Digital BW, The Print

>> >> "Averaging out the detail in the grain" is the perfect description of the
>> >> problem I'm having.
>> >
>> >Pretty sure that's why big prints show it more.
>>
>> No! My one experimental big print (a chunk of what would be a 10x15" image)
>> showed much LESS posterizing; or at least the posterized areas were much
>> smaller, probably because the image had become that much coarser and the
>> "averaging" was happening over much smaller areas.
>
>Right, sorry, that's what I ment, a big print should show more of the true
>image structure because the driver dither is less
>of an issue per image area (not print area).
>I think others who have had success with the workflow and don't grock your
>dilemma haven't tried the type of images you
>are trying to print. I've had the same problems, with workflows that
>worked great with more traditional image files.

Thank you, Tyler, for reassuring me that I'm neither crazy nor stupid. And
I had no idea I was being "untraditional": I'm working with largely
unmanipulated scans of ordinary 35mm B&W negatives made with standard Kodak
film and developer. Because I have been printing them effortlessly in the
darkroom all these years, I assumed the procedure would be equally simple
on the desktop...

>Making sure your PS6 color settings are consistant with the workflow would
>be a very good thing to do though.

Once I get home I will try resetting the Photoshop color defaults so that
all RGB color takes place in the sRGB... space, and all grayscale is in
Gamma 2.2.

I also just checked the Brandin workflow for the regular MIS inks and found
that he recommends converting grayscale not only into RGB but also then
into 16 bits per channel. Would that make a difference in my case? And why
do Brandin's RGB adjustment curves look so much smoother (a line of tiny
dots) than Roark's (a dozen or so squares)? My apologies if these are more
than usually dumb questions.

Thanks in advance,

-- Nick


NICHOLAS HARTMANN                                +1 (414) 271-4890
611 N. Broadway, Suite 509                  fax: +1 (414) 271-4892
Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA                       polyglot@...

Technical and scientific translator:  German and French -> English