astecno
Getting Fingers Dirty
- Joined
- May 10, 2016
- Messages
- 27
- Reaction score
- 20
- Points
- 40
- Printer Model
- Epson Stylus Pro 3800
Hello friends, I am really curious about what you do in order to reach print accuracy/satisfaction in the most productive and parsimonious way.
I mean, we all already know about the big picture (proper calibrated monitor and printer, a good ambient luminance, good quality ink, print frequently, etc). What I would like to find out is anything else you generally do in your workflow to speed up things or to reach a satisfactory print without wasting too much time, ink and paper.
As an example of such thing is an old habit I got from the minilab days and something that probably a lot of you are already employing in your printing workflow: sometimes I print my photographs in small test sheets until I reach a satisfactory level. I do this not exactly to get an overall impression of how the photography is going to look in the paper although it can be used this way, but mainly to assess how out-of-gamut colors are going to shift if I let the printer deal with them, how sharpening is going to look in particular cropped areas, and so forth.
In order to not waste ink unnecessarily, I print those test sheets in lowest quality option (in my Epson Pro 3800 it basically means 1440 instead of 2880dpi), allowing high quality only when strictly necessary as is the case of sharpening assessment.
Finally, instead of throwing out those test sheets, I generally use them to create some sort of mosaic or collage to be hanged in some obscure corner of the house
I also employ a couple tricks regarding monitor calibration and soft proofing to help get most out of it.
My monitor allows for on-the-fly ICC profile switching and monitor configuration in a single step, both done through the calibration software. This way it only takes one click and a few seconds to load a different profile.
Being so fast and convenient to load profiles means that instead on relying on a single monitor profile for all papers and trusting that PS will do some magic to me for every different paper I soft proof, I can now afford to profile my monitor to each different paper I print on (monitor white point matching paper white color), load these profiles as needed and get a much better match between monitor and print every time. Also, instead of always working with a high contrast-ratio / black level, I also profile my monitor to match the paper contrast-ratio.
Profiling this way help the soft proof simulations to be very smooth and predictable. In my case PS soft proof get unused most the time, helping in the majority of cases just as a final assessment at the very end of the editing workflow.
And you fellows? What tricks does you generally employ to get things done?
I mean, we all already know about the big picture (proper calibrated monitor and printer, a good ambient luminance, good quality ink, print frequently, etc). What I would like to find out is anything else you generally do in your workflow to speed up things or to reach a satisfactory print without wasting too much time, ink and paper.
As an example of such thing is an old habit I got from the minilab days and something that probably a lot of you are already employing in your printing workflow: sometimes I print my photographs in small test sheets until I reach a satisfactory level. I do this not exactly to get an overall impression of how the photography is going to look in the paper although it can be used this way, but mainly to assess how out-of-gamut colors are going to shift if I let the printer deal with them, how sharpening is going to look in particular cropped areas, and so forth.
In order to not waste ink unnecessarily, I print those test sheets in lowest quality option (in my Epson Pro 3800 it basically means 1440 instead of 2880dpi), allowing high quality only when strictly necessary as is the case of sharpening assessment.
Finally, instead of throwing out those test sheets, I generally use them to create some sort of mosaic or collage to be hanged in some obscure corner of the house
I also employ a couple tricks regarding monitor calibration and soft proofing to help get most out of it.
My monitor allows for on-the-fly ICC profile switching and monitor configuration in a single step, both done through the calibration software. This way it only takes one click and a few seconds to load a different profile.
Being so fast and convenient to load profiles means that instead on relying on a single monitor profile for all papers and trusting that PS will do some magic to me for every different paper I soft proof, I can now afford to profile my monitor to each different paper I print on (monitor white point matching paper white color), load these profiles as needed and get a much better match between monitor and print every time. Also, instead of always working with a high contrast-ratio / black level, I also profile my monitor to match the paper contrast-ratio.
Profiling this way help the soft proof simulations to be very smooth and predictable. In my case PS soft proof get unused most the time, helping in the majority of cases just as a final assessment at the very end of the editing workflow.
And you fellows? What tricks does you generally employ to get things done?
