Digital BW, The Print

I had some really interesting feedback from an artist (also a friend) that I
make limited edition prints for. First as background, I had really wrested
with which inkset to use for b&w work. I was using Epson K2 inks and had
reached the point of having good warm and cool curves for my Innova papers
(Soft Texture Art in particular). However, I wanted to go beyond 2 mono inks
and decided to pick up a set of split tone K7.

My friend does pencil work, and it will take him months to complete a
drawing. He's a perfectionist and his work is outstanding. I sent him sample
prints made using both K2 and K7 inks. My target was to make the prints look
like the original drawings, which are warm toned and have a softness to
them. The K2 toning was good. Due to the level of highlights in the image,
the split tone K7 version had much more of a neutral tonality. However, he
choose the K7 version due to the smoothness. The difference was very
noticeable on this image.

I realize that K2 to K7 is a big jump, so the increased smoothness is no
suprise. What was interesting though, as we compared his image (K2 to K7)
and some of my photos (also K2 to K7), is that he commented on how some of
the K7 versions had a 3D look (his words) to portions of the image. He said
the K2 prints were "flat" (all of them). This reminded me about what David
Tobie said re seeing this in both K3 and UT-3D prints. K2, on the other
hand, is just not there in the same way.

My other point to this post is to offer some suggestions regarding toning
options while using K7 inks. With 7 shades, using a common black, you can
create 2 ink sets in one (4 neutral and 4 sepia) using QTR or other RIP.
They can then be mixed for tones between neutral and sepia. If you stagger
them (Black, Neutral 2, Sepia 3, Neutral 4, Sepia 5, Neutral 6, Sepia 7 or
vice-versa) you have the inks you need for these 2 sets but can still run
all 7 for max smoothness (assuming you like the tone of this mix). You can
also create a custom mix using 5 or 6 of these in various combinations. Yes,
it means some profiling work, but the flexibility is there. The approach is
of course very different than what one would do with the MIS UT-7 or UT-3D
inks, and the tonal range is more limited. To lay it out in more detail,
here is part of a post that Jon Cone made on the Piezography list. . . .

==========
Jon Cone wrote (Piezography list). . . .

I use shades 1,2,4,6 as the Neutral four inks as a quad-tone set.
StudioPrint can easily linearize these 4 shades. You could use the
Sepia K7 shades 3,5,7 or the PiezoTone CarbonSepia set for a slightly
richer look.

Alternatively, if you think you might like neutral highest
highlights...  Run Neutral 3,5,7  Sepia, 2,4,6
With this set you can linearize as:

1,Sep2,Sep4,Sep6,Neu7 (neutral lightest highlights)
or
1,Sep2,Sep4,Sep6
or
1,Neu3,Neu5,Neu7
or
1,Sep2,Neu3,Neu5,Neu7 (slight warmth in shadows)
or
1,Sep2,(Neu3-Sep4 distributed),Neu5,Neu7 (nice split-tone)
or
1,(Sep2-Neu3 distributed),(Sep4-Neu5 distributed),(Sep6-Neu7
distributed) (a warm neutral blend)

All of the above requires StudioPrint and to take your time and make
none of it spare....   :)
=============

Terry.