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Thread: Looking for help with digital printing!!!

  1. #1
    Stephen Willard's Avatar
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    Looking for help with digital printing!!!

    I have very little knowledge about the digital world. I am primarily a color darkroom guy. However, I believe it will be easier to print sample portfolios digitally. Here is my plan.

    First, I scan in an 8x10 master print. I have a master print for each composition. I use the master print to insure consistency for the prints I sell, the images on my website, and the portfolios I send out. I then intend to Photoshop the image so that it looks as close as possible to the master print. I will be printing the images on 8.5x11" paper. The images sizes I intend to print are 4x10, 6x7.5, and 6x8.4 which corresponds to my 4x10, 4x5, and 5x7 format cameras. When I tried this what came out on paper and what was on my screen was not the same. So I need some help on how to make this easier.

    The tools I have are a HP Scanjet 5500c, MAC G4 with Mac OS X 10.3.7, Photoshop CS Version 8.0, the old 17" MAC studio video screen that can self calibrate, HP Business Inkjet 1100 printer, and HP Premium Plus 8.5x11" Glossy paper.

    I have budgeted around $300 for any calibration tools I may need.

    So what do I do next? Any help would dearly be appreciated. My hope is to keep my learning curve as short and fast as possible.

    Thanks,

  2. #2

    Looking for help with digital printing!!!

    Hello Stephen: Can you clarify one thing?

    "When I tried this what came out on paper and what was on my screen was not the same. So I need some help on how to make this easier"

    Do you mean to say the color wasn't the same? Or, did you mean the sizes didn't work out correctly?

    That'll help with suggestions.
    "I meant what I said, not what you heard"--Jflavell

  3. #3
    Stephen Willard's Avatar
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    Looking for help with digital printing!!!

    Hi John,

    I got the sizes right, but the colors, contrast, and brightness were off. I noticed on my printer's dialog box if I
    reduced the ink density, the print got closer to what was on my screen. I also just noticed that the printer dialog box had other
    printing options that could be overriding what I did Photoshop. The options are "Digital Flash" (which brightens the shadows)
    and "Contrast Enhancement". Both were set to "Auto Adjust". Perhaps I should manually set these?

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Nov 2004
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    Looking for help with digital printing!!!

    Stephen, sounds like you've just discovered colour management! Firstly, profile/calibrate your monitor using a puck - I know nothing about the Macs so can't say if your screen profiles itself accurately. then get or buy profiles for every printer/ink/paper combo you use - manufacturers profiles are sometimes good, sometimes bad. check the gamma you've set in PS is suitable - I know some mac folk set everything to 1.8 when 2.2 in PS (not the mac monitor) would be better. Make sure you are not 'double profiling' i.e. profiling in PS and then getting the printer to colourmanage as well i.e. make sure theprinter is not set to colourmanage

  5. #5

    Looking for help with digital printing!!!

    Color management is all well and good, but I think you are asking quite a bit from that particular printer and paper combo. As meticulous as you are, why not have your portfolio contain "originals." It will cost more actually to try and duplicate what I take it are R or Cibachrome color prints. In any event, scanning also requires a different print from display-a lower contrast print with full highlights will give you a better scan output-scanning originals demands quite a bit from your scanner and scanner software. GOOD LUCK.

  6. #6

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    Looking for help with digital printing!!!

    Get Bruce Fraser's book "Real World Photoshop" for the current version. Start with Chapter One... Seriously, you have a dozen issues to address and tidbits on a forum won't answer them.

  7. #7

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    Looking for help with digital printing!!!

    I'm just learning, too, and it seems to me that scanning the master print may not be the best way to do it. It will probably be much easier (and better) to scan the original transparency/negative, then match that result to your master print.
    Wilhelm (Sarasota)

  8. #8

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    Looking for help with digital printing!!!

    In order to do color management, your monitor has to be profiled, or you have no clue what you are looking at. I recommend Gretag Macbeth's EyeOne Display 2.

    Every combination of paper and ink has its own response curves to colors. Therefore, you need to have a custom profile for every paper/ink combo you intend to use. Some are available in the public domain, but many are not, and every printer is a little different. I recommend CHROMiX Color Valet



    Once your monitor and printer are set, you should be able to realize "what you see is what you get". Without it, the odds are slim.

  9. #9
    Ted Harris's Avatar
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    Looking for help with digital printing!!!

    I hate to say it so directly but I really don't think either your printer or scanner are up to the task. Additionally, even with an adequate scanner, why would you dacrifice a generation of resolution by scanning from the print when you can scan from the original?

  10. #10

    Looking for help with digital printing!!!

    Stephen, as you can see there's quite a bit to this color management stuff. You said you had money budgeted for color management software: spend it.

    Also, the direct way Ted put his critique of your scanner and printer are probably dead on. Some scanners and printers are really better than others for what you're trying to do.

    My humble suggestion: start with the color calibration software and see what it'll do with your equipment, learn it, then work your way steadily into better equipment. And all the other suggestions above about reading are good ones.

    Good luck.
    "I meant what I said, not what you heard"--Jflavell

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