Digital BW, The Print

----- Original Message -----
From: "mgoud" <mgoud@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 11:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] best warm inks for 1280?



(snip)

> I have printed scales on both somerset pe and museo
> with Paul's original vm curves on my 1280 (using the
> recommended color space and print settings).

Mark,

Which version of the Paul's curves are you using? Are you on a PC or Mac?
>

(snip)

> The best way I have found to see how well things are
> working is to print a (~1.5inch diameter) radial
> gradient. If there are any nonlinearities, they will
> show up as light or dark rings. I don't know if it's
> because I'm extra picky or my printer is out of spec
> (or just bad karma), but I will try some other ink
> setups and see what works best....

Good tip on the circular gradient. I will give it a try. Another helpful
file to print is Tyler's Z's which you can find in the Files section under:

Files > Image processing and workflows

This will help you find out at what percentage of gray the problems exists.
From what I have seen, none of the separation techniques produce a perfectly
smooth, linear wedge. Fortunately it appears that they do not have to be
perfect in order to make excellent prints. I doubt that the problem is with
your printer. Find the ink color/paper combination you find most pleasing
and make some prints.

Another thing to be aware of is that applying the RGB separation curve to an
image can by itself cause combing of the histogram. In one or two very
delicate prints I have found it necessary to work out all the adjustments in
8-bit mode, go back and apply them to multiple copies of the 16-bit file,
convert these to 8-bit, layer them and mask as needed. This is a pretty
cumbersome way to work but it does minimize the effects of applying the
separation curves.

Martin Wesley
>