Digital BW, The Print

Thanks Paul,

I appreciate your help here. Looks like I need to keep diving deeper. I will try these tricks. 
Is the core of my issue due to not being in a color managed environment, or am I hitting a relatively common issue with using the print driver "slider" approach. Or is that a dumb question.

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-----Original Message-----
From: "Paul Roark" <paul.roark@verizon.net>

Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 08:48:35 
To:<DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: RE: [Digital BW] Took the plunge, and now I need help


Try the curves to see if they have a better black cross-over. Note that the
 curves were made to a more linear output than Gray Gamma 2.2. As with rips
 like QTR, this may cause the prints to look too light or have a more abrupt
 transition from shadows to black. A custom dot gain curve or other
 softproofing procedure, even including a curves layer, that matches the
 monitor view to the print may be needed with any of these "non-color
 managed" workflows. The use of the ICCs made with QTR's Create ICC-RGB are
 able to take care of these problems better than most other solutions. I
 have put some of the curves in these ICCs. See
 http://www.paulroar <http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/UT2-curves.html> k.com/BW-Info/UT2-curves.html (My comments on
 downloading problems probably no longer apply to the new ISP I'm using.)
 Any of the UT-2 curves can be put into the ICC format. See
 http://www.paulroar <http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Embedding_Photoshop_Curves_in_ICCs.pdf> k.com/BW-Info/Embedding_Photoshop_Curves_in_ICCs.pdf Be
 sure to use the right settings with the curves. See
 http://www.paulroar <http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/UT2-Readme.htm> k.com/BW-Info/UT2-Readme.htm In particular, note that
 the driver should be set to No Color Adjustment. "Color Controls" should
 not be checked.
 
 Hope this helps.
 
 Paul
 
 www.PaulRoark.com <http://www.paulroar <http://www.paulroark.com/> k.com/> 
 
 _____ 
 
 From: DigitalBlackandWhit <mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint%40yahoogroups.com> eThePrint@yahoogroups.com
 [mailto:DigitalBlackandWhit <mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint%40yahoogroups.com> eThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Chris
 Stomberg
 Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 5:48 AM
 To: DigitalBlackandWhit <mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint%40yahoogroups.com> eThePrint@yahoogroups.com
 Subject: [Digital BW] Took the plunge, and now I need help
 
 Hi everbody, 
 
 I recently took the plunge and installed the MIS UT2 B/W continuous 
 feed ink set up on an Epson Stylus 1280. I have Photoshop Elements 5.
 
 I've been printing some of my B/W shots using the print driver 
 sliders to lightly adjust overall cast (no curves or anything fancy 
 yet). I have been very impressed with the highlights and midtones, 
 but am baffled by the shadows. They are tending to come out oddly 
 light, but with somewhat posterized bits that are very dark in the 
 darkest areas. The gentle graduation of dark to darker is replaced by 
 gentle graduation of somewhat dark punctuated by black here and 
 there. To my eye, it looks like the point at which the grey inks 
 leave off and the Eboni takes over is not correct. They grey inks 
 seem to be handling too much of the tonal range.
 
 I have no idea how to troubleshoot with this set up. Is this the sort 
 of thing that curves woul help with? Although it doesn't seem like 
 the sort of thing that would be affected by poor calibration, I have 
 not calibrated my monitor - would that contribute? 
 
 I appreciate any/all 
 
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