Digital BW, The Print

Hi Tyler,

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tyler Boley" 
<tyler@t...> wrote:
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "mike_nunan"
> <mike_nunan@h...> wrote:
> snip...
> >...I can see that's an important 
> > distinction you make between systems that rely upon RGB or CMYK 
> > curves in PS (where effectively you're working with narrow-gamut 
> > colour images) and those which use a monochrome image and do all 
the 
> > work in the driver.
> 
> Actually that's not what I meant. I'm assuming special inks for 
any of
> this stuff, not color inks. The partitioning you asked about, and
> necessary to gain the most benifits from these inksets, is done in
> photoshop on the file itself then printed with the Epson RGB 
driver or
> a CMYK RIP. as opposed to having a special driver do that for you.

Sorry, I wasn't being clear. I'm talking about the toner inks as 
being effectively colour inks, albeit very unsaturated ones. I can 
see how by using the RGB or CMYK curves, you can control the ink 
proportions that are used for each grey level in the image. That's 
what I understand to be the meaning of partioning. Correct?

> 
> > The former gives the advantage that you can 
> > create split-tone images where the tone is linked to things 
other 
> > than the grey level, which opens up some creative possibilities. 
The 
> > second approach theoretically allows fine tuning of the way the 
ink 
> > patterns are applied, specifically to give better B&W quality.
> 
> The second approach allows for split toning as well depending on 
the
> inkset. I do it all the time here with StudioPrint, the right inks,
> and a whacked brain. The Septone system makes it easy to do, and 
I'm
> sure others here can tell you how they do it with their inksets and
> drivers.
> 

Yes, but you can only split based upon grey level in the original 
image, true? AIUI with the other approach you can do clever stuff 
such as applying one curve set to one part of the image and a 
different curve set to another, in order to get a different split.

> > It 
> > seems from your and Paul's comments that the Epson driver is 
still a 
> > pretty good choice though.
> 
> Actually I believe I said it was ill suited to the task. But if 
Paul
> or others have good curves available for the particular
> ink/paper/printer you use you're ok.
> Tyler

You did, but you also said that you'd seen great Cone ICC prints, so 
maybe my natural optimism was running away with me a bit there! Can 
you elaborate on the shortcomings of the Epson driver?

Cheers,

-= mike =-