Digital BW, The Print

HI everyone!
                     I am new to this site and quad.My system is as 
follows: artisan/ PSCS/XPpro/2200/.I have been printing BW for 2 
years using IP(6.0 now)with very good results but I am blown away 
with quadtone!I just downloaded quadtone gui and it is working well 
but I have a few questions to answer before I can push it further.
       1-What is the very latest version for PC? I am running2.1.13.
       2-I run epson UC inks but I believe I read that you can mix 
epson UC inks with Mis ebony black. Is this possible?
       3-Are there sample icc profiles and curves available 
for:1.premier premium matte with ebony K   2.eps enh matte with 
ebonyK     3.Han phot rag with ebony K
                         ON XP with 2.1.13 or any later version?
       

            I don't do my own profiles. Could  Roy or any other 
expert do the profiles for me ,for a fee of course?  Thanks!
                      
                               Louis Bouillon

Hello, I'm new here.  My name is Katie.
I chose to explore digital negatives as my independent study in
undergrad school.  None of my professors have used the process, so as
you might imagine, I'm going to have a million questions!

I'm following Dan Burkholder's book for printing with inkjet onto
transparency film, contact printing onto silver gelatin (fiber based).
 It sounded like the 1200 bitmap dither method worked best for this,
so I formatted my image using that process.  But then I got confused
when it came time to either colorize or make a color table (using
orange ink instead of black).  

I used the color table method by switching back over to RGB mode. 
Then I could not get my image to print because the computer would just
freeze up.  I contact a friend who informed me that 1200 dpi is way
too much for any printer to handle.  Then I noticed the page where
Burkholder says that 480 is a good resolution for silver printing.  So
I converted my image back to 480dpi, and had no trouble printing then.

Here's my results from the darkroom (although horrible scans):

Straight Print
http://www.katiegregory.com/straightprintsm.jpg

With a #5 Filter
http://www.katiegregory.com/5filtersm.jpg

They look awfully grainy to me.  Which leads me to ask; did I follow
those steps right?  I get lost in that book easily.  Any other
suggestions are greatly appreciated!

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Katherine"
<october_air@h...> wrote:

> Hello, I'm new here.  My name is Katie.
> I chose to explore digital negatives as my independent study in
> undergrad school.  None of my professors have used the process, so as
> you might imagine, I'm going to have a million questions!
> 
> I'm following Dan Burkholder's book for printing with inkjet onto
> transparency film, contact printing onto silver gelatin (fiber based).
>  It sounded like the 1200 bitmap dither method worked best for this,
> so I formatted my image using that process.  But then I got confused
> when it came time to either colorize or make a color table (using
> orange ink instead of black).  
> 
> I used the color table method by switching back over to RGB mode. 
> Then I could not get my image to print because the computer would just
> freeze up.  I contact a friend who informed me that 1200 dpi is way
> too much for any printer to handle.  Then I noticed the page where
> Burkholder says that 480 is a good resolution for silver printing.  So
> I converted my image back to 480dpi, and had no trouble printing then.
> 
> Here's my results from the darkroom (although horrible scans):
> 
> Straight Print
> http://www.katiegregory.com/straightprintsm.jpg
> 
> With a #5 Filter
> http://www.katiegregory.com/5filtersm.jpg
> 
> They look awfully grainy to me.  Which leads me to ask; did I follow
> those steps right?  I get lost in that book easily.  Any other
> suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Hello Katherine:

Unless you intend to send your digital negative out to a service 
bureau, image-setter negs, it is unnecessary
for you to convert your image to a bitmap.  Your image was much to big, 
and in the wrong
mode, bitmap, for Dan's inkjet method; that's why your computer choked 
on such a huge file.
You confused two different processes as delineated by Dan, designed for 
two separate output
methods for creating digital internegs.

The reason that they look grainy: you converted from bitmap back to 
RGB.  For the inkjet
process, You really never need to be out of RGB unless you brought the 
file in as a Greyscale first,
or you wanted to do some adjustments to the file in LAB mode.  If you 
used either of these methods, you must
first return to RGB mode before you print out the negative.

I would recommend that you visit Dan's website www.danburkholder.com.
There he now has an updated CD for printing with more recent inkjet 
printers than he covered in
his book. There you will also find updated templates with updated 
curves that will help you simplify
printing negatives using the inkjet process.

Regards,
Peter

On Jun 14, 2005, at 12:35 PM, Katherine wrote:

> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Katherine"
> <october_air@h...> wrote:
>> Hello, I'm new here.  My name is Katie.
>> I chose to explore digital negatives as my independent study in
>> undergrad school.  None of my professors have used the process, so as
>> you might imagine, I'm going to have a million questions!
>>
>> I'm following Dan Burkholder's book for printing with inkjet onto
>> transparency film, contact printing onto silver gelatin (fiber based).
>>  It sounded like the 1200 bitmap dither method worked best for this,
>> so I formatted my image using that process.  But then I got confused
>> when it came time to either colorize or make a color table (using
>> orange ink instead of black).
>>
>> I used the color table method by switching back over to RGB mode.
>> Then I could not get my image to print because the computer would just
>> freeze up.  I contact a friend who informed me that 1200 dpi is way
>> too much for any printer to handle.  Then I noticed the page where
>> Burkholder says that 480 is a good resolution for silver printing.  So
>> I converted my image back to 480dpi, and had no trouble printing then.
>>
>> Here's my results from the darkroom (although horrible scans):
>>
>> Straight Print
>> http://www.katiegregory.com/straightprintsm.jpg
>>
>> With a #5 Filter
>> http://www.katiegregory.com/5filtersm.jpg
>>
>> They look awfully grainy to me.  Which leads me to ask; did I follow
>> those steps right?  I get lost in that book easily.  Any other
>> suggestions are greatly appreciated!
>

Peter,

Thank you so much!  I knew something was off.  
I found a new curve for the printer I'm using, so I bet my contrast
will be a lot better now.  It says "Note: Use all six inks (don't
colorize)" 

Also, any advice on how to keep the negatives as clean as possible?  

~Katie~

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Peter Gorwin
<pshelleyg@c...> wrote:
> Hello Katherine:
> 
> Unless you intend to send your digital negative out to a service 
> bureau, image-setter negs, it is unnecessary
> for you to convert your image to a bitmap.  Your image was much to big, 
> and in the wrong
> mode, bitmap, for Dan's inkjet method; that's why your computer choked 
> on such a huge file.
> You confused two different processes as delineated by Dan, designed for 
> two separate output
> methods for creating digital internegs.
> 
> The reason that they look grainy: you converted from bitmap back to 
> RGB.  For the inkjet
> process, You really never need to be out of RGB unless you brought the 
> file in as a Greyscale first,
> or you wanted to do some adjustments to the file in LAB mode.  If you 
> used either of these methods, you must
> first return to RGB mode before you print out the negative.
> 
> I would recommend that you visit Dan's website www.danburkholder.com.
> There he now has an updated CD for printing with more recent inkjet 
> printers than he covered in
> his book. There you will also find updated templates with updated 
> curves that will help you simplify
> printing negatives using the inkjet process.
> 
> Regards,
> Peter
> 
> 
> On Jun 14, 2005, at 12:35 PM, Katherine wrote:
> 
> > --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Katherine"
> > <october_air@h...> wrote:
> >> Hello, I'm new here.  My name is Katie.
> >> I chose to explore digital negatives as my independent study in
> >> undergrad school.  None of my professors have used the process, so as
> >> you might imagine, I'm going to have a million questions!
> >>
> >> I'm following Dan Burkholder's book for printing with inkjet onto
> >> transparency film, contact printing onto silver gelatin (fiber
based).
> >>  It sounded like the 1200 bitmap dither method worked best for this,
> >> so I formatted my image using that process.  But then I got confused
> >> when it came time to either colorize or make a color table (using
> >> orange ink instead of black).
> >>
> >> I used the color table method by switching back over to RGB mode.
> >> Then I could not get my image to print because the computer would
just
> >> freeze up.  I contact a friend who informed me that 1200 dpi is way
> >> too much for any printer to handle.  Then I noticed the page where
> >> Burkholder says that 480 is a good resolution for silver
printing.  So
> >> I converted my image back to 480dpi, and had no trouble printing
then.

> >>
> >> Here's my results from the darkroom (although horrible scans):
> >>
> >> Straight Print
> >> http://www.katiegregory.com/straightprintsm.jpg
> >>
> >> With a #5 Filter
> >> http://www.katiegregory.com/5filtersm.jpg
> >>
> >> They look awfully grainy to me.  Which leads me to ask; did I follow
> >> those steps right?  I get lost in that book easily.  Any other
> >> suggestions are greatly appreciated!
> >

Hello Katie:  Pictorico film is very fragile stuff, and, unlike a 
traditional negative that has been protected by
a wetting agent, tends to be much more likely to attract fingerprints, 
scratches, and dust that are simply impossible
to clean off.  the only thing that I would recommend: try to be careful 
how you handle them, keep your printing area clean, but because
of their very fragile nature plan on having to print another negative 
after you have made a couple of prints.  Pictorico is still far less
expensive in terms of both time and money than having to produce an 
entirely new interneg according to traditional wet darkroom procedures.
(Although a sheet of Pictorico still is not cheap :~(). Some other 
members on this group have mentioned alternative material for printing 
negs.  (I can't recall them all.) I have used TDK plastic inkjet paper 
with some excellent results. It's less expensive than Pictorico.  
Regards, Peter

P.S.  don't be surprised if your inkjet negatives look "bullet proof " 
compared to traditional analog negs.  Silver, by its very nature,
  has an unsurpassed ability to block UV over the same equivalent tiny 
stochastic pattern of ink;  as a result, the ink must be spread
in a thicker fashion across the entire curve to approach the equivalent 
results of a thinner silver emulsion.)

>
> Also, any advice on how to keep the negatives as clean as possible?
>
> ~Katie~
>