Digital BW, The Print

Hello Brian,

>Thanks for the info!  My goal is to get some consistency across my 
>prints/workflow - and you're right on about 'too many workflow 
>variables'!!  Assuming that I follow your instructions/settings 
>exactly then there shouldn't be a significant difference between BO 
>and full ink when using Gamma 2.2, correct?     

Well, possibly not, because that wouldn't be following the
instructions exactly.  The article recommends using DG20 for the
default gray space setting and image profile, printer profile set to
Same As Source (or No Color Management in CS2), and printer gamma 1.8.
 With those settings I can go between BO and full ink printing. 
That's the combination I've found that gives me the most versatility
and good WYSIWYG.  It isn't carved in stone - you can use anything you
want and make it work, but there are trade-offs for everything.  The
above combination is just a sort of sweet spot that I find most
convenient and hassle free.



>As for my initial issue, the one potential (and potentially 
>significant as you mentioned below) issue is that I may or may not 
>have converted the image to grayscale prior to printing - and 
>therefore the image could have been using Adobe 1998 instead of DG20 
>which may have made a difference between the two ink settings (BO & 
>full ink). 

Quite possibly.  I do everything in grayscale.  I did lots of
experiments in the early days and found no advantage to staying in RGB
mode, with files three times as big.  With a color digicam image I
manipulate the RGB channels during conversion to BW, but once that's
done I convert to grayscale.

BTW, an important part of this workflow is having the gray space in
Color Settings set to DG20.  Having it at GG2.2 and later assigning
the image profile to DG20 won't do the job.  The gray space setting is
what determines the actual image pixel values at the time of grayscale
conversion (or importing a scanned neg).  Assigning a different
profile later merely changes how it's displayed on screen - it won't
change the image or the print.  In order to do that the profile must
be Converted.  But if you convert after you have worked on the image
it will change everything you've done (it will look the same on screen
but will change the image and the print).  So it's best to have it go
to the profile you want right at the beginning, whether scanning a neg
or using a color digicam file.  

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm