Digital BW, The Print

Here is a simple (if crude) method to match the monitor to the print that
seems to work. (Obviously I'm talking only of B&W.)

I left the monitor view as is.  Mine happens to be "profiled" with
Spyder2Pro, but it seems clear from the previous feedback that my cheap
monitor and card are just not going to give the same results as a good
graphics setup.  (On the other hand, mine may be typical of what we
monetarily challenged types use.)

I printed a 21-step test print on EEM using my standard 2200-UT7-Neutral
curve.

I then compared the print to my standard monitor view.  They did not match.

So, I made a simple Photoshop curve that adjusted my monitor so that it
matched the print.

I then made a second curve that I will call a "negative" of the first curve.
I noted the amount I had to move the Output of the individual points on the
first curve to get the monitor match the print.  I then moved the output on
the second curve points that amount in the opposite direction.  So, for
example, at 50% (AdobeRGB curve input 127), I had to move the default (127,
127) point up to (127, 132), a change of 5, on the first curve to get the
view on the monitor to match my print.  So, on the second, "negative" curve
I moved the point down to (127, 122), 5 units down instead of 5 units up.
(At the 95% point this didn't work because the change was too much, so I
just set it at half way to the 90% point.) 

This second, "negative" curve I saved as my "Monitor" curve.

A made a small, new RGB file as a holder for curves layers.  On this file I
made a curves layer set that had, as the first, bottom layer, my Monitor
curve.  The second, top layer was my standard 2200-UT7-EEM-Neutral curve. I
called the layer set Neutral + Monitor.

Then to print a test strip, I converted the standard 21-step test to RGB as
usual, then I simply dragged the "Neutral + Monitor" layer set to the file
and printed. 

The resulting print matched my monitor almost perfectly -- as well as any
other system I've tried.

For those with full Photoshop, this seems like an easy way to not only
adjust for the monitors, but also to "linearize" curves for different but
similar papers and correct or other glitches that may affect the print ramp.
This, in effect, adds a "linearization" layer to the standard curves that
adjusts for both the monitor and other differences.  It was an entirely
visual process that takes nothing except visual comparison of the monitor to
a test strip.

If the monitor and print match, is anything else really needed?  Do we
really care if the ramp matches Lab or any other space?

For PS Elements users, I wonder if a number of building block curves on a
small file would allow those users to build up a monitor adjustment curve
that would similarly work.  I think separate gamma (50% density) curves and
end point curves might be able to be mixed and matched to take care of many
of the typical problems that I've seen.  I don't have Elements 3, but I'll
see if it works in Elements 2 later.

Any thoughts on the feasibility of this approach?

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com