M
Mitch Alland
Guest
From discussions here and on other forums it seems to me that most people are not doing any "printer targeting", which is described in some detail in Real World Photoshop. The idea is that when you finish the editing of a file so that on your (calibrated) monitor it looks the way you want it you archive it, but before printing it you need to make some printer targeting adjustments to make it print the way you want to on the particular paper and printer that you will be using. These adjustments are necessary because on another paper and another printer the file will come out somewhat different: the most obvious difference would be between matte and glossy papers, on which the blacks as well as the gradation will look somewhat different.
There are two types of adjustment that I have in mind. The first is output sharpening, which is necessary because any printer will introduce some softness in the final, archived file that you have produced — and different printers will have different characteristics in this respect. I use the output sharpening facility of PK Sharpener, a Photoshop plugin, that, for most files, apply at 50% opacity for my Epson 9800.
The second targeting adjustment is for the paper that you are printing on. The way to do this — I'm referring to color prints here — is to make a duplicate of the final, archived image in Photoshop and apply the Proof Colors facility using the profile of the paper that you will be printing on to the original image. Once you have done so and have the original and the copy side-by-side on the monitor, you will see that the Proof Colors simulation is substantially duller than your archived image, as you would expect in photograph on paper which, unlike a monitor image, is viewed with reflected light. You can now apply adjustments to the original file viewed with the paper profile until it looks as close as you can get it to the copy, which is the final, archived image. For the Epson 9800 I usually apply a mild contrast curve to increase the contrast of the paper simulated image; rarely, I need to apply a hue/saturation adjustments. Finally, you then save the adjusted image as a file for printing.
The Photoshop Proof Colors facility is very good. Lightzone has a Proof tool which will show how the print will look like with the paper profile to be used, but does not have the ability to place two copies of the image side by side. I've been looking at Aperture 2, but have not seen such a proofing facility there. In practical terms, to do printer targeting I am forced to use Photoshop to apply PK Sharpener's output sharpening and to do the paper adjustments conveniently. This means that I have to use Photoshop after I finish editing a file in Lightzone.
—Mitch/Bangkok
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10268776@N00/
There are two types of adjustment that I have in mind. The first is output sharpening, which is necessary because any printer will introduce some softness in the final, archived file that you have produced — and different printers will have different characteristics in this respect. I use the output sharpening facility of PK Sharpener, a Photoshop plugin, that, for most files, apply at 50% opacity for my Epson 9800.
The second targeting adjustment is for the paper that you are printing on. The way to do this — I'm referring to color prints here — is to make a duplicate of the final, archived image in Photoshop and apply the Proof Colors facility using the profile of the paper that you will be printing on to the original image. Once you have done so and have the original and the copy side-by-side on the monitor, you will see that the Proof Colors simulation is substantially duller than your archived image, as you would expect in photograph on paper which, unlike a monitor image, is viewed with reflected light. You can now apply adjustments to the original file viewed with the paper profile until it looks as close as you can get it to the copy, which is the final, archived image. For the Epson 9800 I usually apply a mild contrast curve to increase the contrast of the paper simulated image; rarely, I need to apply a hue/saturation adjustments. Finally, you then save the adjusted image as a file for printing.
The Photoshop Proof Colors facility is very good. Lightzone has a Proof tool which will show how the print will look like with the paper profile to be used, but does not have the ability to place two copies of the image side by side. I've been looking at Aperture 2, but have not seen such a proofing facility there. In practical terms, to do printer targeting I am forced to use Photoshop to apply PK Sharpener's output sharpening and to do the paper adjustments conveniently. This means that I have to use Photoshop after I finish editing a file in Lightzone.
—Mitch/Bangkok
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10268776@N00/