Digital BW, The Print

Hi folks,

I've been gone for a while during a long and arduous personal
transition period. Lots of changes in my life and in my gear. I put
down the 1N and got a 10D. Just traded in my 1280 (got $500 credit)
towards a 2200 that is sitting on my table waiting for its first go.
Just had a group show with 150 other studios and galleries as part of
an Artist Colony open house Artwalk. Sold about $2000 worth of 1280
prints. This reaction to my work tells me I've got to get my s...
together and start doing this at a higher level. I've been using epson
papers and epson (or generic) inks. I think it would be wise to get a
CFS from MIS for the 2200 and I'd like to try some different paper
unless you think the epson is fine.

I am not as tech oriented as you guys. I'm strictly an artist and a
self taught one at that. I'm great at creating unique imagery but not
too hip on how to get the best possible prints with a somewhat limited
budget.

If you were in my shoes..great image maker, artist's income but a bit
lacking in the comprehension of some of the terminology that is
indigenous to this forum can you suggest in plain english what I might
do to maximize the quality and archival integrity of my imagery?

Inksets, monitor calibration tools, CFS's, Papers etc. I am currently
using the Premium Glossy Photo Paper from Epson. I have yet to print
my first print on the 2200. I shoot mostly ambient, unusual lanscapes
and bizarre portraiture. Are there Archival novelty papers like Canvas
in addition to traditional Archival Papers? Do all the Archival papers
have the brand name on the back like Epson does? It looks a little
tacky and customers still don't like the words "digital print"
although they are adapting.

I am anxious to here your suggestions on products (papers especially)
and suppliers (best prices) as I hope to attain a level of print
quality that even you guys would  appreciate.

Here are some of my recent shots taken with the new 10D

http://tinyurl.com/6d73v

Comments are, of course, welcomed. (yes the site I have them on is
lame. I'll have my new website soon)

Thank you in advance for any technical advice you may send my way on
or off this list.

Sincerely,

Tim Timmermans

Tim,

If I were you I would go to these three places and read about the papers and media they 
offer. I have used most of these major ones the past few years and there are so many good 
ones out there these days. Most of us around here have centered on Hahnemuhle rag 
papers due to the great color dynamic and excellent d-max for all kinds of work. When I 
was getting started with all this I ordered the sample pack from inkjetart.com and tried 
them all with both color and monochrome. That way you have a sample to show 
prospective clients also. My favorite papers are Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, H. William Turner, 
H. German Etching, Epson Ultra-smooth, Somerset Velvet, and Concorde Rag ( warm ) on 
the higher end. And Epson Enhanced Matte, Legion Matte and Epson Premium Semigloss 
and Luster on the less expensive end. I would try them all. 

As for Canvas there is the original Epson cotton canvas that I am using this weekend for 
large things. It  is excellent in regard to color gamut, photo quality, and permanence and I 
have done things as large as 44"x90" for murals for the Phladelphia Eagles stadium last 
year. However, I would spray this canvas media with Premier Art spray or Lyson Printguard 
or similar UV spray to avoid contact with pollutants and fingerprints over the long term 
since it won't be behind glass. Now Epson offers a less shiny canvas that is half cotton and 
half synthetic. The origninal canvas actually looks like the surface of a conventional oil 
painting and the new surfaces or either matt or glossy depending on the brand and 
surface ordered. You will need a custom ICC proflie made for which every media you 
choose for getting the best results. I get mine from www.profilecity.com for about 
$100.00 each. If you don't do your own profiles this is a great investment.

Go to these sites:

http://www.digitalartsupplies.com
http://www.inkjetart.com
http://www.inkjetmall.com

and order samples. Digital art supplies has free small samples of all their stock.

John

Well the first thing I would say is you have a great printer.  Seems 
also from looking at your photos that you want it to produce both 
colour and B&W.  So solutions with dedicated B&W ink sets are 
probably not for you just yet.  I have the 21/2200 and bought a CFS 
from MIS with their equivalent of the Epson ultrachrome inks.  Well 
worth the money from the get go because you will otherwise rip 
through Epson cartridges particularly as you learn the whole digital 
workflow.  But as you change inks from the stock standard Epsons you 
will need to recalibrate your printer (for both colour and B&W).  So 
I would say that purchasing an Eye-One Photo calibrating device (if 
you don't have access to one through other means) will leave you in 
good stead - it can be used for monitor and printer calibration and, 
as you will see, is used by people wanting to prepare their own 
curves/profiles for various B&W techniques.  With a good monitor, 
your good printer and a good calibration device a lot of doors 
open.  
 
The 2200 is not really capable of decent B&W out of the box.  The 
Espon drivers will produce B&W prints that suffer heavily from 
metamerism (colour shifts in different light).  People have dealt 
with this in one of two ways (assuming they want to stay with the 
existing colour ink set).  
 
Firstly, some have tried to print Black Only ie they select Black 
(rather than colour) in the Epson driver and print using just the 
black ink cartridge.  This has some positives and some drawbacks.  
Because it uses spacing of dots to create the illusion of grey scale 
it can exhibit a grainy look.  Also the tone of the B&W output will 
change for each paper (and PK vs MK ink - photo vs matt).  But it is 
easy and therefore does not require a learning curve to try it out. 
 
Secondly, people have used RIPs that control the inks better than 
the Epson driver in order to provide metamerism free prints.  These 
range from expensive solutions such as Imageprint to cheap solutions 
such as Quadtone RIP (QTR) developed by Roy Harrington (now 
available for both Mac and PC).  Each have a number of advantages 
and disadvantages but notably Imageprint may improve your colour 
work as well but is expensive.  QTR is just for B&W and requires a 
little more fuss but is dramatically cheaper.  I use a well 
calibrated profile with the Epson driver for colour and QTR for B&W.
 
It is tempting to want to try a whole bunch of papers up front. 
Personally I would recommend sticking with a select few until you 
get your workflow ironed out.  Hahnemulle Photorag is probably still 
the classic fine art matt paper.  Another post made other paper 
recommendations.  Colur output on Epson Premium Luster is 
fantastic.  But there are significant issues with printing B&W on 
these RC papers.  The biggest are bronzing - the brown metallic 
sheen that appears in a B&W print as you tilt it in the light - and 
differential reflectance.  You will read a lot on this forum about 
people grappling with these issues.
 
Hope this helps
 
Steve
 
 
--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tim 
Timmermans" <zenphoto7@a...> wrote:
> 
> Hi folks,
> 
> I've been gone for a while during a long and arduous personal
> transition period. Lots of changes in my life and in my gear. I put
> down the 1N and got a 10D. Just traded in my 1280 (got $500 credit)
> towards a 2200 that is sitting on my table waiting for its first 
go.
> Just had a group show with 150 other studios and galleries as part 
of
> an Artist Colony open house Artwalk. Sold about $2000 worth of 1280
> prints. This reaction to my work tells me I've got to get my s...
> together and start doing this at a higher level. I've been using 
epson
> papers and epson (or generic) inks. I think it would be wise to 
get a
> CFS from MIS for the 2200 and I'd like to try some different paper
> unless you think the epson is fine.
> 
> I am not as tech oriented as you guys. I'm strictly an artist and a
> self taught one at that. I'm great at creating unique imagery but 
not
> too hip on how to get the best possible prints with a somewhat 
limited
> budget.
> 
> If you were in my shoes..great image maker, artist's income but a 
bit
> lacking in the comprehension of some of the terminology that is
> indigenous to this forum can you suggest in plain english what I 
might
> do to maximize the quality and archival integrity of my imagery?
> 
> Inksets, monitor calibration tools, CFS's, Papers etc. I am 
currently
> using the Premium Glossy Photo Paper from Epson. I have yet to 
print
> my first print on the 2200. I shoot mostly ambient, unusual 
lanscapes
> and bizarre portraiture. Are there Archival novelty papers like 
Canvas
> in addition to traditional Archival Papers? Do all the Archival 
papers
> have the brand name on the back like Epson does? It looks a little
> tacky and customers still don't like the words "digital print"
> although they are adapting.
> 
> I am anxious to here your suggestions on products (papers 
especially)
> and suppliers (best prices) as I hope to attain a level of print
> quality that even you guys would  appreciate.
> 
> Here are some of my recent shots taken with the new 10D
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/6d73v
> 
> Comments are, of course, welcomed. (yes the site I have them on is
> lame. I'll have my new website soon)
> 
> Thank you in advance for any technical advice you may send my way 
on

> or off this list.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Tim Timmermans

Steve and John,

Wow. Thanks for the great information. This list is such a great
source of information and confusion too as so many people have strong,
differing opinions on the right way to go with things but your two
responses have got me off on the right track to begin this long trial
and error process. I'm hoping to go to a larger format printer in the
future as people have asked me for larger prints but for now I'll try
to get the most out of my 2200 and I still have another brand new 1280
that I can use perhaps as a dedicated BW printer. I just don't want to
commit too much money into these if my plan is to upgrade to a 4000 or
bigger. I make my living solely through music and now, gradually,
sales of prints so I'm not really rolling in the dough. With these
investments I better start selling a lot more prints!
:   )

Thanks again for terrific information.

Paul has also been very helpful in the past but it's like talking to
ObiWan Kanobe (sp) sometimes. I don't understand a lot of what he's
talking about because I don't come from a schooled photographic
background but I've been gifted with the "eye" so to speak.

I met Paul and went up to see his stunning work in Solvang.
Mindblowing stuff. If I can start to get print quality half that good
I'll have some happy customers.

I look forward to spending a lot more time here with all of you.

Tim