Digital BW, The Print

Hi,

I am editing my black and white images (scanned from Tri-x negatives) in
Photoshop v. 7 and printing them on an Epson C86 printer using the EZ Tone
Eboni black ink with Epson Enhanced Matte paper. The tonality of the printed
image does not match what I'm seeing on my monitor, which is an NEC
MultiSync LCD 1850E, and am hoping folks here might be able to help me with
that.

I've taken a number of steps to calibrate my printing process, but the
printed image is lighter, overall, than the image on screen: the shadows are
not as dark as they should be and the lighter tones are lighter than they
should be. I suspect that I'll have to cross the threshold into the Dark
Arts of adjustment-curve editing (for which I would avail myself of Paul
Roark's excellent instructions at
http://home1.gte.net/res09aij/Monotone_Curves.htm). Before I take that step,
however, I want to see if I've missed anything else in the process. Here is
the summary of what I have done so far:

1) Using the Photoshop gamma utility, I've created a monitor profile and
confirmed (right-click desktop->Settings->Advanced->Color Management) that
the profile is being used by my PC.

2) Photoshop working settings are as follows:
  - Image->Mode->Grayscale
  - Image->Mode->Assign Profile->Don't Color Manage
   -Edit->Color Settings->Working Spaces->RGB Mode->Adobe RGB (1998)
   -Edit->Color Settings->Working Spaces->Gray->Gray Gamma 2.2

3) In Photoshop, I created an Adjustment layer into which I loaded Paul's
C86-EZ-EEM-Con-15.acv, verified that it is the topmost layer and that it is
visible when I print.

4) In C86 printer driver:
   - Color Management is Gamma 2.2
   - Brightness and Contrast sliders are both at 0
   - Paper is Matte Heavy
   - Print Options are Black Ink Only and Edge Smoothing

First of all, I want to clarify that I'm using the adjustment curve
correctly. I've loaded C86-EZ-EEM-Con-15.acv into an adjustment layer. When
editing, I make the adjustment layer non-visible; when I print, I make it
visible. I gather that the printed result should look the same as the result
on screen when the adjustment layer is _not_ visible. Do I have this part of
things correctly?

If I do need to modify the curve, I have these questions:
a) Should I start with the C86-EZ-EEM-Con-15.acv or is there some other
curve I should be using?
b) Which of the various step tablets (K156, K168, K180, K220, K240) I should
be using for the C86/Eboni Black/Epson Enhanced Matte combination?

Thanks for your help!

--Phil