how tomimprove digital printing skills?

[Lenny Eiger]

Unlike most published teachers of Photoshop, I never keep layers open, I flatten and move on, I am pretty confident of my moves. doubling layers do increase file size and slow things down very quick.

You've been doing this long enough, with success, and I am not here to question anything about your methods.

However, I like my process as well. I create the masks and adjustment layers I need before I start printing and then its just a matter of moving parts of the curves up or down until the print starts to sing. The adjustment layers are always there if I overcorrect, and I leave them there so that when I come back to print the image a year later I don't have to re-select things. The paper batches change, the ink is different, the temp and humidity is different and a black and white print isn't ever the same as it looked I made it the first time. I'm not even the same, I may want the print to be a little different....

I am actually thinking of moving from one ink set to another. I have a mix of two 6 ink sets and I think I want to go to warm neutral, with a few other channels shifting in there to go warmer or colder. Without adjustment layers that can be tweaked just a bit to bring things back in line, it would be a total hassle to redo all that work. There is a reason for adjustment layers. They are very efficient.

Just my opinion,

Lenny

[bob carnie]

I work in PS like I do in the darkroom, I only move forward and never go back to tests, its the way I cut my teeth in this printing profession.

I have no issue with people keeping open layers to go back to, but in the file size you are working it takes up a lot of space and in some cases slow down your moves.

I have always made a master 16 bit unsharpened file that I keep in reserve . Any changes that I want are minor after this main file is done.

[Lenny Eiger]

I work in PS like I do in the darkroom, I only move forward and never go back to tests, its the way I cut my teeth in this printing profession.
I have no issue with people keeping open layers to go back to, but in the file size you are working it takes up a lot of space and in some cases slow down your moves.
I have always made a master 16 bit unsharpened file that I keep in reserve . Any changes that I want are minor after this main file is done.

I started in the darkroom also, as you know. I would say that I work the same way. I just give myself a way back, so that I don't have to do everything over again for the next print, whether that be 5 mins from now or 5 months. Further, this strategy falls apart, if you create a layer which makes some area of the print lighter and you flatten it, then decide to make that same area darker, you will begin to degrade the image. Especially in color. I have had occasion to work on files that someone did the way you are describing and there was no way to understand what had been done, there were plenty of areas where the tonal range had been compressed and lightening it up did not separate those values again. Data can easily be lost.

Adjustment layers used to take a lot of space back in CS2, but they don't anymore. They add a negligible amount to the file. That's why they are so efficient.

Lenny

[Adamphotoman]

I have to agree with Lenny. I used to do exactly what Bob does and it did come back to bite me in the proverbial ass. I am on my 4th generation of printers. I print mostly for artists and I have to say it is a hassle to match prints created for them with the newer ink sets. If I had not flattened it would be much easier. The newer printers do not require the same colour corrections that the older ink sets did.

[Peter De Smidt]

Besides working on improving your scans, setting a good viewing area is very helpful. I use Solux bulbs. The area is painted a neutral gray. Next, having a good monitor and color management is helpful. I have an NEC PA272W with Spectraview. It's outstanding. Spend some time getting a good grip on the difference between the viewing area and your screen. Learn how to read the numbers on a file, and print some step wedges. Get a feel for how the numbers translate into print tones. If you're doing BW, investigate the various options, including QTR. Pay special attention to sharpening.

[bob carnie]

Peter is right about the numbers.

Speaking of that , I am looking for a device that can read LAB , RGB , CMYK numbers reflective. Anyone have an idea where I could get such a device??

Right now we scan the print and see how the numbers relate input to output, but I would love a stand alone device .

Besides working on improving your scans, setting a good viewing area is very helpful. I use Solux bulbs. The area is painted a neutral gray. Next, having a good monitor and color management is helpful. I have an NEC PA272W with Spectraview. It's outstanding. Spend some time getting a good grip on the difference between the viewing area and your screen. Learn how to read the numbers on a file, and print some step wedges. Get a feel for how the numbers translate into print tones. If you're doing BW, investigate the various options, including QTR. Pay special attention to sharpening.

[Preston]

I work in a way similar to Lenny. I keep my master file intact with all adjustment layers. This file never sharpened. When I make a print, I duplicate the master file, flatten it, resize it to size I need and then save this 'targeted' file under a new name. Next, I create a copy of the background layer and apply sharpening to this layer. Just prior to sending the file to the printer, I flatten it. After printing, I go to the history palette and delete the 'Flatten Image' state and then re-save the file. (Because I am a BDOF, duplicating the master file is a fail-safe step that prevents me from saving any of these changes to the master file.)

Next, having a good monitor and color management is helpful. I have an NEC PA272W with Spectraview. It's outstanding.

Peter, I heartily agree. I recently obtained a PA272W. I already owned SpectraView for my older P221W. The PA272W and SpectraView combination is excellent. I would say that having a great monitor and a color managed workflow is essential to getting the best output of our work.

--P

[Peter De Smidt]

Bob,

I have an older Spyder Print device. Mine's an older version of: http://spyder.datacolor.com/portfolio-view/spyderprint/ I use it for making profiles as well as for reading values for QTR profiles. It reads in LAB for sure.... I'm on a very tight deadline right now, but I'll take a look soon if it reads in cmyk.