My needs are different, you are correct. I am familiar with using
continuous-tone negs or positives (produced both digitally and the
old-fashioned way) for my purposes, but that always requires that I use
a halftone linescreen or aquatint/mezzotint screen as an intermediary.
This gets in the way of exposure times/latitude for my various
emulsions as well as creates a the very mechanical look of a defined
dot pattern.
I do want full-strength black, even if that means scattered dots like
you suggest. My desktop HP 812 will allow me to print black only, but
of course, the scale is severely limited...as well as quality. With
the advance in LF inkjets, so comes a drawback for me in that "Black"
is now a combo of Black, Light and Light Light. Hence, my quandary.
I will try out the QTR, but I may be back with questions regarding how
I make such a curve. But in the meantime, onward and upward...
Thanks,
Rob
++++++++++++++++++++++
Robert Truszkowski
Print Media Programme
Concordia University
Office: EV-9.414
Tel: 514-848-2424 x 4686
Fax: 514-848-3721
On 07-03-14, at 13:53, koloshor wrote:
> --- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, Truszkowski <print@...> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am using a G5 Mac, OSX.4 and Photoshop CS2 to print on special
> "clear
> > film" for exposing positives in several alternative photo
> > processes:screenprinting, lithographic plates, and polymer film for
> > photo-etching.
>
> I'm very used to making digital negatives for platinum and gum.
> Normally, we want maximum ink load for the smoothest tonalities, and
> use as many blacks as possible. I have one Epson 2200 loaded with 6
> different dilutions of black.
>
> It sounds like your needs are a bit different. Am I correct in
> assuming that you want just the full strength black on the entire
> negative, even though that means the lightest areas will be made up of
> very widely scattered dots?
>
> You won't be able to do it in the other ways you talk about, using
> PhotoShop and the Epson print drivers.
>
> > To this point, I am unable to print "pure" black. Even when
> selecting
> > "black only" in the printer dialogue, it prints with all 3 blacks
> > rendering a perception of grey through tonality, rather than the
> > light-stopping black that I need.
> > I have converted my images to various DPI bitmaps for printing, as
> well
> > as leaving them in greyscale; and I have tried just about every
> other
> > combination of image, Photoshop print dialogue option and Epson
> printer
> > dialogue option with varying degrees of success. Ultimately I want
> my
> > black "dots" (inkjet dithered) to be BLACK.
> >
> > Agggghhh!
> >
> > My two caveats are: 1) I work in an art school where money is tight,
> > and would prefer to keep the installation of unnecessary software
> down,
> > if possible, and; 2) I don't want to buy some t-shirt separation rip
> > software to make big clunky halftones.
> >
> > Any suggestions? Can this be accomplished with the Quadtonerip?
>
> Very easily. You would have to build a curve in QTR to do it, where
> you'd just define one ink, but that's not hard.
>
> > Something else?
>
> QTR is the best thing.
>
>
>
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