Epson Advanced B&W Photo

Black and white printing presents several significant challenges; the ability to produce a neutral color, the ability to maintain that neutral appearance under different light sources (reduced metamerism), the ability to attain graybalance (consistent color throughout the entire tonal scale); the ability to achieve a very dark black (high Dmax) without sacrificing shadow detail (low dot gain), and longevity. All of these things are now easily attainable.

Black and white inkjet printing has come of age. In past years, there have been many compelling solutions for making black and white prints with inkjet technology; some have been fraught with problems (third party quadtone ink sets clog easily) and others have been expensive (ColorByte's ImagePrint RIP). Today, superior quality inkjet printing is both affordable and easily achieved.


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Navigating The Epson Printer Driver With Photoshop



Successfully managing color for digital printing requires that the color in an image file be converted from its device-neutral color space to a device-specific color space. (Typically this occurs by converting from Adobe RGB 1998 or Pro Photo RGB  to a device-specific color space defined by an ICC profile characterizing a specific combination of printer, ink, paper, and driver.)

Using Photoshop, you can either convert color in an image before you send it to a printer driver or after you send it to a printer driver.

Choose one method of color management – not two. Easily made, a classic mistake is using both. Double color management typically results in a print that is too light and magenta.

The Epson printer driver provides many ways to manage color conversions and get reasonably good color. Two methods offer the best results; the Photoshop route and the Epson route.
How do you choose either of these methods?

Let Photoshop’s Print window (under Color Handling) guide you – Let Photoshop Determine Colors and Let Printer Determine Colors. (While the principle is the same for most printers, interfaces will vary. Here’s information for the most current Epson interface.)

If you choose Let Photoshop Determine Colors under Color Handling, select a profile for Photoshop to make the conversion with (a paper/ink/driver specific profile not the interface default of Working RGB) under Printer Profile, choose a Rendering Intent of either Relative Colorimetric or Perceptual, and then click Print Settings. In the Print window choose the correct Printer and then change Copies and Pages to Print Settings. Select the correct Media Type, uncheck High Speed, and choose the highest printer resolution available. Finally, change Print Settings to Color Management and select Off (No Color Adjustment). The Photoshop route turns Photoshop’s color conversion on and turns the printer’s color conversion off.

The Photoshop route tends to hold slightly more saturation but it’s rendition of neutral colors and gray balance is usually not as good as the Epson route. The Photoshop route is the route to take when you want to use a custom profile. Use it if you are printing with either third-party inks or papers which require the use a custom profile to accurately describe the behavior of the alternate media.

If you choose Let Printer Determine Colors under Color Handling, choose a Rendering Intent of either Relative Colorimetric or Perceptual, and then click Print Settings. In the Print window choose the correct Printer. Change Copies and Pages to Print Settings to select the correct Media Type, uncheck High Speed, and choose the highest printer resolution available. Finally, change Print Settings to Color Management, choose EPSON Standard (sRGB) under Mode, and select Color Controls. The Epson route turns Photoshop’s color conversion off and turns the printer’s color conversion on.

The Epson route tends to deliver a significantly improved rendition of neutral colors and gray balance with slightly less saturation. Try it when printing neutral colors. Use the Epson driver’s Advanced B&W Photo feature for black and white images.

Each route works well. Each route yields slightly different results. Test them to see the differences. (Note that you cannot see the differences between printing routes when softproofing; you have to make physical proofs to see these differences. They can significant.)
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How To Avoid Double Color Management – Epson Printers


Get This – Correct Color Management
Avoid This Double Color Managed
Is your print too light and magenta? Double color management. It’s a classic mistake. I sometimes make it myself when I’m working too fast. So that you know what to look for, I recommend that you make the mistake deliberately, once, and only once, if possible.
Don’t do this …

And this …

What’s the right solution?
Check your software (Photoshop or Lightroom) and printer software (Epson driver) settings, reset them, and print again. Choose one method of color management – not two.
Read more in my online resources.
Learn more in my digital printing workshops.

Get Great Color in Blurb Books!

BlurbColorVideo
X-Rite and Joe Brady offer this free 52 minute webinar on how to get great color in Blurb books.
video Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Book (37 Minutes)
Learn how to: create your book; work with photos, text, and layouts; upload your book; and more.
video Blurb BookSmart® Design Tips and Techniques (26 minutes)
For those who already know the basics of BookSmart, this intermediate session explores several design ideas you can use in your books.
video Using InDesign® to Make a Blurb Book (3:33)
A short three-minute introduction to using Adobe InDesign® to create compliant PDF files by using the Blurb PDF/X-3 Export Preset and the Blurb Templates.
Learn more with my Bookmaking Lessons.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.

How To Make a Gorgeous Photo Book – Audio Excerpts

JPBlurb-300x212
I sat down and discussed many issues involving print on demand bookmaking with Brenda Hipsher of X-Rite before my recent Toronto Blurb Seminar – How to Make a Gorgeous Photo Book.
You can listen to three audio excerpts here on X-Rites blog.
Color Management and Bookmaking
Reproducing Black and White & Using BookSmart
Practical Uses for Blurb Books
Find books on bookmaking here.
Learn more about books with these online resources.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.

Blurb's BookSmart Makes Design Easy

BookSmart
Blurb’s BookSmart software makes designing books easy. Don’t know how to use InDesign or Quark? No worries. Just want to make a book? Can do. It’s great to use software that intuitively teaches you how to use it as you work with it.
Daniel Milnor makes Blurb books in as little as 20 minutes.
Check out his On Approach here.
Blurb’s new Color Management Resource Center offers BookSmart help.
Find more BookSmart tips here.
Check out these great design books I recommend.
Find my Blurb book Antarctica here.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.