Printing with an inkjet

[macandal]

I recently got an inkjet printer, an Epson P600. While its main use will be to make digital negatives (for platinum printing), I wanted a printer that could also make great inkjet prints, and so this printer was recommended. I know that inkjet or digital printing (not sure what the right name is) is a skill all its own, something that has to be learned to be done properly, it's not just click print and there you go, so, is there an article, a resource online or anywhere about making inkjet/digital prints, both color and B&W, that I can read? Thanks.

[Corran]

There's plenty of books on this topic now in the digital age.

The quick and dirty process:

Edit your photograph to what you want it to look like. Save that as your master file.
Resize your image to the proper print size at 360 DPI. You can futz with the resize algorithms and sharpening at this stage.
Print a small test print. Does it look right? If so, you're done - print it full size.
If not, edit your file appropriately. If the print is too dark, lighten up the file (non-destructively, with layers). At this point you'll see how far off your image is perceptually on the monitor vs. paper.
Print test prints until you are happy with the image, and then print a full-size one when you are ready.
Done.

There's plenty of nuance but that's 95% of the methodology. If you figure out exactly how your monitor differentiates from the print, you can even make an automatic action to "correct" your master file in one click to be ready to print, or close to it.

[macandal]

There's plenty of books on this topic now in the digital age.

Can you recommend one/a few?

Thank you.

[Corran]

I've never read any. I just see them cluttering up the photography book section all the time .

[andrewch59]

You can buy a Spyder 5 or similar, which calibrates your monitor, then gives you a profile which (with my epson p800 at least) will calibrate your printer to the same profile.

[sanking]

The Creative Digital Darkroom, by Katrin Eismannn and Sean Duggan, is a good book on digital work flow.

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Digi.../dp/0596100477

For digital negatives I recommend using QTR with the R600 rather than the Epson driver. QTR is a raster image processor and allows much more control over the process than is possible with the Epson driver. You can also use QTR for monochrome printing.

Sandy

[Jeff Donald]

The best I’ve ever read is The Digital Print by Jeff Schewe. He’s also a regular on the Luminous Landscape site.

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Print...+digital+print

[macandal]

Thanks all.

(Am I overthinking this?)

[Jim Michael]

No you are not overthinking it. If you keep your process in calibration you save paper, ink, and time.

[Christopher Barrett]

Here's a small thing that can make a big difference... Photoshop defaults to a grey background, but we don't print on grey paper, so your perception of image brightness and contrast are quite skewed. Take an image, add a curve layer, adjusting it to your liking with the default grey BG. Now set a custom background of white and your image will immediately look dark and muddy. Once I started working with a white Photoshop BG, my prints were much closer to the screen. I have calibrated my screens and printers for years using high end gear and nothing brought things into line like this simple change.

CB