beewee
Offline
Image Upload: Off
|
 p.1 #12 · Merry Christmas-Please Help | |
I'm not very familiar with the HP printer plugins but here's my workflow for my Canon iPF6100 CS3 plugin:
Pre-printing: Perform a test print using Bill Atkin's test image w/ grey ramp to figure out which shade values are printable (eg. you may only see discernable shades from values 4 and up on the dark end and only up to 250 on the bright end).
Step 1: Get the image looking properly for general use (aka. looks good on your calibrated monitor)
Step 2: Uprez to your required printsize to 300dpi (most printer plugins accept 300dpi.
Step 3: For your specific printsize, sharpen using USM at 25% zoom to sharpen for your printer output
Step 4: Create a levels layer and shift the values to the values that are actually printable from the Bill Atkin's grey ramp
Step 5: Softproof in CS3 - view > Proof Setup > Custom then select the profile for your paper type, use perceptual rendering intent, check off blackpoint compensation and simulate paper color. You can save this profile and click OK. Then perform final toning using level layers for your paper. You may also need to adjust the colour balance to suite your paper color.
Step 6: Export using the CS3 plugin and make sure you select the profile for your paper in your printer plugin with perceptual rendering as well as all the other printer settings such as centering, resizing, etc... I normally make sure the printer does not resize since this defeats the purpose of sharpening for your specific output size. You're better off resizing in CS3 and sharpen for that size before you send it into the plugin.
Step 7: Hit print!
Note: These steps assume that both your monitor and printer profile - which is paper, printer, ink (for less consistent inksets on lower end printers), print driver, print resolution and print bit depth dependent - were created properly. In older generations of Epson printers such as the 2200, there are variability in the inkset so a new calibration profile must be made everytime you changed ink cartridges. This isn't a very big issue with the newer printers and I find, at least with the iPF6100, since it has a built in printer calibrator (not profiler), I can use stock profiles from Hahnemuhle with pretty good results.
Also, the test print using Bill Atkin's test image should be made with the profile you're using for your print. However, when you are creating a new profile, your test chart should not have any profile associated with it.
Workflow hint: It's usually a good idea to save versions of your print file after steps 1, 3 and 5. This way you can always go back and generate new versions for different print sizes and paper types.
Edited on Dec 26, 2007 at 05:05 AM
|
