On Jan 14, 2009, at 9:58 AM, Igor Roshchin wrote:
On Jan 13, 2009, at 12:40 PM, Igor Roshchin wrote:
3. The prints were coming a bit darker than what I was expecting
them to
be. I cannot blame just the calibration of my CRT monitor, as I am
looking at the hystogram, - and it looks very reasonable.
Making the photos brighter would start blowing off the highlights.
(I am printing from LR.)
If your display is not calibrated, all bets are off when it comes to
output color match on the printer.
Generally speaking, if prints are darker than the screen rendering,
the screen brightness is set too high. The recommended screen
brightness for a CRT is 100-110 CDma2 (Luminance in the Eye One Match
software).
As I mentioned, - I am not judging just by the monitor
(and, BTW, -I've looked at the photos on a few other monitors,
including
two diffrent LCDs). Rather, I am looking at the hystogram, and where
the dark parts of the photo are in the hystogram.
Please correct me if I am wrong, - but I think it is a reliable way
(short of calibrated screen).
I know it sounds repetitious ... if you are not working with a
calibrated monitor, what the histogram is reading is not accurately
reflected in the rendering to the monitor and will not be accurately
reflected in the rendering through a color-managed print workflow to a
print.
Using a calibrated, profiled monitor (implying a hardware colorimeter
and matching software package) and a color-managed print workflow
through known well-defined ICC profiles is the most reliable way to
print the majority of photographs with accurate and consistent
results. No amount of looking at curves and numbers makes sense if the
monitor reflecting the rendering isn't accurate.
In the printer properties, there is a parameter
"ink (or print?) density", or something like that, which is by
default is
in the middle of the range. Has anybody tried to fiddle with it?
I tried to nudge it down by 5-7%, but the difference was not much
noticeable (if at all). I need to experiment more, but if somebody
used it, - please let me know.
If you are going to manipulate the ink-paper transfer function curves,
you are stepping out of the realm of a color-managed print workflow.
Nothing wrong with that, if that's what you prefer to do. At which
point, forget about using ICC profiles and such. You'll have to work
out a group of settings by trial and error that give you the results
you want, using the printer's driver control options.
Many people prefer doing this for B&W printing. They use the "Advanced
B&W" mode to achieve a specific and consistent toned color on a
neutral grayscale image, for instance. I do it myself occasionally for
images where the color managed print workflow combined with adjustment
tools prove difficult to get the result I want.
The transfer function controls are designed that the print driver can
accommodate unusual paper choices or printing needs. For instance,
when making digital negatives for contact printing, Dan Burkhalter
gives a set of transfer function and ink density settings designed to
adjust the internegative gamma curve for reprinting onto silver
gelatin paper. Some papers get too 'wet' with the standard ink
settings and smear or bleed, so you use the ink density function to
reduce it. Some papers (like the Pictorico transparency stock) need a
lot more ink to achieve the correct densities for projection. Et
cetera...
Godfrey
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