Re: [Leica] EPSON 2200 PRINTER ?

[drb@MIT.EDU]

Ted-

One small trick that I have learned when working with color printers is to
make test strips the same way I would in the darkroom.  For black and white
prints, this is an especially good way to tweak the gamma.  Blacks and
whites are easy to set from the histogram - sometimes without even looking
at the photo.  The gamma, however, is hard to anticipate - especially with a
new printer.  Here's how I do it:

Make any whole-image corrections that won't need testing (setting black and
white points, unsharp mask, Gaussian blur, whatever)

In photoshop, take your photo and save it as a new photo (File-->Save As
myphoto-test.jpg or something similar)

Use the rectangular selection tool to select a long rectangle of photo at
the top of the image.  The thickness should be related to the number of
steps you're considering (if you want to see 5 levels of gamma, select the
top 1/5 of the image).

Set the gamma to the lightest setting (say 1.4).

Drag the rectangle selection (just the selection marquee - not the photo
within the selection - ie keep the rectangular selection tool) down to just
below the first one.

Set your gamma a bit darker (say 1.2).

Keep going until you have your 5 sections with 5 different gammas.

I have an Cannon printer that allows me to print 1/4 or 1/2 pages instead of
full pages - this is what I usually do for test strips.  I can fit 4 test
images on one piece of photo paper, so it's not as much of a waste.  Now
that I'm used to my printer, I don't use test strips as often, but every
once in a while I'll need to white balance a color shot or print a photo
with contrast issues, and the trick usually works.  I hope this helps!

- --Dan






- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Pultz" <cpultz@earthlink.net>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 9:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] EPSON 2200 PRINTER ?


> Ted,
>
> I'm really jealous, because I really want one.
>
> I found this article very helpful.
> http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/printers/Epson2200.shtml
>
> About half way down is a section on profiles and color management. It will
> make things a lot easier if you do this setup. Not only does color come
out
> better, but so will B&W. It's valid for other Epson printers, too.
>
> If you are using a PC, follow that link "mystery now solved." (That's what
> I have, so if you need step-by-step, let me know.) That's how you get
Epson
> profiles for PC.
>
> There are a lot of ways to handle color management, and it can get really
> complicated, but if you just do the setup in Photoshop as they describe,
> and set the printer for No Color Adjustment, you'll get pretty good
results
> and it's easy.
>
> Another hint from reading that material: One user got better B&W if he
used
> the profiles, but set the driver to use Photorealistic mode.
>
> http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/printers/2200-bw.shtml
>
> Haven't tried that yet, myself. Might be different for my 6 color job.
That
> does acceptable B&W on matte paper using just the standard color settings.
> It was terrible before the profile was installed.
>
> Best -
>
> Carl
>
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