Digital BW, The Print

You should be doing it yourself if you are on a PC.  A while back we had a
big debate about the fact that our workspace (then typically Gray Gamma 2.2)
looks nothing like our print space (a linear transition in Lab's L value -
luminosity/density - from paper white to a weak ink black, particularly with
matte paper) and not a good methodology for making the transition - the
typical workflow was "same as source".  Roy came up with a way to automate
the transition using the perceptual intent colour engine.  With a Mac you
can print using QTR driver straight from PS and ask PS to do the conversion
from workspace to printspace on the fly - just as you do for colour work.
With the PC version this has to be done manually.  So when you get your
image looking good, save it as your master, convert to the print space (QTR
matte or photo), turn on the soft proofing (as I have described about 6
times in the last 24 hours ;-)  ) and adjust with a print contrast curve to
your liking, do your print sharpening and then save as a print version.
From QTRGui open this image and print it.


> From: "B. Ellis" <bellis60@...>
> Reply-To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 08:22:00 -0500
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Quadtone RIP Faded print
> 
> 
>> Prior
>> to printing (manually on a PC and on-the-fly with a Mac) we must convert
>> from the workspace to the print space.
> 
> I've been following this thread with interest but not always understanding,
> partly because (rightly or wrongly) I do so few of the things being
> mentioned in it and am wondering whether I should be (I do use black and
> white film so I never have to convert from color to black and white and
> never have anything in rgb, which may be part of the reason for the
> difference between what I do and some of the steps mentioned in this
> thread).
> 
> I won't ask for a complete explanation of things I don't follow, with a
> little time and study I probably can figure them out, but the above
> statement particularly puzzles me. I use a PC and do everything in Photoshop
> from opening the image after scanning to all editing to saving the two files
> (one for the unsharpened version, the other the final sharpened version). I
> then open QTR/gui, select the image, make any chages necessary in the other
> QTR/gui options for the particular print I'm making,  then hit the print
> button.  The first print usually looks fine, occasionally I have to make a
> minor adjustment in Photoshop or the gui screen and print again. I don't
> consciously "convert from the workspace to the print space." Is QTR/gui
> doing that for me when I choose the various options there or is this step
> something I should be doing manually myself?
> 
>