this article - Studio Lavalette

STUDIO LAVALETTE’s
GUIDE TO
PROFESSIONAL
INKJET PRINTING
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This is a guide to create great looking prints using:
a)
Photoshop; and
b)
a large-format inkjet printer, which in my case is an Epson 4000.
Over the years I have produced hundreds of prints and this method used here is the one that
gives me the highest quality prints.
Step 1
I fire-up Photoshop and then click File->Open and the Open dialogue box appears:
Using the Open dialogue box, I find the directory containing the image I want, and when
located I click the Open button:
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Step 2
I crop out any parts of the image that I deem un-necessary - more importantly, I use the Crop
tool help the compositional aspects of my images, for example, placing the central objects
just off-centre can create more visual interest. Here I decide to move the left-to-right bend
in the river off-centre and to the right of the image:
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Step 3
For the sake of good order, I save the cropped image with name “Cropped” in the title:
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Step 4
Now to the issue of ‘size’ - and yes it really does matter! If I click Image->Image Size I see
the following dialogue box:
The top section tells me about the size of my image in
terms of the number of pixels. In this case the image is
1724 pixels wide and 1403 pixels high.
The bottom section tells me about the document size
that I might get as a print, assuming the document is
to be printed at 72 dpi - ‘dots per inch’. In this instance, if I print at 72dpi I would get an image that
would be 60.82cm by 49.49cm. Most people get terribly misled by this dialogue box - the information given
here has nothing to do with a) the resolution of my
image as I see it on my monitor and b) the resolution
that I would want to print at. My monitor is set to
96dpi; and I always print at 180dpi - as per Epson’s
guidelines.
I change the dpi setting to 180dpi the pixel dimensions
have change to 4310 x 3507 pixels and the document
size remains the same. Why has the number of pixels
increased? The answer is that if I were to click the OK
button, Photoshop will invoke its Bicubic interpolation
algorithm and blow the image up so that there are
enough pixels to print at 180dpi and at the given size
of the document i.e. 60.82cm x 49.49cm.
This tells me that there is no relationship between the resolution I print at and the size of the
document - which is confusing. The problem is that ‘a’ dialogue box cannot set out the rules
and complexities of image sizing and printing.
The answer to all the confusion is that printing is a trade-off between the size of your printer;
the size you want to print at; and the size of your image (in pixels). Starting with a few
questions, these are the rules I use:
1.
What is the width of my printer?
In the case of the Epson 4000 it is 17” or 435mm - thus, it’s the width of the printer sets the
maximum width I can print at.
2.
What paper size do I want to use? Is it A5, A4, A3, A3+ or a roll of paper?
I ususally print on A3+ i.e. 13”x19” If I intend to frame my print, I think ahead about leaving
a 1” margin for the mount to sit over.
3.
What is the size, in pixels, of my image?
Click Image->Image Size, as above, and I see it’s 1724x1403 pixels. For an A5 print I’ve
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probably got enough pixels, but for anything bigger i.e. A4 and over, for a good consistent
finish I’m going to have to use an interpolation algorithm to give me enough (or rather more
than enough) pixels. I do not use Photoshop’s Bicubic interpolation as this can lead to
blockiness, particularly in skies. I use ‘pxl SmartScale’, which is better and it can be bought
for $199 from www.ononesoftware.com. ‘pxl SmartScale’ used to be published by Extensis, it
is a plug-in to Photoshop and once installed it sits in the menu bar at the top of the Photoshop
screen, like this:
I click on the option that says Scale Current Image and SmartScale will open inside Photoshop.
Once open I am presented with three dialogue boxes: one has to do with Navigation (which I
ignore); one has to do with Detail, which I set as follows:
The third dialogue box contains similar data as the Photoshop Image Size box - and on the
bottom row where it asks for the Resolution, I set it to 180dpi:
I then click the Apply button which is in bottom right of the of the screen. SmartScale
performs its calculations and then returns me to Photoshop. I’ve now got the image with more
than enough pixels for a Super A3 print.
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Note: if was going to print on my Epson 10600 whose maximum width is 44”, I’d have
changed the Height option too to 44” - this produces a huge 221Mb file and print that
would be 54” long!
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Step 5
This Step invloves sharpening the image. There are many ways to do this, but on balance I
think the following arcane method works best and to avoid repetitive keystokes I have it
recorded as a Photoshop Action, which can be downloaded from our website www.fo2pix.com.
The keystokes are as follows:
a)
Image->Mode->Lab Color
b)
Channel->Hide Channel a (deselect it by clicking on the Photoshop ‘eye’).
c)
Channel->Hide Channel b (deselect it by clicking on the Photoshop ‘eye’).
Note:At this point the image turns to greyscale
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d)
I select the Lightness Channel (by clicking the name ‘Lightness’)
e)
Now I click Filters->Sharpen->Unsharp Mask and the following dialogue box pops open
and I set the Amount to 75%; the Pixel Radius to 1; and the Theshold to 0 and click OK.
f)
Lastly, I click Image->Mode->RGB Color to return the image back to its right colour
space:
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Step 6
I now have a cropped image, at the right size for an A3+ print and it’s been sharpened. If I
intend to print a number of copies of the image, over a number of days, I save the file with the
file name expanded to include “Cropped_180dpi_Sharp” - if not, I do not bother to save it as
files of this size quickly use up disc space. I also save them as Tif files and not Jpegs. I am
now ready to print!
My image has a landscape rotation, but the paper in the printer is portrait, so I rotate it as
follows...
Image->Rotate Canvas->90 CW...
...then...
...I click File->Print with Preview.....and the Print with Preview dilogue box pops open.
Using the Print with Preview option gives me much more control over the output.
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Step 7
I click on the Page Set-up button, then when that dialogue opens, I click the Printer button to
check that I’m going to print to the right printer. Having clicked the OK button...
... I then select the paper size from Paper Size drop-down menu. In this case I’ve set it to
Super A3. I click the OK button and I return to the the Print with Preview dialogue box.
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Step 8
Now I make sure the Show More Options radio button is selected and I choose the Colour
Management option. Colour Management is key - it controls the way in which the colours I
see on my monitor (which is regularly and properly colour-calibrated) with those on my prints.
To help match all these variables Adobe and the printer
manufacturers use Colour
Profiles which let me control
the way in which the printer
prints to the paper/media.
Some people control colour
by trial and error, or they
create their own colour profiles, but I prefer to let Adobe
and Epson do it for me as
they’ve invested millions of
dollars in getting this subject
right!
When I installed my Epson
printer I also installed a number of Colour Profiles which
are accessible from the Profile pop-up menu in the Print
Space section of the Print
dialogue box.
I choose the Colour Profile
named ‘Pro4000 Archival
Matte’ - why? Because I’m
using an Epson 4000 and I’m
printing on Archival Matte
paper. If was printing to
Glossy, or Canvas I’d have
chosen the profile that
matched that type of paper.
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Step 9
This Step involves getting the image scaled properly for the size of paper I’m going to use i.e.
Super A3. I do this in one of two ways. I can either click the Fit to Media option, as has been
done here; or...
... I can enter a percentage in the Scale box, here I’ve set it to 60%. If you make sure you
have the Show Bounding Box radio button checked, you can grab a corner of the image in the
Preview Pane and make the image smaller or bigger.
At the end of this Step, I press the Print button in the top right-hand corner of the Print
dialogue box.
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Step 10
On clicking the Print button, the Epson print dialogue pops open - see the screen-grab
below...
...and I now click the Properties button and Epson 4000
Properties box opens - see the screen-grab to the right.
The first thing I do is to double-check that the parameters
I set earlier are all as I would expect them to be - I always
double-check because every now and again and for no
obvious reason they change. For this Main Tab (see the
screen-grab to the right) I check that the Media Type is
Archival Matte and that the Print Preview radio button at
the bottom is on.
I then click the Paper Tab and check that the Paper
Source is right; that the Paper Size is right; that the
Orienatation is right; and that the Printable Area is set
to Centred - see the screen-grab to the left.
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Next, I click the Main Tab and go to the Custom option under the Mode section and click it...
...and this opens-up an button with Advanced written on it, and I click that too and it takes
me to the...
...Advanced section of the Espon 4000 Printer Properties.
If you’re still with me at this stage - well done - but please note these final couple of clicks
are very important - I’m about to stop the printer from managing the colour, rather than the
Colour Profile managing the colour. I do not want two processes handling colour...
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...now I click the option that says ‘Off (No Color Adjustment)’, and I then click the OK
button. This returns me to the Epson Properties dialogue box, and I click its OK button.
Lastly I click OK on the Print dialoge box and this sends the image to the printer - at last!
One final point...the Epson Print Preview will look very odd - see below - and this is because
the Colour Profile is controlling the colour given the combination of printer and the media
type.
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