Digital BW, The Print

Thanks for the data Richard.

I did a bit of "troubleshooting" last night. I printed the QTR
calibration strip on Innova Soft Texture Art. I also printed a step
wedge on the same paper using my custom curve. 

I was very surprised to find that the 100% patch on the step wedge was
no longer solid black. It looks as if the paper has been overloaded
and it's density measures significantly less than the 95% patch. When
I checked the calibration strip the highest reading I now get is 1.57,
versus 1.63 before. Also, the points I used to build my curve (i.e.
ink limit) has shifted.

I went back to some old prints and indeed, they still measure as
expected (i.e. my spectro is fine). I tried a new black cartridge and
also aligned the printer heads (2200). There was a slight improvement,
but relatively little.

Something is out of whack.

Terry.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wolfson"
<rw@...> wrote:
>
> I like Crane's Museo Portfolio Rag very much for my black & white
printing. Here are some of my Dmax measurements with a few
comparisons. Note that I'm using the new GQ2 ink set I designed for
Media Street.
> 
> Paper					Dmax	   K limit
> Museo Portfolio Rag		1.64		 50%
> Hahnemuhle Photo Rag		1.72		100%
> Museo Silver Rag
>   K = Photo Black Neutral	2.09		 63%
>   K = Matte Black			1.77		100%
> 
> I agree with John Dean: you have to limit the inks on Crane's
papers, and it is a beautiful paper. Since it has no optical
brightener, it is a little warmer (but just a little) than Hahnemuhle
Photo Rag. 
> 
> Since the GQ2 ink set includes both warm and cold grays in its seven
inks, it's easy to adjust how warm the b&w prints should be. I build
Cold, Warm, and Neutral profiles, and Roy Harrington's latest
QuadToneRIP offers "Split Tone Curve Blending." That makes it easy to
blend those three profiles for beautiful platinum prints (warm in the
light to mid tones, neutral to cool in the darker tones) on papers
like Crane's.
> 
> Richard
> 
> Richard Wolfson
> black & white digital printmaker
> www.RichardWolfson.com
> 
> 
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