Digital BW, The Print

I sympathise with the original poster.  I have found sharpening B&W in 
Qimage harder than colour.  For the simple reason that you can't use
Mike Chaney's "sharpness equalisation" with B&W images.  It's this
point that Mike overlooks in his comment below.  IMHO you can very
easily do a very effective final print sharpen of colour images in
Qimage using "sharpness equalisation" without the need to bother with
2 or 3 step sharpening processes.  But I find the B&W sharpening in
Qimage too blunt.  Whole-of-image USM is too coarse a tool, despite
the advantages of Mike's "smart sharpen" for matching screen to print
sharpness.  I find that I have to sharpen B&W using other tools before
printing in Qimage.

F_P



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Ernst Dinkla
<E.Dinkla@...> wrote:
>
> jlk4410 wrote:
> > Sorry if this sounds too basic and I am struggling.
> > So much that I've read seems geared to RGB that I'm looking for
advice about sharpening 
> > Grayscale images. Yes, I've searched the archives at DB&WTP, and
Googled, and what I've 
> > found seems dated, RGB,  and unclear.
> > PhotoKit, Pixel Genius suggests 
> > 1:Capture sharpen{easy/gentle with an edge mask}, 
> > 2:Creative sharpen, 
> > 3:Output sharpen, {for the method, size and DPI} 
> > meaning 2 or 3 sharpening passes. AND Photokit only works in RGB!
> > Convert to RGB? Then back again for output? What's the workflow
look like?
> > Other sources suggest sharpening for output at the end of the
workflow. {only one pass} 
> > I'd appreciate hearing from the experienced members on the subject
of sharpening 
> > Grayscale images for Ink jet output. 
> > FYI
> > Mac OS 10.4.7  PS2
> > NEC LCD calibrated monitor
> > Epson R2400
> > Specific project is 645 B&W NEGS Fuji Acros scanned with an Imacon
> > Anyone willing to share their secrets?
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Julian Kaiser
> 
> 
> 
> The consensus is sharpening in two or three stages (Bruce 
> Fraser old and new). The last stage being a print sharpening 
> that isn't saved with the edited file. For the last I use 
> Qimage before bringing the file to QTR for quad printing. In 
> discussions with Mike Chaney his answer was:
> 
> quotes:
> 
> ">Remains that question whether the interpolation and sharpening
>   >> qualities of Qimage are as effective in B&W (quad) 
> printing as
>   >> they are in color. Or are there better algorithms for B&W 
> only ?
> 
> The techniques should be identical.  I don't know of any reason
> to treat
> B/W sharpening and interpolation any differently than color.
> 
> Mike
> 
>   >With a B&W image, you are altering only luminance values, so
> you should
>   >> be able to use higher levels of sharpening..  That leads 
> to a
> question
>   >> of whether QImage currently defaults to higher sharpening
> values when
>   >> sharpening B&W images?
> 
> 
> Shouldn't matter.  Qimage sharpens based on the luminance 
> channel to
> begin with, even in color images.
> 
> Mike"
> end of quote
> 
> Sharpening in other applications will probably work in similar 
> ways.
> 
> Ernst
>                     --
>            Ernst Dinkla
> 
> 
> www.pigment-print.com
> (         unvollendet         )
>