Digital BW, The Print

I'm trying to put together a routine for good quality, neutral glossy prints using the UT14 ink set. (Without adding color dye black ink in the K position.) The paper I am using is Red River Arctic Polar Gloss. I've read Paul Roark's document http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/UT14.pdf  and think I have it understood. For the purposes of testing the image I am working with is Keith Cooper's black and white test print. 

This is my image manipulation process:

Open the test image in CS4. Change the Image Mode to RGB Color. Apply the curve UT14-Gloss-N-4.acv. I then print the image. 

Printing the image with printer controls, ultra premium presentation matte paper and gamma 2.2 yields a pretty good print that is very neutral in coloration. However, the D-max of black is low and the mid-range is a bit too light. The surface is very glossy with no non-reflective areas. 

 I created an .icc using QTR. I adjusted a 21-step scale image with the same .acv as with the test image, then printed it and scanned it. Using this and the master 21-step scale image, I generated an .icc. The print with the new .icc is quite different than the print with the  printer controls, but not better. Here are the issues:
	D-max is no better than with the image using printer controls. 
	Color tone has sifted significantly to warm.
	Upper ranges of the mid-tones are too dark.
	The surface has non-reflective areas (the blacks), which smudge, indicating that I am getting Eboni ink into the print. 
	The 21-step scale incorporated in the test image maxes out at 18 and is not in order from about 14 up. 

My question is simply, how do I improve on this process? Is there something in the .icc generation, possibly related to where I'm using the .acv, that I'm not doing right?

I have made QTR profiles for UT14 and a few papers, which can be found on the QTR forum:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/QuadtoneRIP/files/Curves/Epson%201400/

There are curves for Kirkland Glossy and Ilford Gold Fibre Silk.  For each of these, there is a warm and a cool profile, which can be mixed to generate intermediate tones.  Though they won't be perfect for another glossy paper, they will likely be a reasonable starting place. 

David

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "remononaz1" <homershannon@...> wrote:

>
> I'm trying to put together a routine for good quality, neutral glossy prints using the UT14 ink set. (Without adding color dye black ink in the K position.) The paper I am using is Red River Arctic Polar Gloss. I've read Paul Roark's document http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/UT14.pdf  and think I have it understood. For the purposes of testing the image I am working with is Keith Cooper's black and white test print. 
> 
> This is my image manipulation process:
> 
> Open the test image in CS4. Change the Image Mode to RGB Color. Apply the curve UT14-Gloss-N-4.acv. I then print the image. 
> 
> Printing the image with printer controls, ultra premium presentation matte paper and gamma 2.2 yields a pretty good print that is very neutral in coloration. However, the D-max of black is low and the mid-range is a bit too light. The surface is very glossy with no non-reflective areas. 
> 
>  I created an .icc using QTR. I adjusted a 21-step scale image with the same .acv as with the test image, then printed it and scanned it. Using this and the master 21-step scale image, I generated an .icc. The print with the new .icc is quite different than the print with the  printer controls, but not better. Here are the issues:
> 	D-max is no better than with the image using printer controls. 
> 	Color tone has sifted significantly to warm.
> 	Upper ranges of the mid-tones are too dark.
> 	The surface has non-reflective areas (the blacks), which smudge, indicating that I am getting Eboni ink into the print. 
> 	The 21-step scale incorporated in the test image maxes out at 18 and is not in order from about 14 up. 
> 
> My question is simply, how do I improve on this process? Is there something in the .icc generation, possibly related to where I'm using the .acv, that I'm not doing right?
>

<homershannon@...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> I'm trying to put together a routine for good quality, neutral glossy
> prints using the UT14 ink set. ... The paper I am using is Red River Arctic
> Polar Gloss.
>


> I've read Paul Roark's document http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/UT14.pdfand think I have it understood. For the purposes of testing the image I am
> working with is Keith Cooper's black and white test print.
>
Does that test image have a 21-step test file in it?  Reading a 21-step
file with a spectro or scanner will produce the best final image usually.
 I have several posted, including one at
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/21-step.jpg that can be saved as a Tiff
file (recommended).


> This is my image manipulation process:
>
> Open the test image in CS4. Change the Image Mode to RGB Color. Apply the
> curve UT14-Gloss-N-4.acv. I then print the image.
>
> Printing the image with printer controls, ultra premium presentation matte
> paper and gamma 2.2 yields a pretty good print that is very neutral in
> coloration. However, the D-max of black is low and the mid-range is a bit
> too light.
>
The C and M inks in UT14 are a neutralized PK and PK, respectively.  The
curve you've mentioned, like all that were written for the UT14 inkset
assume that Eboni is in the K position.  For glossy paper, the curves
generate the 100% black from a blend of the  C (PKn ink, Red curve) and M
(PK, Green curve).  To reach the load required for a good dmax, you need to
print with "No Color Adjustment" in the Epson driver.  See page 7 of
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/UT14.pdf .  Color Controls imposes a lower
ink limit on the non-black inks.  No Color Adjustment assumes some other
profile takes care of that task and gives you a higher ink load, which is
needed for a good dmax.

To find the best dmax, you can print with a curve that is nothing but two
straight light curves for the C (Red) and M (Green) curves from 0 to 100,
with the Y (blue) curve flat from 0 - 100 so that no Y-position ink is used
at any point.  The 21-step test print produced will sometimes hit its dmax
at something like 95.  You can use that as the end points of the curve
you're using.  That is, go into the curve and move the black end points of
the existing curve to the point you've now identified.

Alternatively, to find the best dmax you can print with a curves set that
has C (red curve) at 100 from 0 - 100, M (green curve) a diagonal line from
0 - 100 (end points (0, 0) and (100, 100), and Y (blue curve) flat (no ink
used).  The dmax might well be hit before the M (green curve) hits 100.
 This is actually what was done for the existing curve you are looking at.

The surface is very glossy with no non-reflective areas.
>

Good.  If glop can be avoided I would do so.  Some of these modern papers
have such a nice surface that the less that is on them the better.

I created an .icc using QTR. I adjusted a 21-step scale image with the same
> .acv as with the test image, then printed it and scanned it. Using this and
> the master 21-step scale image, I generated an .icc. The print with the new
> .icc is quite different than the print with the printer controls, but not
> better. Here are the issues:
> D-max is no better than with the image using printer controls.
>
You must use "No Color Adjustment," not "Color Controls."  Photoshop needs
to control the color management, not the printer.

 Good luck with the process.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Thank you, David. I got a nice response from Paul Roark as well. Perhaps I can get this under control. Sure wish there was a course I could take on the QTR. I can make curves, but I don't have a full handle on the complete QTR package. 

Homer

Paul:

Yes, the image does have a step scale and I printed some of those by themselves, too. 

I'll take a hard look at your information and see if I can get this right. I get close, but it is so hard to get it RIGHT!

Have a great holiday and, as always, thank you for your generous help. 

Homer

Thank you Paul Roark and David Goldenberg. Using your comments I built a modified curve that seems to work very well. The curve is essentially Paul's curve UT14-Gloss-N-4 with a couple of tweaks in the red and green curves. This worked well except that the black was not as black as I would like in appearance and rated only in the high eighties in a scanned step wedge. 

Having had little luck with the icc generation for this, I decided to play around with the curves and see if I could brute-force fix it. It was actually pretty easy. By going into the blue curve I was able to add just a little Eboni black to the image without creating any surface problems. The blue curve runs from the upper right corner, across 25% to the left, then down 25% at an angle to the left side. This darkens the mid tones slightly and the deepest blacks just enough. 

The result is a neutral-toned image with deep blacks and a good ramp of grays. 

Printer: Epson 1400

Ink: MIS UT14-Full Set with Eboni

Paper: Red River Arctic Polar Gloss 

Adjustment Curve: RRAPG_neutral.acv

Although I did not do any step-wedge measurements, test prints showed that the curve works equally well on Red River Polar Pearl Metallic and UltraPro Satin papers, though both of these papers have a less bright white coloration than the Arctic Polar Gloss paper. UT14 with MIS color ink black in place of Eboni on Polar Pearl Metallic is another combination that looks good – initially. After six months, all the dark blacks turned red. I'll leave a copy of the full UT14/PPM image in a widow for a while and see how it does. 

I posted the curve and the instructions to use it on my Skydrive public page: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=6CF998413A2B7D24!336&authkey=!AGDwI5Bc6QZ7iY8