Digital BW, The Print

Steve, Nick, and Doug (thanks guys)all had good suggestions regarding
the banding issues with my 1800 but it suddenly stopped doing it on
its own but it's doing something else that is NOT GOOD.

I got QTR and the BW's look nice except the ink looks and behaves
differently in different sections of the print.

First, the ink does not seem to be drying. There are two distinct
looks to the prints. The deep blacks appear as a matte like finish
while the lighter areas are glossy. Furthermore when I gently rub my
finger over the print, the matte area smudges and shows profound
finger prints while the glossy parts rub off completely showing the
original white paper.

The line delineations between the glossy part and the matte part are
remarkably visible. The matte sections almost look like an overlay.

No...I am not putting the paper in backwards. But I am pulling my hair
out and I just don't have that much to spare. 

My problem is that I am a self taught photographer. I never took
classes or had formal lessons in dark rooms although I did spend many
hours in dark rooms. Bottom line is that I am a really good
photographer but I don't understand the numbers and ratios you guys
talk about all the time regarding printing. I know what I want to see.
My images look great on my monitor and most of the time the prints
look great too but since I got the 1800 I'm having a hell of a time
getting rid of this bronzing and this odd matte vs gloss issue that
appears in each print. My old 1280 prints look awesome.
Any and all opinions most welcome!

Tim

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tim Timmermans" 
<zenphoto7@...> wrote:
>
> First, the ink does not seem to be drying. There are two distinct
> looks to the prints. The deep blacks appear as a matte like finish
> while the lighter areas are glossy.


Are you using Ebony or Epson's Black Ink and what paper?

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "John Vitollo"
<jvlist@...> wrote:
>
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tim Timmermans" 
> <zenphoto7@> wrote:
> >
> > First, the ink does not seem to be drying. There are two distinct
> > looks to the prints. The deep blacks appear as a matte like finish
> > while the lighter areas are glossy.
> 
> 
> Are you using Ebony or Epson's Black Ink and what paper?
>


I'm using the standard epson ink set for the 1800.

Using Kirkland and Epson Premium Semigloss and PremiereArt semigloss


tim

Hi Tim,

Glad to see you're giving QTR a go, but it appears the curve you're 
using is laying down Matte Black ink and you're printing on RC 
papers which need photo black. What is the name of the curve in 
either 'curves' drop-down box? You can check on which inks are being 
used by right-clicking on the drop-down window, and then clicking 
on "show curve graph". That will show you what your curve looks 
like, and which inks it uses. Go through whichever curves came with 
it, and find one that uses PK ink, and start there. 

Steve Karafyllakis

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tim 
Timmermans" <zenphoto7@...> wrote:
>
> Steve, Nick, and Doug (thanks guys)all had good suggestions 
regarding
> the banding issues with my 1800 but it suddenly stopped doing it on
> its own but it's doing something else that is NOT GOOD.
> 
> I got QTR and the BW's look nice except the ink looks and behaves
> differently in different sections of the print.
> 
> First, the ink does not seem to be drying. There are two distinct
> looks to the prints. The deep blacks appear as a matte like finish
> while the lighter areas are glossy. Furthermore when I gently rub 
my
> finger over the print, the matte area smudges and shows profound
> finger prints while the glossy parts rub off completely showing the
> original white paper.
> 
> The line delineations between the glossy part and the matte part 
are
> remarkably visible. The matte sections almost look like an overlay.
> 
> No...I am not putting the paper in backwards. But I am pulling my 
hair
> out and I just don't have that much to spare. 
> 
> My problem is that I am a self taught photographer. I never took
> classes or had formal lessons in dark rooms although I did spend 
many
> hours in dark rooms. Bottom line is that I am a really good
> photographer but I don't understand the numbers and ratios you guys
> talk about all the time regarding printing. I know what I want to 
see.

> My images look great on my monitor and most of the time the prints
> look great too but since I got the 1800 I'm having a hell of a time
> getting rid of this bronzing and this odd matte vs gloss issue that
> appears in each print. My old 1280 prints look awesome.
> Any and all opinions most welcome!
> 
> Tim
>