From: Nick Makris (nick@mcn.org)
Date: 04/24/02-05:50:19 AM Z
Nick wrote:
> > If you can not print what you see on your screen, there is a high
> > probability that you negs will be inappropriate - I have been fortunate
in
> > this respect.
> >
Joe replied:
> I don't understand what you meant there, please clarify.
>
> I'm curious as to what format negs you used for lightjet, and how they
were
> scanned.
This message:
Joe, printing what you see on your screen is pretty much a basic
requirement - maybe the understanding would be more clear if you subscribed
to the Epson List. The most significant topic is on profiling monitors,
printers and scanners. Basically, it boils down to, "if you can't get your
printer to print what you see on screen, how do you make a print?". In this
respect, profiles for my hardware and all, I have never had a problem. I
just scan, modify and print. This works very well in color - however in
B/W, it's another ballgame. To make the point, if I were not able to print
what I see (read that "what I like"), how could I expect that my negs would
be appropriate for the intended use.
What I do for testing is print a 21 step strip which actually consists of a
positive and a negative image of the same steps and has a continuous tone
black to white segment. I have printed this image many times and have yet
to produce a satisfactory result on any film except the Epson Backlight
Film. Unfortunately, as has been previously reported here on the list, the
BLF has a clay like surface which is actually a UV light blocker. The net
effect is that the images I print from it lack good, rich, black tones.
So, you can see that you need to be able to say that what you see on screen
is what is going to print on your printer, or at least be able to say as a
final step in the process, "I have on screen what I like and in order to
print this as a negative for my workflow (printer, montior, etc.), I now
have to apply a curve or some other compensation that makes it appropriat
for my intended use". Othewise, how would you know what to expect?
As for scanning, I use a Nikon LS4500 (4X5) scanner. Good workhorse, but
not the greatest scanner compared to the products being produced today. I
have no preferences for scanning 35, 2-1/4 or 4X5. I do have mostly 2-1/4
negs, so, I mostly scan medium format negs. However, my signature photo is
a digital composite of 35MM transparancy and a 2-1/4 neg. As I said, I
rarely have any trouble with profiling my hardware - I simply set up a scan
preview, adjust the contrast, color and compositon to my liking and scan
(normally at 360) and print - well maybe there is a little work between scan
and print. As for Lightjet, I havn't done much beyond my first dozen negs,
so I really have no absolute workflow for the process. The negs I use from
Lightjet were at 360 and output as a tiff on CD. As I said, higher, like
600 is probably better.
Therefore, if one can't print what one sees on screen, one has no idea what
one is doing. It's kind of like a rock and a hard place.
TEST, TEST, TEST
Nick
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 05/01/02-11:43:30 AM Z CST