Split Toning with QTR

[sanking]

I need to print a few landscapes for an upcoming exhibition. Because of time constraints I am going to print with the Epson 3800 using QTR. Many of the images include water, falls, streams, etc. I would like to split tone because I like what I have seen of this technique. I see in principle how to do this in QTR with 1st, 2nd and 3rd inks but it would probably take me a long time to figure out something that I would like, and I don't have a lot of time.

So question is, is there a repository somewhere of QTR profiles with specific split toning characteristics that I could download and try out.

Sandy King

[dwhistance]

Sandy

I'm not aware of any, however its easy to relinearise the standard curves for your own printer and then just use the built in QTR split-toning tools to create a split you like. I've found that it only takes a couple of attempts using a 21 step greyscale, however I am perhaps less fussy than many and generally try for a single split for all of my images rather than trying to optimise for each individual image.

David Whistance

[Walter Foscari]

Check out the QTR user group. Lots of info and stuff available for download.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/QuadtoneRIP/

Walter

[Peter Langham]

Sandy,

I would second the idea of going to the Yahoo QTR site and would recommend that you take a look at Richard Lohmann's curves posted by Leping Zha. They are in the files section under curves>3800.
They are for Harman gloss but can get you started with some of the other glossy papers (if you are using them)
Beyond that it is difficult to give suggestions without knowing what paper you are using. The process is very paper dependent.

Peter

[sanking]

Peter,

Thanks for your message. I did got to the Yahoo site and found the curves for Harman gloss. But I plan to print on a matte surface paper so don't know how useful they will be since split toning is so paper sensitive as you note.

This evening I have spent several hours experimenting with split toning with the curves included for Epson enhanced matt paper. I would prefer something else for my final prints but the exercise taught me that it a lot easier than I originally feared.

Sandy

Sandy,

I would second the idea of going to the Yahoo QTR site and would recommend that you take a look at Richard Lohmann's curves posted by Leping Zha. They are in the files section under curves>3800.
They are for Harman gloss but can get you started with some of the other glossy papers (if you are using them)
Beyond that it is difficult to give suggestions without knowing what paper you are using. The process is very paper dependent.

Peter

[Tyler Boley]

Sandy, sounds like you are already well on your way. I made some little test prints using the same image of 100% of each of the 4 provided curves that come with the 3800 qtr setup, and with those to ponder students were quickly coming up with curve combinations for their own prints very quickly and happily at a workshop last year, in a few short hours.
Each of the sets tend to be just a hair too colorful, so you just have to throttle them back a bit with the percent settings...

If you are using an unsupported paper, pick a paper whose curves seem to work well anyway, and you can make a qtr profile in about 10 minutes to bring it into line on your paper if necessary.
QTR is a great tool for printing B&W with the OEM ink.
Tyler
http://www.custom-digital.com/

[sanking]

Well, I finished the project that involved printing a dozen images on the 3800 using QTR with split toning. The last time I printed most of the negatives, which were 5X7 originals, was about twenty years ago in silver with an enlarger. Frankly, I must have been a pretty lousy silver printer because the pigment inkjet prints from the 3800 are just vastly better than the silver prints I made back then. These are about 3X prints.

I have been using the 3800 primarily for making digital negatives for printing with carbon trasfer and this is the first time I have been able to make an extensive comparison with inkjet to my past silver printing. It was a very revealing exercise for me.

Sandy King

Sandy, sounds like you are already well on your way. I made some little test prints using the same image of 100% of each of the 4 provided curves that come with the 3800 qtr setup, and with those to ponder students were quickly coming up with curve combinations for their own prints very quickly and happily at a workshop last year, in a few short hours.
Each of the sets tend to be just a hair too colorful, so you just have to throttle them back a bit with the percent settings...

If you are using an unsupported paper, pick a paper whose curves seem to work well anyway, and you can make a qtr profile in about 10 minutes to bring it into line on your paper if necessary.
QTR is a great tool for printing B&W with the OEM ink.
Tyler
http://www.custom-digital.com/

[PViapiano]

Without getting into it too much right now, I think that the reason many inkjet prints are impressing some of us more than gelatin silver is the fact that there is so much you can do in PS to massage global and local contrast...way beyond what graded papers, two-bath developers, bleaching, intensifying, etc can do...at least that can be done with much more ease on the computer.

But hence, I feel that so-o-o much of inkjet work today looks overprocessed and overworked. I think it wise to take a clue from Richard Benson who states in his latest book The Printed Picture, that processes need to be looked at by themselves. You can't hold a palladium print up to a silver gelatin and pronounce Dmax to be deficient, and so on. The same applies to gelatin silver and inkjet...

I am continually surprised by things that I see when printing both in the darkroom and digitally. I admit that I print almost 98% in the wet darkroom these days, using my printer for digi-negatives for alt processes and gelatin silver contact printing. Last week I made an inkjet print (Epson 3800) of an image, and also a digi-neg for contact printing on gelatin silver. The contact print showed much more gradation of tone and subtle nuances than the inkjet print...same file was used for each...really surprised me.

All I'm saying re Sandy's last post, is...these are all different processes with a huge amount of variables to consider and the end result should be looked at for what it is and not compared to other processes...hard to do, I know.

[sanking]

No question. That is why I referenced the term "better" to my own silver work of about two decades ago. The current pigment inkjet work is better because the prints are so clean and there is almost perfect control of tonal values. Of course, the split toning adds a real interesting look as well but whether one likes that is a subjective issue. I know many people who don't like anything but the most neutral of neutral tone prints. That is not me, however, as nearly all of my carbon transfer prints have a different tone as I am constantly experimenting with new tissues.

Sandy King

All I'm saying re Sandy's last post, is...these are all different processes with a huge amount of variables to consider and the end result should be looked at for what it is and not compared to other processes...hard to do, I know.

[Peter Langham]

Hi Sandy,
What did you come up with for a split that worked for you?

Peter