Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "rgoldman2" 
<rgoldman@...> wrote:
>
> First off, I have to tell you all that I really appreciate the
> explanation and advice this post has generate. Roy, you are correct
> that  the description of my situation in the first post was that I had
> an embedded ICC gg 2.2 profile (which I had set as the default in PS
> Color Settings). I also had my screen set up with a custom soft proof
> DD 20 profile with PCN on. I did this, not really understanding what I
> was doing, because I found that with this set up I could make PS files
> that resulted in ABW prints on Premium Semi Matte that pretty much
> matched the screen I was looking at. Over the past day, responding to
> advice from the group, I have experimented with one worked up image by
> 
> 1) Changing my PS color settings to grayscale = dd 20 Then opening the
> file, getting the profile mismatch message, then opting to convert to
> the working space (ie. from gg 2.2 to DD20) then saving that file and
> opening it again. At this point the DD20 file is embedded but the file
> on screen does not look like it did when I was using the DD 20 soft
> proof. I would have to use DD 10 as a soft proof to get the screen
> back to where it was.
> 
> 2) Leaving my PS color settings at 2.2, opening the file (originally
> saved with embedded 2.2 profile), and then edit>convert to profile
> DD20. The result is the same as above.
> 
> I may be shooting for an objective that is impossible and that is
> supply a tiff with a DD 20 embedded profile (what the potential
> clients require) and have it look on their screen like it looks on
> mine when I use the soft proof set up I described above. I.E I would
> prefer not to make changes in my PS file since they print well the way
>  they are set up now.
> 
> I think I understand what has been said about the soft proof approach
> I've used resulting in simply a screen simulation. What I don't
> understand is why the same device, my screen, looks so different when
> I actually embed the DD 20 profile as an ICC profile vs using the soft
> proof with PCN. (If I turn off PCN the screen look changes, which is
> what I did not like about it in the first place). And I guess that C
> David's shirt analogy applies here.
> 
> I think I cannot avoid the step I have been loth to take and that is
> to embed the DD 20 profile and then apply another curve layer to each
> image and adjust for the screen look I want. Correct?
>

The problem with your (1) and (2) is that they both CONVERT from GG2.2
to DD20.   This changes all the numbers in the image.  What you want is
to just ASSIGN the DD20 profile to your images.   This keeps all the existing
numbers in your image but changes the meaning of the numbers to DD20.
Your soft-proofing with PCN=on using DD20 has indicated that the numbers
in the image are best represented by DD20.

So it's very easy to get exactly what you want:

1) Change Color Settings to DD20 so that this will always be the default.
2) When you read in an image that has GG2.2 tell it to ignore the embedded
profile NOT to convert it.  I.e. Don't Color Manage.   The image should look
just fine now on your screen.  
3) I'd now Assign Profile to DD20.   This will attach the correct embedded profile.
4) Naturally you have to re Save the file.  Note that you've only change which
embedded profile is used not change the actually grayscale values.

At this point you ought to have a file that:  looks correct on the screen without
any soft-proofing,  prints on your machine using Epson ABW exactly as it has
always done, and lastly is exactly what your clients want.

Roy