 Fine
Black and White Prints Utilizing the Epson
2200 Printer
When
I was asked to write an article on making the Fine
Digital Black and White print on an Epson 2200
printer I thought, what a snap. Well it turned
out not to be as easy as a snap, nor even a moderate
effort like attempting to tie a bow tie blindfolded
and one handed, on your first attempt. As
I addressed many of the variables and made some
test prints, I found my viewing audience’s
opinion varied. I could recommend the easy
method, like bring your file into Photoshop and
push the print button and many would be happy enough. That
would render a print, but certainly not a Fine
Print.
Throughout my education in the visual arts I have,
generally, observed that issues of technical competency
were those addressed and discussed. The lessons
were objective and the results observable. The
student observed, understood and drew, painted,
or photographed an “S” curve. Who
can argue with results like that, safe issues free
from criticism. These were techniques that
are important to the creation or construction of
art, but not the emotional foundations upon which
Fine Art flourishes.
In my twenty years of teaching at the Salt Lake
Art Center I have found that the soul of Fine printmaking
involves time and persistence aimed directly at
the aesthetic concerns filtered through technical
expertise. Most, if not all, technical problems
can be discovered and fixed. The more important
aesthetic involvements, those bypassed as too subjective,
illusive or personal are really what make’s
the print Fine. As I proceed through the
printing steps I can only give you my reasons for
why I do things the way I do. The personal
reasons for performing a particular step or the
subjective manner in which the step was executed
will be the difficulty, if any, in following along. I
imagine and hope that by utilizing the same steps,
your print will be different – it will become
yours.
An opening word
of advice is, if you are using Mac OS X (panther);
make certain you have the correct print drivers
installed. Please download
Epson_OSX10.3_Issues.pdf,
from by clicking here. Then
follow Epson’s installation instructions
to properly load the new driver 11019.sea (current
driver as of 15 May 2004). If you are running
Mac OS 9.2 or Windows you should not experience
difficulty in printing.
Calibration of your digital system is highly recommended
in creating expressive Fine prints. It is
most helpful to know that what you see on your
monitor or LCD display will be exactly what you
get out of your printer. Calibrated systems
reward the user with a consistent production cycle,
which saves a lot of time and several dollars worth
of materials. There are a number of calibration
packages available, Gretag Macbeth’s Eye-One
and ColorVision’s Spyder Pro are most common. The
quick explanation of the system is as follows: 1. A
light reading puck is suspended to a given position
on your display. 2. The software
is run so that the puck can detect any discrepancies
between the known colors in the software and how
they are projected on the display. 3. With
the monitor profile corrected a color test target
is scanned and read for a scanner calibration. 4. The
test target is then printed and read using a print
reader, creating a printer calibration. This
calibration step may be run for each of your favorite
papers to ensure correct colors, despite the paper
tint or reflectance.
With the niceties out of the way lets get down
to the necessities required for making a Fine print. First
off, a successful image should have something to
say, convey, or illustrate. This is where
putting your heart and soul into it becomes so
important. The crop of today’s modern
banal happy snaps has the same worth as the Emperor’s
New Clothes. Use your creativity, drive and
curiosity to make images that are important to
you and others will benefit also.
Secondly, an image should be sharp. The
aesthetic idea of sharpness comes from Man’s
desire for things in the world to have optical
focus, clarity and detail. Even those soft
focus types of impressionistic images and foggy
forest scenes need enough sharpness to feel convincing. The
foundation elements of a photograph need to have
at least the illusion of sharpness. If the
optical sharpness of the image does not seem credible
enough, try adding some emotional sharpness through
use of grain and contrast enhancements. In
conventional photography we can review examples
from the Ernst Haas bullfights series or Cartier-Bresson’s
decisive moments for advice. Even though
the subjects are blurred from motion, the films
grain appears sharp and gives the brain the illusion
of being a sharp picture. Another method
of giving the impression of sharpness is through
adding localized contrast. If an image is
on the edge of acceptance, boost it over the top
with the old and proven artistic enhancements.
In digital printmaking you need a large enough
file size to provide a smooth, long scale and dot-less
print. Scanning film should not present any
problems what so ever, if you set your scan rate
to deliver at least an 18 MB file. The prevailing
wisdom is to have between 240 and 300 dpi (dots
per inch) times the desired print size. Problems
are encountered when attempting to print an eight
by ten inch print from a three MP (mega-pixel)
camera, since the file size is insufficient. In
traditional analog photography, it would be like
attempting to make a forty-inch print from a 35
mm negative, the results would leave a lot to be
desired. Make sure your camera can deliver
adequate file size for your desired print size.
Basic contrast, and the control over it, is another
one of the major printing requirements. Overall
image contrast is the visual measure of the number
of gray values between the shadows and highlights. Digitally
this can be seen and attuned at Image> Adjust> Levels
or Curves. Unfortunately, the majority of
users move the sliders to achieve an absolute black
and an absolute white within their images. Most
often total black and white is incorrect. Seldom
do you find those absolutes in reality. White
will only achieve near pure white when in full
sun or direct light. Black in full sun or
direct light will in reality, only be 5 stops or
about 60% darker than white, not pure black. Black
will only become near pure black (30% darker) when
in full shadow. Overall contrast should range
from just black enough to white enough to be really
convincing.
In the March
2004 pictureline newsletter I outlined a preferable
method of converting color images to black and
white (monochrome) images in Photoshop. By
utilizing the outlined channel mixer method you
have full control of image tone and contrast as
the image is brought to a monochrome state. By
tuning the various color channels, users gain the
same results as using a colored contrast control
filter at the time of exposure with black and white
film. This is a huge and very powerful user
advantage to have a post-exposure method
of contrast control. Obtaining a monochrome
image by using the regular Photoshop desaturation
method or the Image> Mode> Grayscale method,
leaves the user with no control of tone or contrast
at that point. Traditionally, in the darkroom,
a paper grade or a variable contrast filter grade
is selected to provide the desired contrast.
After the basic contrast is achieved, which by
the way is where 95% of printers cease their contrast
control efforts, localized contrast should be addressed. Local
contrast modifications are the darkroom version
of burning, dodging and bleaching. Although
there are burn and dodge tools available in Photoshop
I feel that they are not the best method for correction. When
the burn or dodge tool is used, all of the pixels
of the basic file are disrupted and permanently
modified. This makes it more difficult to
experiment within an area and get back to the base
file configuration in the event you did not like
what happened. In the April and May 2004
pictureline newsletters I outlined two better methods
of burning and dodging using layers. This
allows the user to try multiple different burn
and dodge configurations and see which is best. Layers
may be modified and the icons clicked off and more
layers added until you are satisfied. When
satisfied dispatch the unsatisfactory layers to
the trash or simply leave them clicked off. The
result is the original file remains totally intact
with not one pixel of the original file changed,
damaged or altered in any way.
The purpose of burning and dodging is to add accents,
separate or otherwise enhance the main image. Often
tonalities of foreground and background subjects
merge or compete. A burn (darkening) will
down play that item, make it recede and force it
to be less important to the image. A dodge
(lightening) will play up that item, cause it to
advance, force it to become more prominent and
to be more important in the composition. This
is the subtle, but most effective method of enhancing
an image to greatness.
Print brightness is another detail requiring the
printer’s attention. The brightness
level of a print is simply how light or dark the
picture looks to you. The photographer alone
may remember the brightness values at the time
of exposure, but that has little to do with the
emotional expression of the final print. Light
toned or higher brightness levels in a print take
on an appearance of optimism, buoyancy and cheerfulness. Darker
toned or reduced brightness prints change the mood
to ominous, portentous or serious. The user
may vary the overall brightness level of a print
to create a new mood or let it be in agreement
with reality. Contrast and brightness are
often confusing to beginners because the two are
difficult to tell from one another. Try to
ask yourself what is the purpose of the adjustment
and then use the right method to get the job done.
Of course no Fine print could flourish with any
type of defect included in the image. With
digital camera capture, the possibility of having
blemishes due to a dirty sensor is quite likely. Dust,
scratches and watermarks are all possible file
defects from scanned negatives or images. Regardless
of how the defect arrived it must be removed. By
slowly reviewing the digital file at 100% magnification
all defects will become visible. Once identified,
the clone stamp tool or the healing brush tool
may be utilized to remove the imperfection. The
exorcism should use a small brush size to prevent
an unrealistic disruption to near by pixels. Traditional
print spotting has reinforced the lesson that several
dabs with a small brush are far more effective
than one big whump. Many are unwisely tempted
to use a hammer where much more finesse is required. Scanners
with Digital Ice, Flextouch, or SilverFast software
will help reduce the need for as much post scanned
corrective action. Keeping the sensor clean
in a DSLR camera will also reduce the headaches
of defect retouching. Please see else where
in this newsletter the preferred method of cleaning
a digital sensor. Click here.
Most of the steps outlined in this article may
be accomplished in any order you please. I
find that this work order happens to be best for
me. The following two steps, however, should
always be the final two steps and accomplished
in this order. The next to the last step
is image sizing. It incorporates final cropping
of the image, setting the image size for printing
and setting the image size ppi. To view the
entire image I usually hit Command key+zero (on
a PC it is Alt+zero) to bring the image up to fill
the screen for this next operation. To crop
an image to a predetermined size, select the crop
tool and on the upper tools option bar simply type
in the desired width then height. Then use
the crop tool to select out the desired image section
and hit the return key. If you are cropping
by image content just select the area desired,
do not fill in the numbers on the tool option bar
and execute. If you go into Image>Image
Size and type in unconstrained size numbers Photoshop
will change the picture to that size. This
is a dangerous move because it will distort your
image. For example, if I type in Height as
2 inches rather than its real size of 3.5 inches
and leave the Width at 5 inches, it does not crop
the image. The result is it only squashes
the image down to 2 inches by 5 inches, leaving
the image severely distorted. In this dialog
box leave the Constrain Proportions box checked
and type in either Width or Height and Photoshop
will tell you the opposing dimension. If
you don’t like the size, then crop as stated
above. Lastly check the Resolution box to
make certain you have at least 240 to 300 ppi,
greater than 300 ppi is totally all right. Click
OK and the image is sized for printing.
Always the very last preparation step is sharpening. Bring
your image window up to 100% view, no more or less. Go
to Filter> Sharpen> Unsharp Mask and in the
dialog box set your Radius to 1 and Threshold to
0. Be certain that the Preview box is checked
then use the Amount slider to increase the sharpness. Usually
the amount will range from 50 to 150 %. Watch
the picture carefully to avoid rings or distortions
around individual pixels. It is better to
slightly under sharpen than incur the weird look
of over sharpening. The unsharp masking is
done for a given print size. It usually is
not appropriate to have the same amount of sharpening
for a 3x5 print as it is for an 8x10 print. With
the sharpening complete click OK.
Once the editing work is finalized, print the
image by going to File> Page Setup and setting
the dialog box to Settings> Page Attributes,
Format for> Stylus Photo 2200, Paper Size> (select
the needed size for your print), and Orientation> as
you need for portrait or landscape. Leave
scale at 100% and click OK. Then go to File> Print
with Preview> and fill in the dialog box with
checking the following; Center Image, Show Bounding
Box, and Show More Options. Select Color
Management and in Source Space click Document and
use your color space (Adobe RGB (1998)) and under
Print Space> Profile select Printer Color Management
and click Print. When the Print Dialog box
opens select the following; Printer> Stylus
Photo 2200, Presets> Standard, Select Print
Settings, select your Media Type (profile for paper
being used), Ink> Color, Mode> automatic,
Quality versus Speed, Print Quality> select
Photo and uncheck High Speed. Then click
on Advanced Settings and under Print Quality> select
Photo – 1440 dpi and make sure High Speed
and Flip Horizontal are unchecked. With all
of that complete make certain that the 2200 printer
is on and the correct paper is loaded. Last
of all hit the print button and hold on for a great
black and white print.
By this point you will realize that making a great
black and white print does take time and persistence. So
many photographers shoot with the credo of shoot
now and fix it later in Photoshop. Thankfully
Photoshop is a powerful piece, but it cannot exalt
an unacceptable image into greatness. Only
your creativity funneled through technical expertise
can build greatness.
Submitted by askRodger@pictureline.com
- helping you enjoy photography.
Figure 1
Base image cropped to size, spotted and
defect corrected.
Figure 2
Base image converted via channel mixer
to monochrome.
Figure 3
Shows figure 2’s layers palette
for monochrome conversion.
Figure 4
Monochrome image with burning, dodging and brightness
accents incorporated.
Figure 5
Image with Page Setup Dialog Box
Figure 6
Image with Print with Preview Dialog Box
Figure 7
Image with Print Settings Dialog Box
Figure 8
Final Print
Images copyright 2004 Rodger Newbold
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