have no widely accepted sta=
ndard to profile (or linearize) to. What density should middle gray be? You =
can linearize all of these printing methods (StudioPrint, QTR, OPM, rgb curv=
es, etc.) to a number of target densities. So some kind of file adjustment m=
ay still be necessary for a given device and it's chosen target densities.
But your thought is on the money.
One thing you might try, is to leave your file intact and do a profile conv=
ersion to that device preview space you mentioned, and then print. I've had =
some luck with that. The unfortunate part being that Photoshop has no adjust=
ment point at 95% in custom dot gain curves, and that is usually one of the =
spots needing attention from device to device.
Tylerâ€