Erik,
Well, if you are printing a 21 step digital file you should not need to adjust it at all if printing with QTR. The values from 0% to 100% are just what they should be. You just make sure that the step wedge is is grayscale, gama 2.2, and print it with No Color Management. The first time you print it you invert the file and print a negative, then create a curve and insert it into your QTR profile.
You may indeed need to adjust the monitor for an actual print, where you don't know what the actual density readings should be. What I would suggest, after calibration with a good device like Spyder, ColorMunki or iOne, is to adjust the brightness and contrast of the monitor with a 21 step wedge file opened (no changes applied, just make sure it is in gray scale with gama 2.2) to match a positive print of a 21 step wedge like the Tiffen Gray scale. You just compare the two and adjust the monitor so that the step wedge file on the screen matches the print as best you can.
You also need to make sure that when you adjust brightness and contrast for an image file you look carefully at the Info window with the eyedropper tool. If there is an area in the image on the screen that should be 95% to 100% on the print you want to make sure that you have the contrast and density adjusted so that this area reads 95% to 100% with the eyedropper tool. This step is absolutely essential for me because my eyes tend to adjust to a low contrast image on the screen and find it OK, but when printed the shadow areas are obviously much too weak.
Sandy
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