Digital BW, The Print

Hello Art,

>When you convert to grayscale from the RGB, does it carry over all 
>of the RGB adjustments that you make during the RAW to RGB to Print 
>flow? Would it now be RAW to RGB to grayscale to print?

Yes.  I convert from RAW to 16-bit tif, then do the BW conversion. 
This can be done with one of several methods, or sometimes I do more
than one version before deciding.  When I'm satisfied with the
conversion, I convert the file to grayscale mode, which reduces file
size by 2/3 and makes no visual difference.  All BW conversion
effects, no matter how they were arrived at, are preserved.  I then
proceed to work up the image to it's final state.


>In addition, why would I want to use 20% dot gain instead of 
>gray scale?

I think there's a mixup here, this is kind of an Apples/Oranges
question.  20% DG is an image profile which can be applied to a
grayscale image (it can't be applied to an RGB image).  If an image is
grayscale there are certain choices of profiles to use.  DG20 is one,
GG2.2 is another popular one. 

You can see this in PS.  Open an RGB image and go to the
Image/Mode/Assign Profile window and look at the choices.  Then do the
same with a grayscale image - completely different.


Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm