Digital BW, The Print

Hello Peter,

>I have noticed that when I print BO (MIS Eboni in a 1280 on Epson 
>Matte Heavyweight), the prints come out a little lighter than with 
>the UT inks, and some hightlight detail washes out. Does anyone have 
>an adjustment curve that can correct this?  I know most people use 
>Photoshop and a "dot gain" setting.  I use Picture Window Pro, which 
>supports Photoshop curves, but doesn't do dot gain.

I don't know how PWP works so what I'm about to say may not apply, but
here goes.  In PS you can specify the profile (curve) which is used to
interpret the image on screen.  There are several terms for this, I
like the term "front end" profile.  "Dot Gain" is the name for one of
several different canned (pre-written) profiles that can be used.  You
can also make custom ones.

Another profile can be assigned to the image as it's being sent to the
printer, which affects how it prints.  This is the "printer" profile,
also known as the "back end" profile.  For this you can use one of the
canned profiles or you can make a custom curve, called a Transfer
Curve.  The front end and back end curves perform a tug-o-war on the
image, in that the back end has exactly the opposite effect as the
front end.

Here's the point: from what you say, the print doesn't look like the
image on screen (washed out hilight detail).  You can make a back end
curve to make the print ok, but the next print will likely have
another problem which will require another special curve.  Using back
end curves takes time, ink and paper because you have to run a print
every time you tweak the curve, and you have to save the curves so you
can apply them next time you want to make a print.  It's a terribly
inefficient way to work.

The problem is that you have poor WYSIWYG - the print doesn't look
like the screen image.  The solution is to change the settings so that
the print and the image match.  In PS we do these steps:

1) Make the back end profile "Same As Source".  This ensures that
whatever front end is used, the print never changes (because the back
end cancels out whatever the front end does).  The result is that
changing the front end only alters the screen image, not the print.

2) Try different front end settings until the screen image looks like
the print.  Now you have good WYSIWYG, and whatever you do to the
image, the print will always match.  Now your work is much more
efficient because no time and paper is wasted messing with Transfer
Curves.  What You See Is What You Get.

In this case, the immediate result would be a screen image with washed
out hilights (it matches the print).  Now you can change the image and
whatever you do, the print will match.  

I have found that the same front end setting doesn't always work with
every print.  Each time I begin work on a new print I run a test print
to check WYSIWYG and adjust the front end if needed.  Most often a DG
18 or 20 does the job.

The big question here is whether PWP can allow you to do this...I
don't know.

I hope this helps.


Regards,
Clayton


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