Making Prints

      

Start from scan     

I use to scan my negative in RGB mode and for each channel 16bit. Than I always extracted green channel. I don't do it anymore. I move from 2400dpi Acer Scan-Wit scanner to Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400. Now I am scanning directly to 16 bit black and white TIFF file. I load such a file to Picture Window Pro, software for digital handling of images.

I like this program very much. Is targeted for photographers and has all the features I want and it is much cheaper than PhotoShop. Good support and information. After while it is very easy to use.

I use vuescan software to produce 16bit scan and save it to black and white 16 bit tiff file.

Cleaning scan file     

I use multi pass option in vuescan do get max info from negative. It take while (3-8min) but result is good, especially when scanner was working before for a while. Scan is stored to the 16bit tiff file with name conforming to following template year-roll-frame.raw.tif I still call it raw even it is not raw in the sense of non modified data from scanner. I use all option of vuescan to get the best I can get without loosing any informations.

So when I have such a file I open it in Picture Window Proc crop out all the not equal edges or other things which do not belong to frame. I do not make any creative cropping action. I still consider this as base. RAW which shouldn't be touch in any way which would lead to lose any informations.
Than I clean file from dust marks, or any other things which were scanned and shouldn't be there. Things like small hairs or error on emulsion, scratch maybe and similar. As a final result I am getting clean data from scanner prepared for creative action. After I made all these changes I overwrite raw.tif file with this cleaned image.

Level correction     

To get better balance I use level correction to maximize histogram and get all data from total black to total white. This of course depends on type of picture. Bright snow field without any black details will useless to modify this way.

Adjusting curve     

Following part is the most work. Adjusting curve to get right details and contrast without corrupting picture itself. Here I use all techniques (masking, curve adjusting, dodging, burning) which I am not going explain here as they are explained in much better way elsewhere (photoshop books, tutorials, web sites,...) Maybe one day I will add separate article explaining in little bit more details these steps and reasons behind them.

Making it short here: All these actions have one goal. Selectively modified image to bring most out of it. Most out of it in a sense how I like to see it. What is my vision about the image. All these actions are same as had been done for years in darkrooms with manual action under the enlarger.
Other type of action, which I do not do are for example adding of fake sky or any other heavy modifications. I may however remove small disturbing elements. What I mean are for example small bird in sky which is so small that it looks like disturbing black spot. Well and similar cosmetics.

Save master print     

When I am satisfied with the image look, I save it to the file with text master-print in the name. (e.g. 2004-10-02.master-print.tif). This means that all correction except specific for printing are done on picture. If I do not like the results on paper later I can always come back to raw data and create different master-print. To simplify that possible future process, I save all masks I created for this image (e.g. 2004-10-02.burn-mask.1.png,..).

In this stage, final image is ready, this is like blue print, matrix for print stage itself.
Resolution adjustment     I set resolution for print. Size of the master-print is huge, Scan is done at 5400dpi so 16bit tiff file is around 70MB of size. For printing i need to adjust resolution. I go down to 720dpi to get size which fits A4 paper. As you can see I do not change data, only resolution parameter is changed.

Making sharpening mask     

For printing I do few specific steps. To get best results from sharpening I do first edge detection. Result is 8bit black and white png file containing white part where edges are detected on the original picture and rest is black.

I load this image to mask creator in the pwp and generate mask based on brightness range which creates mask around detected edges and I do than little feather and blurring to smooth areas around edges, This way I create mask which contains nicely blurred areas around edges of the original image. This is perfect mask containing only parts of the image which I need to sharpen. Sometimes I do manual changes to mostly exclude areas which do have edges but I do not want them to be sharpened (edges in clouds or any areas which should stay smooth). This mask is again stored on disk with name containing text sharpen-mask. (e.g.: 2004-10-02.sharpen-mask.png)

Unsharp masking with edge mask     I use mask created in previous step for running unsharp mask through original picture. Result is that only parts around edges are sharpened. Mostly I use default setting for unsharp masking. This way I really get very good sharpening only on places where it is necessary. I save this file which is prepared for printing to the file with text print or print-A4 in it. (e.g. 2004-10-02.print.tif)

Black and white printing    

I am using special carbon pigment inks from MIS named UT7. I load them in my Epson Stylus Photo 2100. This way I have six different levels of grey and two carbon colors for adjusting tone from warm to cold print. This variation is applied to the picture by using curve conversion. For this reason I have to convert my 16bit sharped image to 48 bit RGB image.
Quite often recently I do use only those pure carbon inks without modification in tone. Resulting image is nicely little warm carbon light sepia like. It does fit perfectly for some images and lightfast properties of such a combinations are amazing.
I do follow development of these inks and very useful comments from Paul Roark in Yahoo digital bw printing group.

Applying curves     

Than I have for each paper few curves. Each one has different tone. I can choose from cold to warm, sepia and one special carbon tone. The last one is using only those four grey inks which contains almost purely carbon and none of the two toners is used. So after I choose if the print should be cold, neutral, warm or sepia I apply curve to sharpen image now in 48bit RGB format. Image will get unnatural tones on screen. But that has no effect for printing as the printer doesn't contains color inks but those carbon pigment of different darkness, instead.

Printing     

I am using mostly only two types of paper. For proofing and simple prints I use Epson Archival Matte paper. This has a nice clean surface and is able to display with these inks nice deep black. But archive value is not any high. With my carbon pigment inks is somewhere around 10-15 years. Already after few weeks you can see that paper gets little yellow touch, especially when comparing with one not exposed to sun or some extreme white papers. Pigments itself doesn't change at all. Only that yellowish feel of the paper give indication of not high archival value.

For the prints I sale I use expensive high quality paper from PermaJet. It's name is PermaJet Alpha 310g/m^2. This is heavy weight hight quality paper. Result is nice matte print with deep shadows and very good feeling. Paper itself is not artificially brightened so it is not cold white. It has a little warm feeling. I like it very much.

From time to time I experiment with new paper papers to find something better. In a last few month I am using Epson Premium Semi Gloss paper. This paper has nice surface not far from RC classical photo papers. Black are much deeper (subjectively) than on matte papers. From time to time I use this paper also for images I sell. Its archival value is very good especially with mine carbon pigment inks.

Drying of print     

When print is made I place it on flat surfaces and leave it dry over night. Is amazing to see difference in details, especially in dark parts, between time just after print and when print is dry. When print is dry the details are much better visible and tones are little more softer.

Coating     

I also experimenting with coating. I use few sprays and must say that none of them really add any value. The best was Premier Art which I need to order from US. I try to produced some glossy prints and use this spray to minimize bronzing (effect which is reflecting of the light from pigment inks on certain part of the prints).

I also try to make some coating using Mayer Rot and some coating liquid. So far I didn't produced anything which I would really like.

Current situation ( June 2007) is simple. I do not use coating for at least six month now. From time I moved to PermaJet and to Epson Premium Semi Gloss paper I do not need any coating. Prints are just perfect.

If you have nay question about how I produced my prints, which this text didn't answer, please contact me. I would be more than happy to answer your questions and extend this text.