Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Sergei Antonov" 
<antonovsergei@...> wrote:
>
> To get neutral tone you could create two curves for QTR, one for 
cool, 
> one for warm tone, then mix them with "Curve blending" controls until 
> you get tone that you feel is neutral. In my opinion it is easier 
than 
> producing a "neutral tone" curve. In addition you could create any 
> number of "toned" curves, and then mix them as you like. Check "Split 
> tone curve blending" and you could change proportions separately for 
> shadows, midtones and highlights. 

Actually, I started to follow the procedure as outlined above, but 
found that not convenient. This is what I do (using QTR, windows, epson 
2100, UT3D): 

First I create a cool and a warm curve (involving only three inks 
each). Next I create a selnium curve with for the LK tones a mix of 
cool and warm LK and the selenium toner for the LLK tones the selenium 
toner. Finally I create a neutral curve that is mainly a hybrid of the 
warm and cool curves, but on some papers (recently I did Photo Rag) I 
add a bit of selenium toner to get it dead neutral (fractional Lab a 
and b values). 

In QTR you can easily do the split toning with the slider menu. Perhaps 
in theory you don't need a neutral curve, but in practice it's very 
handy.

But while writing this I realize you made a worrying remark about not 
color managing your files. You must get into the details of that to get 
your workflow right. There are several ways to do but in short this is 
mine:
- I edit the file in PS2 as 16 bit RGB file, adding adjustment layers 
to get the desired result
- After editing, I flatten the file, convert it to an 8 bit Gray LAB 
profile (the color space that QTR assumes).
Of course your monitor should be calibrated.

Joost