Digital BW, The Print

Hi Steve...  thanks for the reply.  I tried a profile using the 51 step wedge the other day 
and got a very nice profile from it, with no reversals in the lowlights.  Very well-defined 
steps.  I was also going to give the 4x21 tif a try.

I think that the viewing environment in my workroom is definitely a weakness, but in the 
past, using matte papers, that's not been a problem:  i.e., I could easily make the mental 
adjustments necessary to "see what I was going to get."  However, now that I've started 
using some glossy papers, the match seems potentially so much better, that the viewing 
environment becomes more of a factor.

Again, thanks for the reply.

Ed

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Steve Kale <stevekale@...> wrote:
>
> Ed
> 
> Given you are using QTR ICC Profiles any Adv B&W luminance settings (ie most
> of the settings) will be reversed out by the profile use.  The only issue
> that arises is whether you can get reasonable stimulus-response observations
> to create the profile in the first place.  I recall a while back that you or
> others had issues with Adv B&W showing reversals in the black end on some
> non-Epson papers, this being most likely an ink limit issue.  Personally I
> have not experienced this to any real extent with my 4800 using 51 samples
> for the profile.  My display (EyeOne Match profiled using the PM5 LCD target
> reference file) to print match is very very good.  PS is a better editor of
> an image than the Epson driver!!
> 
> The point of printing should not be to open (ie edit in an active way) the
> shadows in an image but rather to render them as appropriately as possible -
> ie to reflect the edits you have done to the image file in PS.  In many
> respects it is a bit of a nonsense to say, when you are using a luminance
> managed approach such as with QTR ICC profiles, that you get more open
> shadows with one setting over another.  What you want is the degree of
> "openness" you have edited into the image, period.  To do that you want good
> management via a good luminance profile of the file to print transform.  I
> would take a look at your profiles - and remember that you'll need a profile
> for each group of settings you use.  I leave all the Adv B&W settings other
> than the hue picker at their default and profile that output with 51
> observations (far more than you would typically do for colour).  My print to
> soft-proof display match is very good and I am extremely happy with the
> output.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Steve
> 
> PS: one thing to check is your print viewing conditions.  You can use your
> EyeOne to measure the amount and colour temp of light falling on your print
> at your workspace.  Of course if you room is not well lit versus the light
> being emitted by your display then the prints will appear darker.