Walker,
Thank you very much for your response!
"Now, the actual printed “L” values are not exactly going to be something like L50* corresponding to L*50 in the image because you don’t have a paper that is tile-white and a dMax that is black-hole of L*0. Only then would your middle L* value as seen in Photoshop correspond to the same L* value on the print. Instead L*50 in photoshop is going to print (on matte paper with Piezography Pro Ink for example) half-way between say L* 12.67 and L* 96.6. So L*50 in photoshop would be L*60.97 on a given linearized curve with matte paper and pro ink."
To make sure we are on the same page, let's create a 50% patch in photoshop in gray gamma 2.2, in dot gain 20, and in Lab mode. With the same paper as before, having a dMax of 13 and a Dmin of 97, what should be the printed lab values for each patch? I would say the gray gamma 2.2 patch should read L*60, the dot gain 20 patch should read L*64, and the Lab patch should read L*55. Correct?
All the Best,
Calvin