An Epson Printer Workflow

In the pictureline newsletter this month we have featured the differences between pigment and dye inks and an article on sorting out the different papers for inkjet output.  As you can tell there is a great deal of excitement about all of the advances in digital inkjet printing.  With the information on printing media now covered, here is a high-quality digital printing workflow that has proved to be very successful.  At some point you may find a need or reason to further personalize this workflow, but here is a good place to start.

Image creation is always very personal.  There are those who print for the simple joy of a snapshot remembrance and others who escalate their work to a piece of Art.  What ever your reason for printing may be, optimize your Photoshop file to look its best.  Be aware that the same principles apply to making an outstanding print, whether it is digital or darkroom.  When you are satisfied with print aesthetics then we head into print production.

Size, Name and Save your file.  Now within the Photoshop applications go to FILE > PRINT WITH PREVIEW and you should have a dialog box that looks like the following, figure 1.

Figure 1 – Print With Preview Dialog Box

In figure 1, you will see your selected image in the preview box.  Leave the “show bounding box” ticked and the “center image” box ticked, if you prefer the image centered on your paper.  Now go to the bottom of the dialog box to where it says “Print Space” and selectyour printing profile.  Here we have selected the image to be printed on the Epson Pro 9600 printer, using Epson Premium Luster paper with the photo black ink set (PK).  Your printer may be the Epson 2200, 4000, 7600, 9600, or 10600, with the profile of the paper you will be using.  There may be many paper profiles and matching ink sets available.  Be certain to select from the list the one you are going to use.  See figure 2.

Figure 2 – Print and Paper Selection Menu

This list of papers or ICC profiles, from which you can choose is down loaded into your ColorSync library.

Now in the print with preview dialog box (figure 1) click on the “Page Setup” button at the top right of the box.  You will see the “Page Setup” dialog box appear, figure 3.

Figure 3 – Page Setup Dialog Box

At “Format for” (default Any Printer) select the printer you are going to print with.  Be sure to select the same printer as you selected in figure 1.  Here we have chosen the Stylus Pro 9600.  Now select the paper size you are going to print on.  Remember you have already sized your print before you saved the image.  Make sure the paper size is adequate for the print size.  Select the orientation in which you want the printed image to flow through the printer to match the paper flow and click OK.  This will take you back to the “Print With Preview” dialog box (figure 1) and then click on “Print” at the top right corner.  This will take you to the “Print” dialog box, as shown in figure 4.  At this point go down to the third selection box (default Copies & Pages) and scroll to “Print Settings” and click.  This will bring up the lower half of the figure 4 dialog box, where you will select the same paper type as previously selected in the “Media Type” selection box.  Here we have, again, selected Premium Luster Photo Paper.  Next, click on the “Advanced Settings” button.  Under the “Print Quality” scroll box select “SuperFine – 1440dpi for the best quality option (you choose the quality you desire).  Go back up to the third scroll box (you should have the words “Print Settings” in there) and scroll to “Color Management” and click.  The “Color Management” dialog box should appear as seen in figure 5.

Figure 4 – Print Dialog Box

Figure 5 – Color Management Dialog Box

In the color management section tick the box for “No Color Adjustment”.  This way the print software will make no adjustments to the image you have saved in Photoshop.  At this point be sure that the printer is now powered up and has finished its start up check sequence.  Be sure that the correct paper is loaded in the correct orientation.  This means if you are printing to sheets that the roll paper, if any, is removed from the paper path.  If you are printing to roll paper, check to see that the paper is fed into the paper path correctly.  If you are printing to sheets be sure that the printable side of the paper is in the correct position (print side up or print side down depending on the printer in use).  Finally, click the “Print” button at the bottom right corner and just wait for that beautiful print to emerge.

After the image is off of the printer be certain to let it properly dry and out gas as described in the pictureline news August 2004.

http://www.pictureline.com/newsletter/2004/august/gasstorage.html

The figures used in this article were screen shots from an Apple Computer.  Although we used an Apple Computer this information will equally apply to a PC based computer and will look very similar.  We also utilized the Epson Pro 9600 printer, and as mentioned in the article, you may use the same work flow with an Epson 2200, 4000, 7600, 9600, or 10600 printer.

Happy printing, from all of your friends at pictureline.

Compiled by askRodger@pictureline.com.