Today's digital cameras provide image data files allowing large-format output at high resolution. At the same time, printing technology has moved forward at an equally fast pace bringing us new inkjet systems capable of printing in high precision at a very fine resolution, providing an amazing tonality range and longtime stability of inks.
Moreover, these systems are now affordable to the serious photographer. In the hands of knowledgeable and experienced photographers, these new inkjet printers can help create prints comparable to the highest quality darkroom prints on photographic paper.
This book provides the necessary foundation for fine art printing: The understanding of color management, profiling, paper and inks. It demonstrates how to set up the printing workflow as it guides the reader step-by-step through this process from an image file to an outstanding fine art print.
Chapter 1 Printing Techniques
Basic Printing Techniques
Offset Printing
Laser Printers
Dye-Sublimation Printers
LightJet® Printing (Digital Photo Print)
Inkjet Printing
Other Printing Techniques
How to Pick Your Fine Art Printer
Chapter 2 Inks, Papers, and Print Permanence
Print Permanence
Inks
Papers
Chapter 3 Color Management for Printing
Understanding Different Color Models
Understanding Color Management
Visualization of Color Spaces
Color Space Mapping
Creating Device Profiles
Profiling Your Monitor
Photoshop Color-Management Settings
Profiles for Your Printer
Installing and Uninstalling Profiles
Finding a Printer’s Black Point and White Point
Sanity-Check
Soft-Proofing and Gamut Warning
Metamerism and Bronzing
Chapter 4 Fine Art Printing Workflow
Basic Printing Workflow
Tuning Tonality
Tuning Colors
“Ring Around” and Variations
Local Contrast Enhancement
Further Preparations for Printing
Resizing
Sharpening
Chapter 5 Fine Art Printers in Practical Use
Printer Installation
Printer Adjustments
General Driver Tasks and Settings
Summarizing the Relevant Steps for the Actual Printing
Printing from Client Software (Windows)
Print Driver Dialog in Windows
Printer Driver Settings in Mac OS X
Printing from Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
Printing Using a Printer Plug-in
Test Prints
Print Quality Related Issues
Some More Recommendations for Printing
Chapter 6 Printing Packages and RIPs
What is a RIP?
Printing Using a Printing Package
Printing Using a RIP
Chapter 7 Black-and-White Prints
Workflow for Black-and-White Prints
From Color to Black-and-White
Printers with Black-and-White-Enabled Drivers
Specialized “Raster Image Processing” (RIP) Software for Black-and-White Printing
Soft-Proofing for Black-and-White Prints
Papers for Black-and-White Prints
Chapter 8 Image Evaluation and Presenting Fine Art Prints
Critical Image Inspection
Presentation Options
Portfolio Binders
Matting
Framing a Print
Coating a Print
Displaying a Print in True Light
Storing Prints
Appendix Some Fine Art Printers
General Points on Fine Art Printers
Epson Fine Art Printers
Canon’s Fine Art Printers
HP’s Fine Art Printers
Appendix Papers for Fine Art Printing
Digital Fine Art Papers
Some Examples of Fine Art Papers
A New Generation of Fiber-based and Baryt Papers
Specialty Papers and Canvas
Fine Art Papers Well Suited for Black-and-White Prints
