Digital BW, The Print

Thank you Walt,
"I hope all this hasn't been too obvious, but I didn't have a sense 
of your experience level". 
Not a bit of it --it was just the answer I needed to galvanise myself 
for another bout of testing and printing. What you seem to be saying 
is that it is the invisible parts of ABW which are most useful. 
Certainly the editing functions on there own seem inferior to PS. I 
have only produced one B&W print so far which is not enough to 
validate the workflow I was using though I was very happy with the 
result. I couldn't detect any crossover in my semi gloss print (a 
world of difference to my attempts with the Epson 2100). My 
adjustment curve semed to produce a satisfactory smooth 21 step wedge 
but I concede that using curves is a blunt tool which should be used 
as a last resort for very minor tweaking. 
You have convinced me to do further testing to see if the various 
gamma controls in ABW gets me closer to the desired result thus 
requiring no adjustment curve or at least a far less radical curve 
adjustment. My adjustment curve was needed to undo the Epson "punch" 
which certainly compresses the shadows.
Whilst I don't have access to an i1 etc I believe I have done a 
passable job in calibrating the monitor to gamma 2.2. CM in PS is set 
up for US prepress defaults and I have been using "printer colour 
management" as the print space profile. In the 2400 driver I opt for 
Gamma 2.2 and Adobe RGB as the colour mode and there are some minor 
corrections to brightness contrast and colour (the first tests were a 
bit yellow. My test on the ICC profile downloaded from Epson also had 
a yellow cast so I decided not to use it).
I think my set up is consistent with the gamma 2.2 workflow you 
advise. Can you see any problems? Would you advise me to trial the 
QTR rip (without an i1)? It is on my "to do" list!  I believe it is 
for matte papers only which I intend to use for the bulk of my work. 
I just thought I'd first get the colour set up sorted with the PK 
installed and see what semigloss B&W looked like at the same time. 
I'd like to be able to do the occasional quality b&w on semigloss for 
an audience of trad photographers in my postal club who can be 
somewhat scathing of matte prints (perhaps I should send the prints 
out framed under glass! That would confuse them. Lol!).

Regards,
Pete.


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "wwodets" 
<odets@c...> wrote:
>
> Pete-
> 
> I think the ABW driver is worth using if only because the dithering 
> and screening is different from the color mode.  I presume that 
this 
> handles dot patterns and ink crossovers differently.  Certainly my 
> experience trying to print BW images in the color mode of the Epson 
> driver have shown the latter to be obviously inferior.  
> 
> If you are using the various tonal adjustment controls in the ABW 
> driver, I do think that is a problem.  The ABW driver is a sort of 
> combination RIP and image editing program and I wouldn't want to 
use 
> the image editing component of this.  I think this driver is an 
> effort to accomodate people who do not use PS or the like.  The one 
> component I do use is the gamma setting, because the shadows are 
> smoother in the normal or light positions.  Epson seems to like to 
> compress the shadows for "punch."
> 
> I find that the screen image with a calibrated monitor (Gamma 2.2) 
is 
> very close to the ABW output--so close that soft proofing is almost 
> unnecessary.  I do however use the QTR Create ICC because it allows 
> PS to manage both the file to screen and file to printer 
> conversions.  This is an incredibly good workflow and much more 
> accurate and reliable than anything one can do with PS curves.  The 
> ouput is remarkably refined and delicate.  I tried the use of 
curves 
> to avoid buying an i1 and it was O.K., but ultimately a big waste 
of 
> time.  I then just went to a gamma 2.2 workflow (file, screen, 
> printer) and it was good.  The BW ICC profiles are superb and much 
> more flexible than the other options.
> 
> You didn't say anything about monitor calibration which made me 
think 
> that you might be using the ABW "editing" controls or PS curve to 
> match the print to an uncalibrated monitor.  Since monitor space 
> really isn't what we want in a print (or can get in a print) this 
> wouldn't be the way to go.
> 
> It's occurred to me that someone might provide standard or custom 
> profiles for those using the 24/48/78/98 series printers using QTR 
> Create ICC.  This could be done by including the $50 fee in the 
first 
> purchase of a profile, that being given to Roy.  It would be worth 
> every penny.
> 
> I hope all this hasn't been too obvious, but I didn't have a sense 
of 
> your experience level. 
> 
> Good wishes,
> Walt
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "petexp2" 
> <kafoozalem@b...> wrote:
> >
> > Is setting up to use ABW worth the bother? Having spent days to 
> achieve 
> > WYSIWYG for colour images why not just use these settings to 
> produce 
> > mono? I have taken great care to produce a neutral mono greyscale 
> with 
> > a smooth transition through a 21 step wedge as part of my tests. 
I 
> have 
> > developed a curves adjustment layer to apply to the image file to 
> get 
> > the gamma and shadow values spot on prior to sending to the 
printer 
> so 
> > I do not really need the gamma adjustments offered by ABW mode 
> > (lighter,darker etc). 
> > Any changes you make in ABW are previewed on a pathetically small 
> > picture of Epson's choosing (nice lady but not really appropriate 
> for a 
> > landscape photographer). I would much rather preview in Photoshop 
> where 
> > I can apply colour tone as required and if I want to lower 
> highlight 
> > values to reduce bronzing I can do it without lowering the 
midtones 
> too 
> > (unlike highpoint shift). All the other sliders cannot be 
> accurately 
> > judged on the small preview picture meaning endless test prints 
to 
> view 
> > the changes. They also seem to presume you haven't achieved 
WYSIWYG 
> > when viewing in PS.
> > Am I missing something or has ABW got nothing going for it?
> > 
> > Pete.
> >
>