[Digital BW] what to expect from desktop digital printing?
2002-02-25 by Paul Roark
Bob, For great B&W digital prints, use the "quad" inksets and a system that is being used by others with success, so that you'll have some support from successful users. On this forum most use either the Piezo driver (Photoshop plug-in) with Piezo or MIS FS inks, or the MIS VM (variable-tone/mix) inks. Only certain printer models are supported by these systems, so be sure you have a printer that is supported. I always recommend people start with Epson Archival Matte for a paper. It's cheap and very good. There are many other papers that print similarly, with no need for other profiles. Somerset Enhanced does require a different profile, however. One advantage of the Piezo system is its paper profiles. The big advantage of the MIS VM system is control of print tone. I think once you learn how to use either of the approaches noted above, the prints will be every bit as good as the wet darkroom prints, with the surface differences (flat for pigmented inkjet v. more of a luster for air-dried, glossy, fiber-based silver prints) being the most obvious visual differences. Even these disappear if the print is framed under glass. Of course, the inkjet papers give you lots of choice with respect to texture that are not available in the wet darkroom. I frankly think the inkjet prints are often (if not usually) superior to silver prints due to the shoulder-less highlights that inkjets have. This gives a brilliance to highlights that only bleaching can achieve with the silver prints. Good luck. Paul http://www.PaulRoark.com _____________________________________ I've recently scrapped my wet darkroom since my Photoshop skills are lightyears ahead of my darkroom skills, but my prints so far have been far from pleasing. Up till now the only things I've printed digitally have been "digital art" images, which have (or so I always thought) been fine. Trying to get a print of a "photograph" seems to be much more difficult than I thought it would be. I use an Epson Stylus Photo 1200 w/MIS archival color CFS. My paper of choice is Epson Heavyweight Matte. With Epson inks my b&w prints came out somewhat posterized, and deep shadow areas were splotchy and ugly. Now that I've switched over to the MIS ink the results have gone from bad to worse. One particular image, hard side lighting and contrasty, prints horribly posterized. I bought a pack of Somerset Photo Enhanced Velvet to try out and the tests have been ugly as sin. I've seen posts by various people in various places about getting wonderful results with their 1200's and even EX's, which tells me that I must be doing something dreadfully wrong somewhere. I had limited success, with Epson inks, with bumping the black point about 25% in each color channel with curves...less splotching in the shadows but the prints were flat. It doesn't seem to work quite as well with the MIS inks. My photos are mainly portraits and nudes shot in a studio. Can anyone help a guy out and give me some advice, or even just a starting point? All I really want is a smooth tonal range in my photos. I thought I knew what I was doing but I see now that isn't the case. Bob