Digital BW, The Print

Hi James,

> It will be interesting to hear from you what his reactions are.

He wanted to argue with me that there was no way those prints were printed
on an inkjet printer!  He's converted ;-)

> Anyway, one of the main myths
> is that digital printing is easy, or easier than darkroom printing.
> Harald (I believe), points out that one of the things that makes
> digtial printing even more complex is the vast number of choices we
> must make in doing it.

I actually disagree.  Digital printing *IS* easy, if you make it easy on
your self to do.  *IF* you get your exposure correct, *IF* you develop your
film "correctly", that gives you a basis for easier scanning.  Then, *IF*
you know how to set setpoints and tonal curves in the scanner driver, you
simply scan the film, and it should be a perfect scan, that you simply have
to print.  I, personally, don't even sharpen.  I *only* use PhotoShop to
output the print (resize it to the correct size with no resampling), and
very very very occasionally, do I spot.  It *really* is that simple if you
set your self up for it being that simple.

It's called system calibration, which takes a bit of time up front, and I
always did for  chemical printing, and doing it for digital printing pays
off even more with the time it saves me and the ease of use.

Regards,

Austin