Digital BW, The Print

In order to conserve paper, especially if you're using a premium 
priced product like Photo Rag, how can I best do "test strips" in PS ?

For those who did not work in a conventional darkroom, test strips 
are multiple exposure strips made on a single sheet of paper(to 
compare subtle increments of exposure & save wasting entire sheets.

Obviously the issue isn't exposure here but I thought there must be a 
way of applying various differences, perhaps on separate layers, and 
having them side by side on a sheet? Or, perhaps there is a way of 
utilizing off cuts from larger sheets, & printing a portion of the 
image.

Anyway, if you're working in some such way, I'd be interested in 
hearing your method/s
thanks
Frankg

See pp. 63-64 of his Adobe Photoshop Master Class (2000 ed.), it's 
short enough & intuitive enough to pick up loitering at your local 
bookstore (although the book itself is well worth the money).

Bill Iverson

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "frankg_photo" <frank@f...> 
wrote:
> In order to conserve paper, especially if you're using a premium 
> priced product like Photo Rag, how can I best do "test strips" in 
PS ?
> 
> For those who did not work in a conventional darkroom, test strips 
> are multiple exposure strips made on a single sheet of paper(to 
> compare subtle increments of exposure & save wasting entire sheets.
> 
> Obviously the issue isn't exposure here but I thought there must be 
a 
> way of applying various differences, perhaps on separate layers, 
and 

> having them side by side on a sheet? Or, perhaps there is a way of 
> utilizing off cuts from larger sheets, & printing a portion of the 
> image.
> 
> Anyway, if you're working in some such way, I'd be interested in 
> hearing your method/s
> thanks
> Frankg

There's a Photoshop plugin called "Test Strip" that's kinda fun to play
with. It's a little pricey though.

http://www.vividdetails.com/

-Jason

-----Original Message-----
From: frankg_photo [mailto:frank@...] 
Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 6:11 PM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] "Test Strips" - how are you doing them ?


In order to conserve paper, especially if you're using a premium 
priced product like Photo Rag, how can I best do "test strips" in PS ?

For those who did not work in a conventional darkroom, test strips 
are multiple exposure strips made on a single sheet of paper(to 
compare subtle increments of exposure & save wasting entire sheets.

Obviously the issue isn't exposure here but I thought there must be a 
way of applying various differences, perhaps on separate layers, and 
having them side by side on a sheet? Or, perhaps there is a way of 
utilizing off cuts from larger sheets, & printing a portion of the 
image.

Anyway, if you're working in some such way, I'd be interested in 
hearing your method/s
thanks
Frankg


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Frank,

print a strip with 0,0 coordinates (i.e. at the edge of the sheet) then measure 
where you want to print the next one, enter those coordinates (mostly distance 
from top) and keep going that way. It's faster if you print horizontal strips (i.e. 
along the direction of head travel) than vertical.

Of course, don't forget that if you have good profiles, you can use cheap EAM 
to proof and then do the final on the fancy Hahnemuhle sheets.

Antonis



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "frankg_photo" <frank@f...> wrote:

> In order to conserve paper, especially if you're using a premium 
> priced product like Photo Rag, how can I best do "test strips" in PS ?
> 
> For those who did not work in a conventional darkroom, test strips 
> are multiple exposure strips made on a single sheet of paper(to 
> compare subtle increments of exposure & save wasting entire sheets.
> 
> Obviously the issue isn't exposure here but I thought there must be a 
> way of applying various differences, perhaps on separate layers, and 
> having them side by side on a sheet? Or, perhaps there is a way of 
> utilizing off cuts from larger sheets, & printing a portion of the 
> image.
> 
> Anyway, if you're working in some such way, I'd be interested in 
> hearing your method/s
> thanks
> Frankg

Hi Frankg,

I regularly do a kind of test strip to compare variations before going to final prints.  I 
have no idea whether or not my methods are efficient (probably not), but they seem 
to work for me - and are similar to Caponigro's screen comparison methods.  I 
create a blank file sized to the paper I want to test print onto, usually 8.5x11.  Then I 
crop out a slice of my original image and save it as a separate file, then size it so 
that it will form a strip on the blank file (I usually run 4 variations across the length 
of an 8.5x11).  I duplicate the new strip image three times and apply whatever 
variation I am interested to the three images and then drag these 4 strips (3 
variations plus original strip) onto the blank file and print it.  I find this particularly 
valuable for comparing different USM settings.  Because my monitor and printer are 
well calibrated, I get a print that looks like the screen, but with USM this doesn't 
seem to be good enough - I need to judge it in the print.  

Before making large prints (20x25), I usually spend time getting the image to look 
the way I want by printing a few 8.5x11s with small variations in adjustment layers 
to see the difference in the print.  I also frequently crop out a critical piece of a 20x25 
image file and print it on 8.5x11 to see how it will look - particularly useful for USM 
since each print size needs a different USM.  

My problem is that I can get really picky over subtle differences.  If I had an infinite 
amount of time, I could play with a single image file for a very long time, tweaking 
this and that and comparing small prints.  I am going to create a wall in my new 
studio where I can thumbtack up a bunch of variation prints and view them under my 
preferred lighting (another whole subject here).  

I am sure there are a lot of other ways to go about all this.  I have used gradients on 
adjustment layer masks to search for the right level of effect (opacity of mask) in a 
test print.  Etc., etc.

{{Studio update:  framed walls are sheathed with plywood, scissored trusses have a 
plywood roof, windows are installed.  The whole backyard will be a mudpit if it ever 
rains or snows-need a cover crop-probably winter wheat to be rototilled in the 
spring.}}

Tom Andrews
http://www.wildlandart.com

> In order to conserve paper, especially if you're using a premium 
> priced product like Photo Rag, how can I best do "test strips" in PS ?
> 
> For those who did not work in a conventional darkroom, test strips 
> are multiple exposure strips made on a single sheet of paper(to 
> compare subtle increments of exposure & save wasting entire sheets.
> 
> Obviously the issue isn't exposure here but I thought there must be a 
> way of applying various differences, perhaps on separate layers, and 
> having them side by side on a sheet? Or, perhaps there is a way of 
> utilizing off cuts from larger sheets, & printing a portion of the 
> image.
> 
> Anyway, if you're working in some such way, I'd be interested in 
> hearing your method/s
> thanks
> Frankg