Digital BW, The Print

Paul and Chris
   
  i have been lurking here for some time, trying to gather information for future use.
   
  I was very taken with chris' idea of using the inexpenisve r220 with all black inks as i am only interested in learning about printing black and white images.  At this time i just can't justify spending money on a 2400 .  Ink use is the issue, not using it and having it dry up on me is the major draw back.
   
  Paul's statement about the learning curve with learning to print black and white certainly makes a lot of sense to me and i need to keep it simple for sure .
  If i understand Paul's recommendation. I would just use epson black inks in this printer instead of the color ones?  Is there anything special about switching out these inks?
   
  I have been doing wet darkroom work for over 50 years, but digital is a whole new adverture and my eyes are in a glazed over state most of the time. So the simplier the better.
   
  Thanks for providing this mailing lists that seems to help so many people,.
   
  regards,
  ann
   
  l

Paul Roark <paul.roark@...> wrote:
          Chris,

> > ... An ICC in the print
> > preview might be very useful in workflows that use sliders 
> > because they can throw off the ramp.

> So, to be sure I understand, I would use an ICC in this 
> workflow to linearize the system (smooth the ramp and match
> the print to the monitor), while using the sliders 
> to vary the tone?

That is one way that the slider method of control might be used.

However, I'd also recommend you start simple. You could start with a simple
UT-R2 system with no ICCs, sliders or curves. As you're finding out, the
learning curve can be rather long and intimidating for someone just starting
out with digital B&W. I think the positive feedback of loading the ink,
pushing the print button and getting a good print with nothing more is
important, and the UT-R2 is one of the best ways to get to that there.

> > The UT7 is a variable-tone inkset. There is no warm or neutral version.
> > The tone is controlled by the curves -- either PS or QTR. 
> > When I wrote the UT7 Readme file I used the workflow that 
> > converts the grayscale to RGB and then applies the tone curve in PS.
> > If I were to use that inkset today, I'd
> > embed the curves into ICCs, as described in the above URL.

> In this case I would download the curves and use Roy's tool to 
> make an ICC profile for each paper and tone 
> (i.e. cool/warm/sepia) combination I wanted?

Yes. For the 1280 I made a few ICCs in part just to see that the system
would work. For UT7, you'd have to make your own, but the curves are where
the work is, and there are quite a few of them posted on my web pages.

For an explanation of how to embed curves into ICCs, see
http://home1.gte.net/res09aij/Embedding_Photoshop_Curves_in_ICCs.pdf

> In some cases (not all, as you explained in an earlier post) 
> I could use the ICC profile to soft-proof the print in PS as 
> well as inserting it in the "Print with preview" dialog to 
> smooth the ramp and alter the tone of the print?

Yes.

Happy printing.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com 



         

 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]