Digital BW, The Print

I am not offering free tech support here. Just free canned profiles to  
the community at large. For questions regarding MK or PK I will offer  
my response here or not depending upon how much time I have. (I have  
two full-time jobs it seems.) You can print MK on Pearl paper. When  
you print out the 51step gray swatch, however, please make sure that  
the deepest black patch is actually darker than any other patch. It's  
easy to over-ink on that paper with MK. If the patch is darker, I will  
build the ICC. If you are not sure, send it. If it's obviously  
lighter, I will not build the ICC because the quality would be  
compromised.

I am not offering a turn-around time between getting the swatch in the  
mail and uploading the ICC. Most likely I will be building these ICCs  
on the weekends so a next-week or nine-day turn-around is most likely  
what will happen. It could be sooner than that however.

I will be archiving and distributing the profiles for free at www.blackpointeditions.com/abw/

If you are looking for a profile, please send me a 51step wedge (the  
QTR one, you can find it at www.blackpointeditions.com/abw) using your  
default neutral ABW settings. Just make sure that when you visually  
inspect the 51 step wedge that the darkest patch is not over-inked and  
lighter than the next "lighter" patch. Otherwise, I won't build the  
profile.

Please send information regarding how your target was printed. I will  
put the information in a txt file along with the profile if the  
settings were different than the default needed media type.

If no information is included, assume that the media type settings are  
the same as if you were printing color, and that the ABW settings are  
default.

I will date each profile built. If a new profile is built for whatever  
reason, you will see the new date. All older profiles will be archived  
in the same download location.

Recs:

Make sure all of you nozzles are good and clean before you print!!!!!!!!
Print from Photoshop.
Do not color-manage the step wedge file. (When you open it in  
Photoshop, keep it Untagged Gray.)
Do not color-manage the print when sending it to the Epson driver.  
(Choose No Color Management in the Photoshop print window.)
Print at 2880 dpi if possible. (Please send me resolution data.)
High speed off.
Finest detail on.
Put the paper between archival tissue in a box or between card-board  
and seal the edges with tape before you send.
Send me information on media-type settings used when printing the 51  
step wedge.
Make sure that the profile has not already been created before you  
send it to me. Otherwise I won't build it.
Make SURE than you tell me if the print was made from a PC or Mac.  
This is important.

All prints can be sent to:

Walker Blackwell
Black Point Editions,
1243 Walbridge Rd,
Cabot, Vermont 05647
(802.735.0621)

wblackwell@...

Profiles can be found at http://www.blackpointeditions.com/abw  It's  
just a file-list right now, but it will be more soon.

Please email me or post here if you want to give feed-back on the  
profiles.

Custom profiles will not be made (I am only building each one once).  
These are "canned" in the sense that the first swatch that hits my  
desk will get its day under the Eye One. So for those early birds,  
they will get a custom made profile. If a profile is crappy, I will re- 
build. I will keep all of the submitted prints.

If Roy would like money per profile I am willing as long as those who  
are sending prints are willing to pay a nominal fee (nothing large.)  
If they aren't and he wants the money, I will switch to some other  
profiler like Argyll that does Grayspace profiles. (I will be  
experimenting with it to build these Grayscale profiles anyway because  
it does iterative patches.) Maybe somebody here can confirm its  
Grayspace quality?

In the mean-time, I think these profiles are needed in the community  
at large, just as the many QTR profiles are. So I am willing to do the  
work for free to see the Digital BW world get stronger for it. There  
is no profit motive in this work in any way shape or form. I see a  
lack of color management for the ABW system. I see an easy way to fill  
that lack. If anyone feels like they are loosing money for the work I  
am doing, please share your opinions here or with me privately. But  
don't wait. I will start this work in two weeks.

All the best,
Walker Blackwell
Black Point Editions, Vermont



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