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test strips technique in LR 4?

faneuil

Member
long time imager, relatively new printer.
loving my epson 3880 and Canson Baryta, printing from LR.

any good technique for simple test strip production?
would love a single image with various brightness / contrast settings from the print module (ideally a simple grid of plus contrast vs plus brightness)

thanks
Eric
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
long time imager, relatively new printer.
loving my epson 3880 and Canson Baryta, printing from LR.

any good technique for simple test strip production?
would love a single image with various brightness / contrast settings from the print module (ideally a simple grid of plus contrast vs plus brightness)
The answer to this is to make virtual copies, adjust each differently, and then print them ganged together on a single sheet of paper in a grid or strip fashion.

For example, I took this image at the nominal settings I'd made for it:


I put a virtual copy of it into a collection and set it to a green label, then made four more virtual copies. I set them to no label, and arranged them such that the green was in the middle (so I could recognize my "null" point). Then I used the Quick Develop panel on each of the unlabeled copies to adjust exposure and contrast.

In the Print module, I created a template with five image cell strips the width of the page and told LR to zoom the image to the strip. I them positioned them to see the results I wanted to check, and output a JPEG test strip:


If I'd run it through the printer, I'd have a single piece of paper showing a range of five different overall processing adjustments on my base setting. Once I know which one does what I want, I can either adjust the null point to suit in Develop or change the printing bias in the Print module.
 

faneuil

Member
much thanks Godfrey. how does the printing module bias translate from develop module? IE, the printing module B and C control are super subtle (a good thing) but seem to be rated differently than the develop module (which is in stops I believe)

eric
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
much thanks Godfrey. how does the printing module bias translate from develop module? IE, the printing module B and C control are super subtle (a good thing) but seem to be rated differently than the develop module (which is in stops I believe)

eric
I'm not entirely sure as I've not used the print module's bias control as yet. I usually find that what I have set up as a null point prints the way I want it to because of my experience with particular papers (I'm able to pre-visualize what I want on various papers pretty well now as I only use two or three papers and have made several thousand prints with them) and because I've tightly controlled my display calibration and profiling.

That's the trick, to me. Once I know my system is well controlled and consistent, and I understand my printer, ink and paper, I can just use my eye to get the photo where I want it on screen and print without needing test strips. I found the test strip process useful to learn my papers, but haven't really needed to use it for quite a long time now.

It is useful still for when I have a particularly pathological photo, however. ;-)

Godfrey
 

faneuil

Member
much thanks -- yes I find I am starting to get into a routine with my papers. Knowing what to expect and pre-tweaking.

I run a tightly calibrated system (FWIW: I switched to the i1 calibrator a few months ago and I've been getting better results all around.. I used to use the Spyder)

Eric
 
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