Printing - Black and White in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Lightroom - page 257

is worth mentioning that Canon has recently developed some impressive
new professional printers that do not require ink swapping, which is worth
checking out. There are also now many high quality i ne art papers on
the market. The 100% cotton, acid-free matte papers are predominantly
considered to maintain the greatest longevity.

Proi les
Whatever paper choice you make, the greatest issue to keep in mind is its
proi le for the color management system. Hopefully, you would not have
skipped over Chapter 1 color management and will, of course, remember that
proi les are an essential piece of the digital print making process. Proi les are
the translators that communicate the information in the image i le from
its source to its destination. Each type of inkjet printer, paper type, paper
surface and paper manufacturer combination will require a unique proi le
that translates the image information accurately to its unique destination.

Printer manufacturers typically provide free proi les installed automatically
with the printer drivers. The catch, however, is that the proi les provided are
only for the papers and inks made by the same manufacturer. For example,
Epson will provide free proi les for Epson papers printed with Epson inks using
Epson printers. Change any one variable and those proi les will no longer be
accurate. The easiest way to deal with color management on the output end
is, therefore, to stick to the papers and inks made by the same manufacturer
of your printer. Of course, you must operate the driver properly and choose
the correct proi le, which is the next topic we will address in the printing
workl ow.

In order to work with papers not made by your printer manufacturer,
you need to obtain proi les for each type of paper. Frequently, the paper
manufacturer will provide free proi les, typically available for download from
their website. If however, a paper manufacturer does not provide adequate
proi les for their paper using your specii c model printer with the ink sets
you have chosen, producing a decent print will be far from easy. You are then
faced with creating your own custom proi le, purchasing one, or experiential
learning by tweaking and trial and error. This typically requires a fairly
extensive amount of wasted time, paper and ink resources.

Custom proi les are created specii cally for your printer and ink set, and built
separately for each type of output surface you choose to print on. Custom
proi les can be created at home by purchasing a proi ling device, which can
be expensive, complicated and time consuming. Creating a custom proi le
will require you to print a target with all color management turned of using
your printer and inks on the paper you wish to proi le. You need to purchase a
separate proi le for each and every paper you wish to use. Custom proi les can
also be purchased online relatively inexpensively these days with results well
worth the ef ort and expense.

Note:
For more information on
af ordable custom proi les,
email Mac Reid at Santa Fe
Camera Center at www.
santafecameracenter.com.