Getting good dmax is a matter of knowing your materials. Some inkjet papers
only give good dmax with some inksets. Mismatch them, and you get poor dmax.
Here's an example: Somerset Photo-Enhanced Velvet is a popular paper among
fine art photographers. Its actually a cotton etching paper (made for making
prints from copper or zinc plates in a press) with a coating on it to allow
it to receive inkjet inks (all inkjet papers are coated like this, or else
the ink would absorb in the paper and spread out by capillary action). Its a
beautiful paper, but its coating isn't compatible with Epson's Ultrachrome
inkset. I tried it years ago in the old Epson 2200 printer I used to have
and the results sucked. Very poor dmax, which made the whole image look
flat.
Epson later introduced their own version, Epson Velvet Fine Art paper. I
think its the same Somerset Velvet Etching paper base, but with a coating
made by Epson for their inks. It makes GORGEOUS prints, with deep rich
blacks and good midtone contrast and highlights. Its my favorite matte
surface inkjet paper. Using a paper matched to your inks gives results.
Another paper I really like, which I am using in my R2400, is Ilford Gold
Fibre Silk. Despite the strange name, it is not a silk surface paper, it is
a glossy with the same slight texture that fiber base glossy darkroom papers
like Ilford Multigrade IV FB have. It gives the best prints of all, they're
indistinguishable from prints on MG-IV FB. I've showed them to even the most
dyed in the wool haters of all digital processes and every time sent them
away with their beliefs destroyed. Just because you've never seen a good
inkjet black & white print does not mean that they don't exist. Frankly, few
people, even professionals, know how to make them right.
--
Chris Crawford
Fine Art Photography
Fort Wayne, Indiana
260-486-2581
http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio
http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798
Become a fan on Facebook
On 1/18/11 9:59 AM, "Bill Pearce" <bs.pearce@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Well, I do get out, and I¹ve had the misfortune of seeing prints made by the
> great Ansel, which were quite a disappointment as well. The best I¹ve seen
> are ones by a friend who has taken an Epson and sacrificed it to B&W
> printing by using sour colors of black ink. The results are amazingly good,
> but still have what I have seen as a loss of dmax, a characteristic of
> either inkjet printing or the taste of people using inkjet printers.
>
>
>
> From: Moose [mailto:olymoose@xxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Monday, January 17, 2011 11:29 PM
> To: Olympus Camera Discussion
> Subject: Re: [OM] IMG: 280 megapixels
>
>
>
> On 1/17/2011 6:48 PM, Bill Pearce wrote:
>> . . . And really, I've never seen an inkjet print that I thought would
> equal a good wet print.
>
> Perhaps y'all need to get out more? :-)
>
> Having within a few days of each other seen Bob's gallery prints and
> original prints by folks like St. Ansel, Edward
> Weston and their contemporaries, mostly 8x10 contact prints, my experience
> is that top notch B&W wet and inkjet* prints
> are on a visual par.
>
> Considering the wider range of control one doing digital printing has, I
> think it has the potential to create a better
> print from a difficult or flawed original, digital or film capture, than wet
> printing.
>
> I've seen quite a few other matchups, although none directly from the same
> source, that led me to the same conclusion,
> but the juxtaposition of Bob's prints with those in the Portland Art Museum
> is the most recent in my memory and involves
> the most prestigious original wet prints.
>
> Moose
>
> * Which I prefer to the 'la de da' name early fine art printers took on to
> cover the plebeian inkjet. I also find it
> somewhat unattractive as a label for prints, considering:
>
> "In modern French slang, /giclée/ means ?cum shot¹ or ?spurt of ejaculate,¹
> not surprisingly, considering that the noun
> /giclée/ originated as the feminine past participle of the French verb
> /gicler/ ?to squirt¹ or ?to spurt.¹ "
> <http://www.billcasselman.com/unpublished_works/giclee.htm>
> --
> _________________________________________________________________
> Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
> Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
> Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
>
> _____
>
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 10.0.1191 / Virus Database: 1435/3386 - Release Date: 01/17/11
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|