Message
Re: [colorvision_group] Proud new owner of PFP results and times
2006-03-07 by CDTobie@aol.com
In a message dated 3/7/06 11:05:47 AM, jeades1@... writes:
I started the printer profiling at 08:47 EST and ended the entire
process at 10:48 EST and am now evaluating the results.
I guess if that is a measure of the learning curve to run the application, print targets, measure them, print samples etc... then thats not to bad.
I haven't
printed one of my images, but am evaluating the test prints which are
part of the package. I don't detect visible difference in the
Saturation and the Perceptual prints, but I'm guessing the test images
were created under pretty near ideal conditions; which is not often
the case in the real world I photograph in.
Intents effect mostly out of gamut colors. Well mannered test images don't have many out of gamut colors. That makes them easy to use, and avoids having profiles blamed for mismatches that are actually caused by colors that the monitor or the printer can't reach. The Fuji test image is full of such colors, and is forever resulting in profiles being blamed for things that aren't the profiles fault.
I've read somewhere the
difference in Relative and Absolute colormetric is the rendention of
the handling of paper base white where the Absolute makes an earnest
attempt to reproduce the actual color of the paper base white.
Absolute Colorimetric paints the paper the color of the profile being emulated. If you'd like to make proofs of newsprint on bright white proofing stock, coloring the whole sheet newsprint color is important. For your own printing needs, there is unlikely to be any conditions under which you need AbCol.
I can
hardly wait to dig up some satisfactory images of my own to try out
this new toy.
Thats the fun part: having your own images look better, and having better control of editing them on screen, and getting what you want in print. I did this myself yesterday with a new PrintFIX PRO profile for Matte Black ink on Moab Entrada with a wide format Epson. After profiling, I worked up a difficult night shot of jugglers at a festival in Tuscany. The background was a Medieval town wall, under low light. That Tuscan warm yellow stone, dimmed down to a rich brown, with deep shadows. I made the exposure/brightness adjustments I thought were good on screen, and printed it. The print, hanging from the printer, looked way too dark. I had that same "d*mn, my color management isn't working" thought that everyone else does. Nobody to blame but myself, when that happens, but the thought is still there...
By the time I got around to removing the (now drier) print from the printer, putting it under proofing lights, and comparing it to the softproofed version in screen, it was a great match, with the screen indicating the level of shadow detail, and the level of color saturation, in the print very nicely. Thats what color management if for: avoiding having to print a whole series of test prints before getting what you wanted in the first place... which can be costly on a wide format machine!
By the way, using the Ref Black checkbox in PFP was critical to getting the right SoftProof on screen to emulate the print effectively. Since this was a whitened paper (Entrada Bright) it was important to use the Ref White checkbox as well... with Entrada Natural this feature would have been grayed out, as unnecessary.
I've dealt with BW for 40 years, so this is a whole new
world for me. Now if I can get the Spectro jumping through hoops for
me when I use QTR of Roy Harrington's fine work, I'll really have both
feet firmly planted in both Color and Black and White. I have never
been able to produce the QTR curves as well and the canned ones he
provides. But who knows, this tool may enable me to do such a task.
I hope so, best of luck with it.
C. David Tobie
Product Technology Manager
ColorVision Business Unit
Datacolor Inc.
CDTobie@...
www.colorvision.com