Digital BW, The Print

The last couple of days I've been trying to get good results with the
3800 (K3) on Photo Rag, just using the settings in Photoshop CS and
the Epson ABW driver. It is very likely that one can obtain better
results by using QTR to create ICC profiles, as was recommended to me
by several members of this forum. However, not being familiar with
that aproach and not having the time to sort that out right now, I´ve
stuck to the options provided by Photoshop and Epson.  And I am, in
fact, quite satisfied with what I found: I´ve been using a
densitometer to measure the gray wedges I printed, and I succeeded in
getting a curve that is very close to the Target Densities that I also
used in the past when I printed with MIS UT-FS.

Here are my settings, I hope someone will benefit from it.

Kind regards,  and thanks to the great people on this forum who gave
me their advice.

Igor
-------------------------------
SPECS:
Epson 3800
K3
Windows XP
Photoshop CS

PHOTOSHOP CS SETTINGS:
Color Settings (Ctrl-Shift-k): Working spaces / Gray / Gray Gamma 2.2

Print Preview Settings (Ctrl-Alt-P): Print space / Profile / Printer
color management
This means the the color management in Photoshop is disabled. In CS2
and 3 this is done another way (from Eric Chan's site): Go to the File
menu and choose Print with Preview... (CS2) or Print... (CS3). In the
box that comes up, set the Color Handling menu to No Color Management.

EPSON ABW SETTINGS:
Media type: Ultrasmooth fine art.
Print Quality: Superphoto 2880 dpi
Uncheck: High speed, Flip Horizontal, Finest Detail, and Edge Smoothing.
Tone: Dark. 
Max Optical Density: 0 (= default).
Highlight Point Shift: Off (= default).

I needed different settings for the Neutral and Warm Color Toning:

If you prefer Color Toning: NEUTRAL
Contrast -8
Shadow tonality +11
Highlight tonality +13


If you prefer Color Toning: WARM
Brightness -1
Contrast -8
Shadow tonality +11
Highlight tonality +13 


That's it. 
Succes!

Hello Igor,

>I am, in fact, quite satisfied with what I found: I´ve been using a
>densitometer to measure the gray wedges I printed, and I succeeded 
>in getting a curve that is very close to the Target Densities...
>...
> If you prefer Color Toning: NEUTRAL
> Contrast -8
> Shadow tonality +11
> Highlight tonality +13
>...

Nice work.  Have you by any chance done the same for VFA?  I would be
real interested in seeing the difference in settings for that paper.


Regards,
Clayton

Hi Igor,

I would be interested to know which problems these settings resolved
for you as I have the same setup and am going through the same process
at the moment...

Are you getting extra shadow detail (for example as with one of the
test images available) ? I also found that the Epson default ABW
settings gave me a slighly greenish tint (to my eyes anyway). Did you
experience the same and if so do your new settings help ?

Currently I am testing which media setting will produce the best
details in the shadows/darker areas by printing the darkest 20 steps
in a 100 step grey wedge using ABW mode and the different options
available (Ultrasmooth, VFA, EEM, WCRW) onto Photo Rag 308. Once these
have dried I will measure and plot the results to see which will help
to provide the most neutral and linear....

Rgds
Rick 

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Igor Wesdorp"
<iwesdorp@...> wrote:

>
> The last couple of days I've been trying to get good results with the
> 3800 (K3) on Photo Rag, just using the settings in Photoshop CS and
> the Epson ABW driver. It is very likely that one can obtain better
> results by using QTR to create ICC profiles, as was recommended to me
> by several members of this forum. However, not being familiar with
> that aproach and not having the time to sort that out right now, I´ve
> stuck to the options provided by Photoshop and Epson.  And I am, in
> fact, quite satisfied with what I found: I´ve been using a
> densitometer to measure the gray wedges I printed, and I succeeded in
> getting a curve that is very close to the Target Densities that I also
> used in the past when I printed with MIS UT-FS.
> 
> Here are my settings, I hope someone will benefit from it.
> 
> Kind regards,  and thanks to the great people on this forum who gave
> me their advice.
> 
> Igor
> -------------------------------
> SPECS:
> Epson 3800
> K3
> Windows XP
> Photoshop CS
> 
> PHOTOSHOP CS SETTINGS:
> Color Settings (Ctrl-Shift-k): Working spaces / Gray / Gray Gamma 2.2
> 
> Print Preview Settings (Ctrl-Alt-P): Print space / Profile / Printer
> color management
> This means the the color management in Photoshop is disabled. In CS2
> and 3 this is done another way (from Eric Chan's site): Go to the File
> menu and choose Print with Preview... (CS2) or Print... (CS3). In the
> box that comes up, set the Color Handling menu to No Color Management.
> 
> EPSON ABW SETTINGS:
> Media type: Ultrasmooth fine art.
> Print Quality: Superphoto 2880 dpi
> Uncheck: High speed, Flip Horizontal, Finest Detail, and Edge Smoothing.
> Tone: Dark. 
> Max Optical Density: 0 (= default).
> Highlight Point Shift: Off (= default).
> 
> I needed different settings for the Neutral and Warm Color Toning:
> 
> If you prefer Color Toning: NEUTRAL
> Contrast -8
> Shadow tonality +11
> Highlight tonality +13
> 
> 
> If you prefer Color Toning: WARM
> Brightness -1
> Contrast -8
> Shadow tonality +11
> Highlight tonality +13 
> 
> 
> That's it. 
> Succes!
>

Does this discussion apply to the ABW driver on a 2400 also?

Steve


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Igor Wesdorp" <iwesdorp@...> 
wrote:

>
> The last couple of days I've been trying to get good results with the
> 3800 (K3) on Photo Rag, just using the settings in Photoshop CS and
> the Epson ABW driver. It is very likely that one can obtain better
> results by using QTR to create ICC profiles, as was recommended to me
> by several members of this forum. However, not being familiar with
> that aproach and not having the time to sort that out right now, I´ve
> stuck to the options provided by Photoshop and Epson.  And I am, in
> fact, quite satisfied with what I found: I´ve been using a
> densitometer to measure the gray wedges I printed, and I succeeded in
> getting a curve that is very close to the Target Densities that I also
> used in the past when I printed with MIS UT-FS.
> 
> Here are my settings, I hope someone will benefit from it.
> 
> Kind regards,  and thanks to the great people on this forum who gave
> me their advice.
> 
> Igor
> -------------------------------
> SPECS:
> Epson 3800
> K3
> Windows XP
> Photoshop CS
> 
> PHOTOSHOP CS SETTINGS:
> Color Settings (Ctrl-Shift-k): Working spaces / Gray / Gray Gamma 2.2
> 
> Print Preview Settings (Ctrl-Alt-P): Print space / Profile / Printer
> color management
> This means the the color management in Photoshop is disabled. In CS2
> and 3 this is done another way (from Eric Chan's site): Go to the File
> menu and choose Print with Preview... (CS2) or Print... (CS3). In the
> box that comes up, set the Color Handling menu to No Color Management.
> 
> EPSON ABW SETTINGS:
> Media type: Ultrasmooth fine art.
> Print Quality: Superphoto 2880 dpi
> Uncheck: High speed, Flip Horizontal, Finest Detail, and Edge Smoothing.
> Tone: Dark. 
> Max Optical Density: 0 (= default).
> Highlight Point Shift: Off (= default).
> 
> I needed different settings for the Neutral and Warm Color Toning:
> 
> If you prefer Color Toning: NEUTRAL
> Contrast -8
> Shadow tonality +11
> Highlight tonality +13
> 
> 
> If you prefer Color Toning: WARM
> Brightness -1
> Contrast -8
> Shadow tonality +11
> Highlight tonality +13 
> 
> 
> That's it. 
> Succes!
>

> Nice work.  Have you by any chance done the same for VFA?  I would be
> real interested in seeing the difference in settings for that paper.


Clayton,

No, I haven't really because for me the texture of VFA is too coarse.
But just out of curiosity I did print one gray wedge on VFA paper
(Working space: Gray Gamma 2.2. ABW settings: Media type/VFA.
Tone/Dark) and it gave me a very smooth curve with a higher Dmax than on
Photo Rag. The 'dark half' of the curve (the area below rgb128) was a
bit too dark, though. Maybe that could be solved by choosing Tone/
Normal or Light, although that will raise the light part of the curve too.

Regards,

Igor

Rick,

> I would be interested to know which problems these settings resolved
for you as I have the same setup and am going through the same process
at the moment...

When I first tried to print on Photo Rag with the 3800, using setting
Media type/Velvet Fine Art Paper, the detail in the darkest part of
the image (aprox. from rgb0 up to rgb 25) were terrible: See the graph
at http://www.xs4all.nl/~hc6/3800/3800.htm 
I was advised to use setting Media type/Ultrasmooth, and that gave me
indeed a lot of improvement. And by using the sliders for Brightness,
Contrast, Shadow Tonality and Highlight tonality, I was able to get
very close to my target densities.

Did you do your measurements yet?

Regards,

Igor

Steve,

> Does this discussion apply to the ABW driver on a 2400 also?

That's a very interesting question. When you print with the same
settings (Epson and Photoshop) on e.g. a 2400, 3800 and 9800, will the
results be the same?

Interesting, because I use a 3800, and for formats larger than A2 I
need to go to to a lab which uses the 9800. Can I just tell the guy to
use the same settings as I do at home and expect the same result?

Igor

Hi Igor,

I have not had a chance to make my measurements yet as I'm currently
on a short vacation. I'll be home on Monday so should be able to do
this by Tuesday. I'll try and post the graphs here once complete...

Rgds
Rick

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Igor Wesdorp"
<iwesdorp@...> wrote:

>
> Rick,
> 
> > I would be interested to know which problems these settings resolved
> for you as I have the same setup and am going through the same process
> at the moment...
> 
> When I first tried to print on Photo Rag with the 3800, using setting
> Media type/Velvet Fine Art Paper, the detail in the darkest part of
> the image (aprox. from rgb0 up to rgb 25) were terrible: See the graph
> at http://www.xs4all.nl/~hc6/3800/3800.htm 
> I was advised to use setting Media type/Ultrasmooth, and that gave me
> indeed a lot of improvement. And by using the sliders for Brightness,
> Contrast, Shadow Tonality and Highlight tonality, I was able to get
> very close to my target densities.
> 
> Did you do your measurements yet?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Igor
>