Digital BW, The Print

Hello Ryan,

>Hi, I'm pretty new to the group, and I'm hoping that some of you can 
>help bring me up to speed on b&w printing.

Welcome to the forum.  Lot's of good brains to pick here.

 
>I'm currently using the Epson 3800...
>
>I see a lot of different papers being talked about, so that is a bit 
>confusing.  I'm on a relatively limited budget, so I can't keep bying 
>tons of different paper to test out and make custom profiles for.

Please see article #5 at the link below ("The Great Paper Chase"). It
has a review on 25 or so matte papers and will give you a good idea of
what the various papers are like.  There are lots of good ones to
choose from.

You'll need some Epson Enhanced Matte (EEM) for proofing paper - it's
inexpensive, has good dmax and otherwise looks good (so it's good for
judging your images as you work them up), but isn't acid free.  So
you'll need something else for final prints.

 
>It would be great to learn how some of you are printing with your 
>Epson printers (any model, but K3 would be more relevent) step by 
>step (shortened if necessary).

Please also see article #9.  It contains a step by step outline for
using the 2400 (K3 inks).  It's a simple and straightforward approach
which will get you going right away making excellent prints with the
ABW system "out-of-the-box".  I haven't seen a 3800 yet, so some of
the controls may be a bit different, but they are both K3 systems so
it should be very similar.  Good luck, have fun!


Regards,
Clayton


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