Digital BW, The Print

"John Moody" <moodymz3@y...> wrote:
>
> Have you used QTR-create-ICC to profile both BO and the curves you
are using
> with QTR?  That would output both prints with the same tonal
characteristic.
> If this has not been done, I wonder if the BO shadow compression is
> generating more contrast in the features that appear sharp?

John, May I ask you to try that? I don't have your expertise: I'd be
very interested in your results (comparing best QTR sharpness to BO). 

I hate to be the only person reporting a QTR sharpness problem...maybe
I'm really describing MY problem, rather than a flaw in QTR...

...it seems a fault if QTR requires a profile that matches BO in order
to arrive at maximum sharpness. It also seems a fault if it requires 
different post-processing sharpning (as it may).  

 BO obviously does create more contrast in shadow details* than QTR,
but "smart sharpen" of shadows (one of the Photoshop "smart sharpen"
adjustments) in post-processing does cause QTR to approximate BO
sharpness...a matter of tinkering. 

* shadow details for Photoshop CS2's "smart sharpen" seems to mean
control of dark areas that contain whites as opposed to control of
dark details contained by whites...in practice this is not the same thing.