414 c h a p t e r 10: OUTPUT ■ If you opt to use HDR Toning or a filter that increases structure, we recom- mend you do so before applying one of the traditional sharpening filters. In most cases you’ll find that you can use smaller settings on the sharpening filters. Increasing Apparent Detail and Sharpness with Third-Party Plug-ins Third-party software such as Viveza 2 (www.niksoftware.com), Lucis Pro (www.lucispro.com), and Topaz Adjust ( www.topazlabs.com) also enables you to selectively increase detail in parts of your image. Another very effective way of increasing the appearance of sharpness in an image is to adjust the tonal contrast within specific areas. Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro ( www.niksoftware. com or access it from www.ellenanon.com and use Promo code EAnon for a 15% discount on all Nik products) contains a Tonal Contrast filter that makes it quite easy to selectively apply midtone, highlight, and/or shadow tonal contrast. This is often a very effective way to increase the appearance of sharpness within an image without creating some of the artifacts associated with traditional sharpening. Of course, you might also opt to use Nik Software’s Sharpener Pro, an excellent plug-in that’s specifically designed for image sharpening. It offers far more control over the sharpening pro- cess than what’s available from the sharpening filters in Photoshop and does an outstanding job with little effort on your part. Printing Your Images Once you’ve prepared the image through the output workflow, you’re ready to pro- duce a print. When sending the image to the printer, it’s important that you use the appropriate settings to ensure accurate color and optimal quality. Note: Remember that getting an accurate print depends on a calibrated monitor display. If your monitor isn’t calibrated, you can’t trust the colors displayed to be accurate, and therefore you can’t be assured of a matching print. Soft-Proong An optional additional step that can be helpful before actually sending your image to the printer is soft-proofing, which provides an on-screen preview of what the print will look like. A printed image often looks slightly different from what you see on the monitor, even when using the correct printer/paper profiles in a color-managed workflow, because of the particular qualities of the paper and ink, as well as the reflected light that occurs with a print compared to the emitted light of a monitor. Increasing Apparent Detail and Sharpness with Third-Party Plug-ins Third-party software such as Viveza 2 ( www.niksoftware.com ), Lucis Pro ( www.lucispro.com ), and Topaz Adjust ( www.topazlabs.com ) also enables you to selectively increase detail in parts of your image. Another very effective way of increasing the appearance of sharpness in an image is to adjust the tonal contrast within specific areas. Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro ( www.niksoftware. com or access it from www.ellenanon.com and use Promo code EAnon for a 15% discount on all Nik products) contains a Tonal Contrast filter that makes it quite easy to selectively apply midtone, highlight, and/or shadow tonal contrast. This is often a very effective way to increase the appearance of sharpness within an image without creating some of the artifacts associated with traditional sharpening. Of course, you might also opt to use Nik Software’s Sharpener Pro, an excellent plug-in that’s specifically designed for image sharpening. It offers far more control over the sharpening pro - cess than what’s available from the sharpening filters in Photoshop and does an outstanding job with little effort on your part. 607343c10.indd 414 4/12/10 11:53:27 PM 415 ■ PRINTING YOUR IMAGES The print may seem to have some loss of contrast, brightness, and/or color saturation. Soft-proofing offers you a chance to preview those differences and make some adjust- ments so that the print looks the way you expect. To soft-proof an image, first create a duplicate copy of the image by choosing Image > Duplicate. That way, you can compare the file the way you’ve been viewing it to the way it will appear when printed. You can configure and enable a soft-proofing display by choosing View > Proof Setup > Custom from the menu and configuring your output print settings using the printer and paper profile. When you click OK, the image simulates the final printed output. Then tweak the soft proof by making a few small adjustments, such as a Curve or Saturation adjustment, to make the preview more similar to the original. Use the soft-proof version with the additional adjust- ments to make the print. Although the print dialog itself now contains soft-proofing options, taking the time to soft-proof this way enables you to see the soft-proofed ver- sion in more detail so you can make more accurate compensatory adjustments. Conguring the Print Settings To get started, choose File > Print. The Print dialog box shown in Figure 10.15 appears. Note: You must choose File > Print rather than File > Print One Copy in order to access the neces- sary options, even if you intend to print only one copy. Figure 10.15 The Print dialog box, accessed by choosing the Print option from the File menu, allows you to control the settings for output. Ph o to by Jo sh Anon 607343c10.indd 415 4/12/10 11:53:27 PM 416 c h a p t e r 10: OUTPUT ■ Note: The same process applies for black-and-white images as for color images. However, some printers are better than others when it comes to producing accurate grayscale output, as discussed in Peter K. Burian’s “Ideal Printers for Black-and-White Outputs” sidebar later in this chapter. Begin by choosing your printer (or PDF) from the Printer drop-down menu. Then specify the number of copies. Click the correct icon—landscape or portrait —to orient your image on the page. We’ll come back to the Print Settings button after we finish covering the settings to use in this interface. Note: The printing dialog boxes are among the few places where there are significant differences between the Mac and Windows versions. We’ll show both versions when the differences are worth noting. We recommend checking the three boxes under the image preview. (These are available only within Photoshop.) Match Print Colors modifies the image preview to simulate the way the printed colors will appear. Gamut Warning will highlight any colors that are out of gamut so you can decide which rendering intent to use (more about that shortly.) The Show Paper White option simulates the shade of white of the paper. Together these options help you make last-minute decisions about the color and contrast in your image. Although the preview is small, it’s a quick way of previewing how the print will look before you actually use the paper and ink. You can always opt to go back and do a full soft-proofing, as we mentioned earlier in the chapter. Make sure the Color Management option is selected from the drop-down list at the top right of the dialog box. Set the option to Document, not Proof (via the radio buttons below the drop-down), so the working space or embedded profile is used to determine the color values from your image being sent to the printer. Beneath that are the key settings related to color management. From the Color Handling drop-down list, select Photoshop Manages Colors. The Printer Profile drop- down list is where you need to specify the profile appropriate for the printer, ink, and paper you’re using to produce the print. Many printers now include “canned” custom profiles, which are designed for the printer, ink, and paper combination their name implies, but were not created specifically for the printer sitting on your desk. Note: Using the Photoshop Manages Colors option assumes you are using a specific profile for your printer, ink, and paper combination. If you aren’t (which we don’t recommend), you need to use the Printer Manages Color option instead. Rendering Intent deals with how colors that your printer can’t produce (out- of-gamut colors) are changed to colors it is able to print. We recommend that for most images you select Relative Colorimetric, which ensures that colors your printer can produce are rendered accurately, while any color it can’t produce is shifted to the closest in-gamut color. However, some images, often those with very saturated reds, 607343c10.indd 416 4/12/10 11:53:27 PM 417 ■ PRINTING YOUR IMAGES may look better if you use the Perceptual rendering intent. Perceptual compresses the entire color gamut of your image into the printer’s gamut, rather than adjusting only the colors that are actually out of gamut, but in some cases this can result in a more natural-looking result. You can experiment with the various rendering intents from the drop-down list and see the effects on your output in the preview. Beneath the Rendering Intent drop-down list, select the Black Point Compensa- tion check box so that black in your image is mapped to black in the output. When you have set the appropriate settings in the Print dialog box, click the Print Settings button to bring up another Print dialog box (shown in Figure 10.16). The dialog boxes differ between the Mac and Windows platforms and some of the choices may be redundant to those in the Photoshop Print dialog. We recommend making certain the settings reflect the correct choices in both places. In Windows, select the printer you’re sending the image to in this dialog box and then click Prefer- ences. The Preferences dialog box for the particular printer you are using appears (see the example in Figure 10.17). The settings you use in the printer Preferences dialog box depend on your particular printer model, but in general you need to set the appro- priate paper type and size, quality settings, and color-management settings. Find the least invasive color-management choice—such as a No Color Management or similar option—to ensure that the printer doesn’t try to alter the color values in the printing process. As unintuitive as this may be, it enables Photoshop to handle the color man- agement for the print, which is what you want. Otherwise, your print will have some unusual colors and tonalities. Windows Mac OS Figure 10.16 The Print dialog box allows you to select the specic settings you want to use for printed output. On a Mac you will need to verify your printer in the next Print dialog box (see Figure 10.18) and then select Print Settings from the drop-down menu. You may need to reselect your printer and specify your media type. We recommend you choose Advanced Settings under Mode and select SuperFine –1440dpi for Print Quality. The precise options that are available vary by printer and paper type. We recommend choosing Finest Detail when possible. 607343c10.indd 417 4/12/10 11:53:28 PM 418 c h a p t e r 10: OUTPUT ■ Figure 10.17 On Windows, clicking the Preferences button in the Print Settings dialog box opens the Preferences dialog box for the printer you selected. Figure 10.18 Although the specic settings may vary by printer and paper, you set the media type and quality settings in the Print dialog box. Note: Many printers offer an option to print at 2880 dpi, but we don’t recommend this because visually we haven’t seen any difference in the quality of the prints, and printing at 2880 dpi consumes more ink. In addition, for some printers it takes longer. Next, on a Mac select Printer Color Management from the drop-down menu, and choose Off (No Color Adjustment) (see Figure 10.19). As mentioned earlier, for Windows you must choose No Color Management or the like in order to have Photo- shop manage your colors so that your output appears as you expect it to appear. Otherwise, you will get unpredictable results and waste time, paper, and ink…to say nothing of feeling very frustrated! 607343c10.indd 418 4/12/10 11:53:28 PM 419 ■ PRINTING YO U R I M AGE S Figure 10.19 Choosing Application Managed Colors or No Color Adjustment is essential for having your print match your monitor. Note: Forgetting to set the color management to No Color Adjustment or Application Managed Colors in the Print dialog box is the most common cause of prints that don’t match your monitor! With all settings established for the print, click OK in the printer Properties dialog box, and then click OK in the Print dialog box to send the job to the printer. For Photoshop Elements Users: Printing The Elements Print panel (as shown here) is similar to the one in CS5, but many of the settings are buried in the More Options dialog. Click the More Options button at the bottom of the Print panel to open it. Unfortunately, there are no soft-proof preview options. 607343c10.indd 419 4/12/10 11:53:28 PM 420 c h a p t e r 10: OUTPUT ■ Peter K. Burian is a stock photographer and a regular contributor to several photo magazines, including Here’s How, Photo Life, and Australian Photography, and he frequently tests digital cameras, lenses, scanners, and printers. We asked him to give us his picks for black-and-white printers. Ideal Printers for Black-and-White Outputs by Peter K. Burian Photographers who love black-and-white prints are often disappointed with their ink-jet outputs. Although it should be possible to make a truly neutral monochrome print with color inks, few machines are designed to do a competent job without a frustrating process that involves constant ne-tuning in the printer driver and making test prints until one is very close to neutral. At one time, there was another issue, especially with printers using pigmented inks, such as the now-discontinued Epson Stylus Photo 2200. This problem was metamerism: the tendency for inks to change color under different types of illumination. A print may look quite different under incandescent light, fluorescent light, and sunlight, for example. Epson, Canon, and Hewlett-Packard have solved the technical problems, and all three now market certain ink-jet printers (using pigment inks) that are optimized for making mono- chrome outputs. As a bonus, all those machines also accept fine-art media, including thick papers such as “canvas.” The most popular of these can make prints as large as 13 × 19 inches on sheet paper. Epson’s Stylus Pro R2880 is the current model in this category; as a bonus, this machine also accepts roll paper (unlike its direct competitors from HP and Canon) for making panoramic prints as large as 13 × 44 inches. The R2880 employs the eight-color UltraChrome K3 pigmented-ink set, including two gray inks. (The K3 pigments are also used in some of the larger-format Epson models, including the Stylus Pro 3880, 4880, 7880, 9880, and 11880.) My tests of the R2880 conrmed signicantly reduced metamerism and also a very even gloss eect over the entire print area. The color outputs show a very wide range of color and great vibrancy. This Epson machine also features a remarkably versatile driver option—Advanced Black & White printing mode. When selected, only one gray and two black inks are used for making prints without any apparent color cast. The driver provides many of the features that previously required the purchase of a separate raster image processor, an advanced printer driver that pro- vides maximum control over the entire printing process. With simple adjustments, you can create neutral, warm, cool, or sepia-toned prints and ne-tune the settings as desired; this feature expands the range of options available to the monochrome ne-art print maker. The black-and-white prints—on paper as thick as 1.3mm—are completely neutral and, to my eye, perfect in every respect. They match the best silver-halide prints that I had seen in the past thanks to a remarkably high maximum density and ultrawide tonal range. The Display Perma- nence Rating provided by Wilhelm Imaging Research (WIR) ranges from 83 years to 118 years, depending on the Epson media used, and even longer when the prints are displayed under glass with a UV filter. Continues Ideal Printers for Black-and-White Outputs by Peter K. Burian Photographers who love black-and-white prints are often disappointed with their ink-jet outputs. Although it should be possible to make a truly neutral monochrome print with color inks, few machines are designed to do a competent job without a frustrating process that involves constant ne-tuning in the printer driver and making test prints until one is very close to neutral. At one time, there was another issue, especially with printers using pigmented inks, such as the now-discontinued Epson Stylus Photo 2200. This problem was metamerism : the tendency for inks to change color under different types of illumination. A print may look quite different under incandescent light, fluorescent light, and sunlight, for example. Epson, Canon, and Hewlett-Packard have solved the technical problems, and all three now market certain ink-jet printers (using pigment inks) that are optimized for making mono - chrome outputs. As a bonus, all those machines also accept fine-art media, including thick papers such as “canvas.” The most popular of these can make prints as large as 13 × 19 inches on sheet paper. Epson’s Stylus Pro R2880 is the current model in this category; as a bonus, this machine also accepts roll paper (unlike its direct competitors from HP and Canon) for making panoramic prints as large as 13 × 44 inches. The R2880 employs the eight-color UltraChrome K3 pigmented-ink set, including two gray inks. (The K3 pigments are also used in some of the larger-format Epson models, including the Stylus Pro 3880, 4880, 7880, 9880, and 11880.) My tests of the R2880 conrmed signicantly reduced metamerism and also a very even gloss eect over the entire print area. The color outputs show a very wide range of color and great vibrancy. This Epson machine also features a remarkably versatile driver option—Advanced Black & White printing mode. When selected, only one gray and two black inks are used for making prints without any apparent color cast. The driver provides many of the features that previously required the purchase of a separate raster image processor, an advanced printer driver that pro - vides maximum control over the entire printing process. With simple adjustments, you can create neutral, warm, cool, or sepia-toned prints and ne-tune the settings as desired; this feature expands the range of options available to the monochrome ne-art print maker. The black-and-white prints—on paper as thick as 1.3mm—are completely neutral and, to my eye, perfect in every respect. They match the best silver-halide prints that I had seen in the past thanks to a remarkably high maximum density and ultrawide tonal range. The Display Perma - nence Rating provided by Wilhelm Imaging Research (WIR) ranges from 83 years to 118 years, depending on the Epson media used, and even longer when the prints are displayed under glass with a UV filter. Continues 607343c10.indd 420 4/12/10 11:53:29 PM 421 ■ PRINTING YO U R I M AGE S Ideal Printers for Black-and-White Outputs (Continued) HP was the rst of the companies to employ a pigmented ink set that virtually eliminated metamerism and also satised dedicated black-and-white print makers. Its 13 ″ × 19″-format Photo smart Pro B8850 employs seven colors of Vivera pigments, including a light gray. This machine accepts paper as thick as 1.5mm and the prints are instantly dry, waterproof, and extremely resistant to fading. (HP’s current large-format DesignJet Z-series models also employ Vivera pigments—12 of them—and include a built-in spectrophotometer for creating custom color proles for virtually any media.) Although designed to make vividly saturated color outputs, the Photosmart Pro machine is highly suitable for monochrome printing. The WIR Display Perma- nence Rating is impressive, too: 250 years when using certain premium-grade HP or Hahnemühle papers. The HP Photosmart Pro B8850 provides advanced color-management options, including a Black & White Printing mode that’s optimized for making prints without a color cast. However, black- and-white toning options are not available. For truly neutral monochrome prints, use the Gray Inks option for printing with black and gray ink only. In my view, this machine is a fine choice for monochrome printing because it produces very good results with pure whites, excellent shadow detail, and a pleasing tonal gradation; for a snappier effect, it’s worth boosting contrast in the driver software. Canon’s 13 ″ × 19″-format PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II employs 10 Lucia pigments, including a gray ink for enhanced black-and-white outputs. It’s equipped with two paper paths; media thicker than 100 gsm (up to 300 gsm) must be inserted via the front feeder. The Pro9500 is bundled with both Canon’s Easy-PhotoPrint EX and Pro software, including a Color Management tool. Canon also provides an Easy-PhotoPrint Pro plug-in for printing from Photoshop using the Canon (or custom) ICC color proles. Continues 607343c10.indd 421 4/12/10 11:53:29 PM 422 c h a p t e r 10: OUTPUT ■ Ideal Printers for Black-and-White Outputs (Continued) For the best results in monochrome printing with the PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II, use the black and gray inks only; this slows the process, to about 14 minutes for a 13 ″ × 19″ print. It’s worth the wait for gorgeous outputs with rich, deep blacks, smooth transitions, and snappy contrast throughout the image. WIR’s estimated Display Permanence Rating is 104 years for Semi-gloss or 95 years for Fine Art Photo Rag paper, and nearly twice as long when UV-ltered glass is used. Several wider-format Canon models are also available, such as the 17”-format imagePROGRAF iPF5100, which employs 12 Lucia pigments, including two gray inks, for making even better monochrome prints. Regardless of your size requirements and personal preferences, it’s not difficult to find a suit- able ink-jet printer that can generate pro-caliber black-and-white and color prints that will last for generations. Before making a final decision as to the one that would best suit all your needs, read some reviews on all models on the Internet, and visit a retailer to evaluate the quality of prints made by each machine in your price range. Choosing the Best Paper The choice of paper when producing a print is a very subjective decision. When nature photographers ask us what paper should be used, our typical response is that you really need to try various papers for yourself to find what you like best. However, as subjective as this decision is, here are some general guidelines to help you decide. A big part of the decision has to do with the type of effect you want to produce in the print. The first consideration is the surface type. For images where you want to have maximum detail, contrast, and vibrancy of colors, a semi-gloss paper is a popular choice. For example, a crisp high-detail image of highly saturated flowers or a strong landscape image with a silhouetted foreground subject generally works well on a semi-gloss paper such as Epson’s Premium Luster and similar papers from other manufacturers. Full-gloss papers are less popular because they tend to produce strong reflections, so it’s difficult to see all the detail in the image. Many professional nature photographers use matte papers for their prints. Velvet papers, available from a variety of companies, often provide a rich look to the prints, with full detail readily visible. However, if you’re accustomed to the type of prints you get from a photo lab, it may take you a while to adjust to the look and feel of a print on matte paper. For images that are more artsy, such as delicate flowers with subtle colors or a photo captured under diffuse lighting on an overcast day, or abstracts, you may want to maintain the subtle mood by choosing an art-style paper such as a watercolor paper. These are usually matte papers formulated for ink-jet printers with various textures. Art papers often tone down the colors, contrast, and details in your image to produce a print that looks more like a painting. Ideal Printers for Black-and-White Outputs (Continued) For the best results in monochrome printing with the PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II, use the black and gray inks only; this slows the process, to about 14 minutes for a 13 ″ × 19 ″ print. It’s worth ″ print. It’s worth ″ the wait for gorgeous outputs with rich, deep blacks, smooth transitions, and snappy contrast throughout the image. WIR’s estimated Display Permanence Rating is 104 years for Semi-gloss or 95 years for Fine Art Photo Rag paper, and nearly twice as long when UV-ltered glass is used. Several wider-format Canon models are also available, such as the 17”-format imagePROGRAF iPF5100, which employs 12 Lucia pigments, including two gray inks, for making even better monochrome prints. Regardless of your size requirements and personal preferences, it’s not difficult to find a suit - able ink-jet printer that can generate pro-caliber black-and-white and color prints that will last for generations. Before making a final decision as to the one that would best suit all your needs, read some reviews on all models on the Internet, and visit a retailer to evaluate the quality of prints made by each machine in your price range. 607343c10.indd 422 4/12/10 11:53:29 PM . Windows platforms and some of the choices may be redundant to those in the Photoshop Print dialog. We recommend making certain the settings reflect the correct choices in both places. In Windows,. pro- cess than what’s available from the sharpening filters in Photoshop and does an outstanding job with little effort on your part. Printing Your Images Once you’ve prepared the image through. the emitted light of a monitor. Increasing Apparent Detail and Sharpness with Third-Party Plug-ins Third-party software such as Viveza 2 ( www.niksoftware.com ), Lucis Pro ( www.lucispro.com ),