Digital BW, The Print

Steve,

It sounds to me that your problem is caused by two main factors.  The
first is, as we mentioned, USM.  It's not an easy tool to use without
some guidance.

Here's the best I can give in few sentences:  First zoom the image on
the screen to 100% so it fills nearly the whole monitor (this will help
you determine sharpening effects on the whole image rather than just
through the tiny window in USM's dialog box).  Second, open USM and
enter these amounts as a STARTING point - Amount 125%, Radius 0.5,
Threshold 0.  I usually leave the radius very low (.03 - 1.0), Amount
high (200 - 300%) and Threshold low as well (0 - 4).  I begin working
with the Amount setting and raise it until the image looks SHARP (not
overly sharp, though)!  It will probably be quite grainy, but we'll fix
that with Threshold, just get the fine details that should be sharp
sharp.  If you're having problems using only the Amount try bumping your
radius up a little (only 0.1 - 0.3), you should be getting decent
results by now.  Now it's time to get rid of the most obvious grain in
the image by nudging up the Threshold one point at a time.  It wont take
much, and over doing it will remove the sharpening effects.

My best advice, though, would be to play and make lots of smallish
prints using different settings till you find the ones that work best
for your images!  One of my favorite books for PS is Photoshop 6
Artistry : Mastering the Digital Image by Barry Haynes, and others.
Very nice book, nice examples, decent writing and very helpful.

The second issue that might be contributing to the grain you're seeing
is in printer settings.  How are you printing these B&W images?  Are you
using color and black ink, or only black ink?  Epson printers do a very
poor job using only one color of ink, it is when the dots of the image
are layered over one another that we see very close to continual tone
gradations.  The drawback to printing with all 6 colors is that you will
see color artifacts in the highlights and midtones of your images.
These artifacts aren't very noticeable at regular viewing distances, but
when standing right over the image you'll definitely notice some color.
This is exactly why Quadtone printing is so very cool!

Sincerely,
Daren



Steve Woolfenden wrote:

>   Ah , now this might have something to do with it! I was fiddling
> with USM settings recently not really having a clue what I was doing
> so I might well have cocked it up then . The PS book I have[pretty
> much my sole reference!] is pretty useless so some guidance on correct
> settings would be most welcome.
>   If I were you I would examine my image workflow from start to
> finish, is processing of the film an issue (have you made traditional
> prints)?
>   This is something of an issue , but not a major one - the lab I use
> typically processes all B&W negs in the same developer , so Í do
> realise I'm not getting quite the best possible quality from them but
> its still quite acceptable which was confirmed by a friend who is
> knowledgable in these matters . Having never made traditional silver
> prints I am at a further disadvantage as I have no benchmark worth
> speaking of .
>   Geez , talk about the blind leading the blind!!
>   My scans are generally done with everything switched off and only
> fiddled with afterwards in PS which makes me think its something
> afterwards which is causing the grain- like the USM settings you
> mentioned . I am printing with an Epson 2000P using the regular Epson
> carts......
>   Thanks,
>   Steve


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