QTR-Quadtone RIP

Dear Group,

Please forgive me with the length of this post...

I would like to ask the group for some advice, since I have not used an Epson 7000 and K6 
inks in the past, and I would like to briefly discuss what my workflow is presently...

I am new to digital black and white photography, but I exhibited work in a few galleries 
over twenty years ago, presenting selenium toned prints at that time.  Now I have my 4X5 
black and white negatives drum scanned, and I am exploring the production of a fine art 
black and white print again.

That said, I currently have several images, where the images were originally printed on an 
Epson 9600 with UC inks, and using the latest ImagePrint RIP.  The gallery, representing 
me at the moment, told me to not submit any images with metamersim and, or possibly a 
coloured ink in the blacks, for esthetic and archival reasons.  They have their rules, so I 
must reprint a number of images... :)

All of my negatives were corrected to accomodate the Epson 9600, UC inks and ImagePrint 
RIP, where the Imageprint RIP has default setting of Gamma 2.2 at a specific print house in 
town.  This forced me to do the following with all of my images:

1.    open my image in Photoshop;
2.    assign a Gamma of 2.2, to darken the image;
3.    make all of my adjustments in that space;
4.    remove the assigned Gamma of 2.2;
5.    save the image;
6.    reopen the image;
7.    do not assign a Gamma of 2.2;
8.    make all of the required sizing, sharpening for the image;
9.    save the file, with those adjustments, for the print house;
10.   make the print.

Voila, the image came out exactly as displayed on my calibrated monitor.

Now I have several images, which are too light to be printed directly to any other printer 
that does not have a default setting of Gamma 2.2, unless I assign and imbed a Gamma 
2.2 into the image file.

Recently I found a print house, to accomodate the gallery's request, that produced 
exquisite images of mine, with the embedded Gamma 2.2, and that print house would be 
"Cirrus" in Portland.  They use an Epson 7600 and the Quad Tone Ink set, where the 
printed image is set for selenium toning and printed on Hahnemuhle 308.  Outstanding 
work from Phil Bard, and associates, just absolutely outstanding.

A few days ago, I ran across a lab in my home town that makes prints with an Epson 7000, 
K6 inks, and they use the "BW Pro 24, 2001" software to driver the printer.  Curiosity 
brought me in. They printed an image of mine, embedded with the Gamma 2.2 profile, 
and it printed too light, compared to the prints received from Cirrus.

So, the owner operator of the Epson 7000, wanted to adjust the curve of the image in 
Photoshop, and print it again.  I did not want that to happen, since I believe that any curve 
adjustment would affect the overall image in areas I did not anticipate to change.  We tried 
this approach anyway, and it did affect areas of the print I did not want adjusted.

Because of this preamble, and because I have several results from a few printers and 
different papers, I would like to know the following for the Epson 7000 and K6 inks:

1.  Is there another solution and, or updated software for this printer 
    and ink set, that would allow the use of imbedded information?

2.  Should I create another set of images, where the image would be 
    a straight through print?

3.  Is there an esoteric method that would be brilliant and simple?

The second point means reworking all of my images, and it is not an avenue that I 
contemplate enjoying.

But then again, I have "Cirrus and Phil Bard" as my primary source of printing.

Again, please forgive me, regarding the length of this post...

I'm just curious,


jim k