One of our fellow Piezographers,  Tracy Valleau, alerted us recently to the new Printing Policy of Adobe Photoshop CS6. From this version forward, Photoshop will no longer permit printing without Color Management.

Further, they will not permit Color Management in which an image is converted into the same space as the source space. While they plan to provide a printer utility to users who wish to print without Color Management, it is currently buggy.

CS6 Mac Print Window

Mac users who print from Photoshop and want to participate in the public Beta of CS6 can use the following workflow.

1. You should continue to work in a grayscale Gamma of 2.20 because this is the interpreted response that Piezography produces when used with the Piezography K7 profiles.
2. Before printing, convert your image to sRGB or Adobe RGB 1998 as both of these use an internal Gamma of 2.20. Leave as a grayscale and do not adjust the color.
3. Printing from CS6, select Photoshop Manages Colors and select the Wide Gamut RGB profile from the Profiles menu. This will allow Color Management to take place although it will not affect the rgb Grayscale because Adobe Wide Gamut also uses an internal Gamma of 2.20.
4. Print through QTR as usual…

We will update you when the Final version of CS6 is released or if there are subsequent Beta  releases that changes this workflow.

The Piezography Digital Negative System was developed to find a way to eliminate the artifacts produced when using color inks and the Epson printer driver to make digital negatives. The use of color inks and the Epson printer driver often produces an apparent dithering that looks like a venetian blind. While it gets mostly covered up by alternative processes on textured art papers, it can be a nuisance when making fine silver prints. And while Precision Digital Negatives system makes it easier to gain control over the color inks, it can not eliminate the digital artifacts. The digital artifacts are a result of using the Epson dithering system on so few color inks.

By using only Piezography monochromatic inks, and printing from the QuadTone RIP using the special Piezography QTR Pictorico “curves”, a film positive/negative can be produced that is absolutely free of artifacts. Further, Piezography Digital Film looks like and acts like a conventional silver negative. It is based upon the principles of blocking all light, rather than some portions of the UV band. As such, the photographer or printmaker can rely on the continuous tone Piezography digital film and select their desired maximum opacity by selecting one of the special QTR curves we provide.

The resultant film necessarily produces a specular and maximum printed black when the silver print is made. The tone between these two points will be long and smooth and free of artifacts. Because the film is always consistent, contrast and expressive control of the final print can be controlled by a simple Photoshop adjustment.

The Piezography Digital Negative system was developed independently of the Piezography printing system. They share several ink components. However, the Piezography Digital Negative (PZDN) system uses two shades of ink that are not used in the printing system. These two shades are 2.5 and 4.5.  Further, the original PZDN system has some shades of ink in different positions than does the Piezography printing system. As a result, an independent system of curves was produced for QTR and this required a user to dedicate a printer to one or the other.

This update is a way to use the two systems together by swapping out two ink positions and using newly reorganized QTR curves when one wants to make digital negatives – and then swapping back in the two original Piezography ink positions in order to make prints.

II. Digital Negative Methodology 3 Update

In order to use both systems this way an extra Magenta and Light Black cartridge are used. These cartridges are filled with the special half-shade inks of PZDN: shade 2.5  in the Magenta position and shade 4.5 in the Light Black position. These cartridges should be marked so that they are not confused with the regular Piezography shades 6 and 4. The reorganized QTR curves have names that start with PZDN-X800-Meth3. Two of the individual ink curves from the original Piezography Digital Negative curves have also been swapped in order to accommodate this update. These are individual ink curves C and LK. They are swapped in order to match the original Piezography ink set when used with the Piezography Digital Negative special shades 2.5 and 4.5.

The above is a schematic of one of the newly reorganized QTR curves showing which two ink curves have been swapped.

After the replacement of ink shades 6 and 4 with 2.5 and 4.5, these special curves can be used to make digital negatives using Jon Cone’s Digital Negative Methodology 3. The printer will not be able to make traditional Piezography prints until the original shades have been restored. It is important that you mark these two extra cartridges with the correct shade so that you do not confuse them with the regular Piezography shades 4 & 6 which are not used with Digital Negatives. It will be up to you to keep track of which ink subset is installed.

The new QTR curves can be used with the Epson R2400, R2880, PRO 3800, 3880, 4800, 4880, 7800, 7880, 9800, 9880, 7890, 9890. With the R2400 and R2880 printers it is necessary only to perform a head cleaning after changing the two ink carts.

With the PRO printers, it is necessary to either perform an INIT FILL or 3 POWER CLEANS in order to bring fresh ink to the print heads. However, a special ink purge target can be used in QuadTone RIP’s Calibration mode to swap out these two ink positions. Please follow the instructions below to purge your PRO printer after installing shades 2.5 and 4.5, or when returning the printer to regular Piezography printing. It is easier to perform an INIT FILL or POWER CLEANS on PRO printers. But, these operations consume inks in all positions. So we provide a QTR Calibration mode purge as an option.

III. Digital Negative Methodology 1 Update

Methodology 1 is designed for alternative processes or anywhere a film with an opacity up to 3.0 is desirable. It utilizes seven shades of ink. It replaces shades 2 and 4 with shades 2.5 and 5.5.  Methodology 3 is better suited to making silver prints because it produces a  film with much less optical density (1.80 maximum). 

In order to use both the Methodology 1 Digital Negative system and the Piezography printing system in one printer it will be necessary to have an additional Cyan and Magenta cartridge. These cartridges are filled with the special half-shade inks of PZDN: shade 2.5  in the Cyan position and shade 4.5 in the Magenta position. These cartridges should be marked so that they are not confused with the regular Piezography shades 2 and 4. The reorganized QTR curve name is PZDN-X800-Meth1.quad. While the Methodology 3 curves have actually been reorganized, this curve has simply been re-named.

After the replacement of ink shades 2 and 4 with 2.5 and 4.5, the PZDN-X800-Meth1.quad curve can be used to make digital negatives using Jon Cone’s Digital Negative Methodology 1. The printer will not be able to make traditional Piezography prints until the original shades have been restored. It is important that you mark these two extra cartridges with the correct shade so that you do not confuse them with the regular Piezography shades 2 & 4 which are not used with Digital Negatives. It will be up to you to keep track of which ink subset is installed.

The new QTR curve can be used with the Epson R2400, R2880, PRO 3800, 3880, 4800, 4880, 7800, 7880, 9800, 9880, 7890, 9890. With the R2400 and R2880 printers it is necessary only to perform a head cleaning after changing the two ink carts.

With the PRO printers, it is necessary to either perform an INIT FILL or 3 POWER CLEANS in order to bring fresh ink to the print heads. However, a special ink purge target can be used in QuadTone RIP’s Calibration mode to swap out these two ink positions. Please follow the instructions below to purge your PRO printer after installing shades 2.5 and 4.5, or when returning the printer to regular Piezography printing. It is easier to perform an INIT FILL or POWER CLEANS on PRO printers. But, these operations consume inks in all positions. So we provide a QTR Calibration mode purge as an option.

IV. Install Curves

In order to use the Digital Negative option on a regular Piezography ink system you will need to use special curves that produced linearized density on Pictorico OHP film. These curves can be installed by following this instruction:

1. Unzip the PZDN-X800-digneg.zip file.
2. There will be five curves, a read me file (this instructions), and a QTR Calibration mode purge image.
3. Drag and drop only the five curves into the following folder location:
   (Windows) C\ProgramFiles\QuadToneRIP\QuadTone\Printer Model-K7 (where K7 is either the 2400, 2880, 3800, 3880, 4800, 4880, 7800, 7880, 7890, 9800, 9880, or 9890 printers)
   (Mac) /Applications/QuadToneRIP/Profiles/Printer Model-K7*  (where K7 is either the 2400, 2880, 3800, 3880, 4800, 4880, 7800, 7880, 7890, 9800, 9880, or 9890 printers)*NOTE: With Mac users, you must uninstall your Quad printer model then reinstall it using the install.command located in the same folder you placed the new curve in. This will show the new curve in QuadTone RIP.

V. Shades 2.5 and 4.5 installation

The Piezography Digital Negative Methodology 3 method uses only five shades of ink: Shades 2, 2.5, 3, 4.5 and 5. This ink set differs from the regular Piezography K7 ink set by eliminating shades 1, 4, 6, & 7. By using special curves and only two additional cartridges, digital negatives for silver print can be made. You should follow the instructions for filling your additional M (or VM) and LK cartridges with shades 2.5 and 4.5.  These instructions are available with your cartridge.

The Piezography Digital Negative Methodology 1 method uses seven shades of ink: Shades 1, 2.5, 3, 4.5,  5, 6 & 7. This ink set differs from the regular Piezography K7 ink set by eliminating shades 2 and 4 and replacing them with shades 2.5 and 4.5. By using a special curve and only two additional cartridges, digital negatives for alternative process can be made.  You should follow the instructions for filling your additional C and M (or VM) cartridges with shades 2.5 and 4.5.  These instructions are available with your cartridge.

Depending upon whether you have a desktop printer (R2400 or R2880) or a PRO printer, you will need to perform either a simple head cleaning in the desktop or a more robust purging of the inks in the PRO printers. The purging in the PRO printers is either to run three POWER CLEAN operations or an INIT FILL, or to follow our special QTR purge instructions below. The QTR purge is much less wasteful of ink.

Shades 2.5 and 4.5 can not be used for regular Piezography printer. You will need to follow the same ink change purge to return your printer to regular Piezography printing.

VI. Purge regular shades from printer and replace with digital negative shades

For the Epson R2400 and R2880 printers you can perform one simple head cleaning after swapping the two ink carts.

For the Epson PRO 3800, 3880, 4800, 4880, 7800, 7880, 9800, 9880, 7890, 9890 you must remove all of the previous inks from these two new positions by either performing an INIT FILL or three POWER CLEANS. Both of these operations will purge ink from all of the installed inks. While this is quite easy, it is also wasteful of the other ink positions. So we provide as an option a QTR Calibration mode purge procedure.

QTR Calibration mode purge instructions:

Above is the purge image for preparing the printer for Methodology 1 ink shades subset, or returning the printer to Piezography K7 after using the Methodology 1 ink set.

Mac:

There are different ways to print the purge image depending upon your version of Photoshop.

With Photoshop CS4 and above

1. Open the PZDN-X800-Meth3-inkpurge.tif image in Photoshop and select “Leave as is (don’t color manage)” in the Missing Profile window.
2. Assign sRGB to the image using Edit/Assign Profile.
3. When you select Print from the File Menu, set the K7 version of your printer as your printer model from the Printer List pull down menu.
4. Under the Color Management Pane of the Print window, Select Document. The profile must be sRGB or go back and make sure that you assigned sRGB to the purge file (step 2).
5. Select Photoshop Manages Color in the Color Handling pull down list
6. In the Profile pull down list select sRGB as the profile and choose Perceptual with Black Point option.
7. Click on Print Settings Button to select the QuadTone RIP from the pull down list (layout).
8. In the Mode pull down list, select QuadTone RIP Calibration (which will gray out the three curve pull down lists).
9. Select 100% Calibration Ink Limit if printing on scrap heavyweight, coated/print paper or about 50-80% if printing on uncoated, very thin or typing paper.
10. Select the paper feed: either sheet or roll
11. 1440dpi is fine to select for this purpose, bi-directional will print faster than uni-directional.
12. Click Save.
13. Click the Print button to print this purge page.
14. Repeat 3 – 13 until you can see that the inks have been fully swapped out. I will be obvious.

Photoshop CS3 or below

1. Open the PZDN-X800-Meth3-inkpurge.tif image in Photoshop and select “Leave as is (don’t color manage)” in the Missing Profile window.
2. Select the K7 version of your printer as your printer model then select the paper size you wish to print on in the Page Setup window.
3. In the Print with Preview window, select No Color Management in the Color Handling pull down list then push Print to continue.
4. In the Print popup window, change the Copies & Pages pull down list to QuadTone RIP.
5. In the Mode pull down list, select QuadTone RIP Calibration (which will gray out the three curve pull down lists).
6. Select 100% saturation if printing on scrap heavyweight, coated/print paper or about 50-80% if printing on uncoated, very thin or typing paper.
7. Select the paper feed: either sheet or roll
8. 1440dpi is fine to select for this purpose, bi-directional will print faster than uni-directional.

Windows:

1. Open QTR version 2.7.2 or higher
2. Select the paper size you wish to print on
3. Select Tools> Options> Calibration Mode, which will automatically open an ink separation image file.
4. Open the PZDN-X800-Meth3-inkpurge.tif image by selecting File> Open (this image is a very specific RGB color, which controls the M and LK channels when printed thru QTR’s calibration mode)
5. Select 100% saturation if printing on scrap heavyweight, coated/print paper or about 50-80% if printing on uncoated, very thin or typing paper.
6. Select the paper feed: either sheet or roll
7. 1440dpi is fine to select for this purpose
8. bi-directional will print faster than uni-directional

VI. Using Piezography Digital Negative Methodology 3 (for silver print)

The process of making digital negatives is quite easy because we have taken all the curve making work out of the equation. The most difficult process of QTR is making a smooth output film that does not have visible dots nor venetian blind patterns nor harsh crossovers in the ink transitions.  These curves produce very smooth, dotless, linear output on Pictorico OHP and Utra OHP film. When you look at a Piezography Digital Negative it looks very much like its silver counterpart including the printed film base+ fog. In fact, it acts very much like a silver negative in that it blocks out light in a continuous tone manner. All you need to do is supply a vacuum frame for the sharpest contact printing.

The curves use a simple nomenclature to identify the maximum film density. Each of the five curves ends with a density signifier from 1_4 to 1_8 which represent film densities of 1.40 to 1.80.

Methodology 3 is designed for digital negatives and alternative process film that require maximum film density of 1.80 or less. Methodology 1 is for alternative process requiring film density up to 3.00 and utilizes another ink set.

The basics of using the Methodology 3 system are to identify the film density required. Many darkroom printers know this number like the back of their hand because they use a densitometer in the darkroom to measure their traditional silver negatives. But, many darkroom printers have gained expertise without knowing the density limits of their film negs. Most traditional silver fiber and RC papers use a negative with a maximum film density of about 1.60. This maximum film density what produces a specular highlight.  The dMin produced by these special curves mimics film base+ fog or about 0.27 and this is used to produce the maximum black in the silver print.

Push button Piezography Digital Negative

The goal therefore is to be able to print the entire range of tone between these dMin and dMax of the film. Another way of saying it is that the print’s final dMax (maximum black) is dependent upon the digital negative’s dMin and the print’s final dMin (paper white) is dependent upon the digital negative’s dMax. Between Piezography Digital Negative and traditional chemically developed silver film, this is exactly the same. And this is why Piezography Digital Film looks very much like a silver negative.

My recommendation is to begin by printing a 21 step density strip negative with the PZDN-X800-Meth3-1_6.quad curve. This film should then be contact frame exposed at your normal time and the resultant print developed at your normal time. Examine the results to see if you need more or less dMax in order to produce a white at one end of the scale and a black at the other. By balancing the PZDN curve selected, with the exposure time, and development time – you will be able to create a very consistent system. Sometimes it is beneficial to make a 21 step on a single piece of film with each curve. The five strips can easily fit onto a single sheet of Pictorico OHP which can then be contact printed. It only takes about 30 seconds of drying by an electric hair dryer before you can contact print it. Remember to reverse your image. You want the ink side of the film to be in contact with the silver paper.

The film output will be perfectly smooth. However, you may need to make an adjustment in Photoshop to the mid-point in order to calibrate your digital image to the contrast characteristics of the print process. One Photoshop curve can be used to dial in the 21 step strip this way whether you use one mid-point or as many points allowed by Photoshop. This is your compensation curve for images, so that when you produce a digital negative it produces a print that has contrast the way you envision. Once you have a Photoshop curve to produce the contrast (or Gamma response) that you prefer, you simply apply this to your inverted images before making a Piezography Digital Negative. There really is not much more to it.

VII. Using Piezography Digital Negative Methodology 1 (for alt process requiring high optical density film)

This method is best for alternative process which requires a film optical density from 2.00 to 3.00. The process of making digital negatives is quite easy because we have taken all the curve making work out of the equation. The most difficult process of QTR is making a smooth output film that does not have visible dots nor venetian blind patterns nor harsh crossovers in the ink transitions.  These curves produce very smooth, dotless, linear output on Pictorico OHP and Utra OHP film. When you look at a Piezography Digital Negative it looks very much like its silver counterpart including the printed film base+ fog. In fact, it acts very much like a silver negative in that it blocks out light in a continuous tone manner. All you need to do is supply a vacuum frame for the sharpest contact printing.

There is only one QTR curve for this method called PZDN-X800-Meth1.quad. This curve will produce a film with long smooth tone and tens of thousands of gray levels. Because it reproduces so many gray levels, you need only limit your output file to the amount of density that your process requires. For example, you can produce a standard 21 step density wedge and look for the limits that your process requires. These output points are selected using a Photoshop Curve or the Levels tool. A good explanation of this process is found here.

What is Piezography2?

Since 2005, Piezography systems have been based upon using all of the available ink slots in a printer in order to maximize the fidelity. Most of the printers we support have eight or more ink slots. Some have only six (such as the R1400 and R1430), and some of the older printers have only seven. While Epson uses only three shades of black in order to render a black & white print, the philosophy behind Piezography has been to use more shades of black ink in order to render tens of thousands of gray levels in the final print in order to maximize fidelity and resolution.

Piezography K7 inks use up seven slots and this has traditionally left one additional cartridge slot with nothing to put in it but PiezoFlush to keep the unused print head from drying out.

This eighth slot could be used with Piezography Gloss Overprint and the matte black can be switched to Piezography photo black for glossy printing. We’ve been supporting that solution already for several years. However, it is often inconvenient to switch from matte black to photo black and back and forth during a printing session. It can also waste a lot of expensive ink.

When we released the Piezography MPS (Master Piezography System) for the Epson 3800 and 3880 printers, these printers had enough ink slots to have both matte and photo black, six additional shades of black,  as well as the Piezography GO installed all at the same time. With an Epson R3000 or the Pro 7900/9900 printers we have that luxury, too. This gave us the idea to make a system for older generation printers and new printers with fewer ink slots that could function in the same way as the MPS systems.

So, for the Epson 2400, 2880, 4800, 4880, 7800, 7880, 7890, 9800, 9880 and 9890 printers we have made a solution that will allow both matte and glossy printing in one system and does not require black ink changes. That solution is Piezography2. The basics are that we are dropping the shade 7 in favor of running PiezographyK6 with both matte and photo blacks and the GO installed. In order to do this, we had to develop new master curves and to produce new curves libraries for these supported printers. You only have to choose the correct QTR curve to change between the matte and the photo black. And that has taken us some time! Those who have already been running Piezography2 received custom curves for their setup. The release is planned for April 28.

Piezography2 Inks layout in an Epson 7880

What about the R1400 and the new R1430?

This is an extraordinary printer family with such a tiny drop size that we have run Piezography K6 on these systems which are comparable with K7 running on a $5,000 Epson PRO 9900 printer! So, it is easy to convert these to a K5 system with GO installed in the sixth slot. The matte and photo black cartridges are easily swapped out to make a Piezography2 system.

Piezography 2 allows users of all these supported printers to have the same freedom of matte/glossy use as do our customers on the Epson 3800/3880 and Pro 7900/9900 printers.

So, is it good enough?

It’s way better than good enough! The six shades are still twice as many than Epson’s three black system. Piezography2 adds two additional shades for the shadow end and one additional shade in the highlights in direct comparison to ABW.  But, Piezography is so much more than Epson’s ABW. ABW is really good inkjet. Piezography is photographic printmaking, and it does not have any of the tell-tale signs of inkjet. Piezography2 is about producing a higher standard than the OEM, but with more flexibility and ease of use.

Upgrade Paths

The upgrade is actually quite easy. You would need only to replace the inks in two cartridge positions. You could chase out the old ink with a special Calibration target in calibration mode in QTR, or you could Power Clean the printer to introduce the new inks. It isn’t difficult. You will need new carts and new inks for these two positions. We will give you the full details when we release.

In the analogue days of old it was drilled into us by our teachers that a darkroom print required a strong black and a white. Yet, they never literally meant that. They attempted to get us to see contrast in order to awaken our senses. We needed a strong white and a strong black in order to first see that. Then, those same areas in the print became less desirable as we consciously began to see and to express light. Fine printing became more about the vast possibility of grays. It is often easy to forget how difficult it is to finely tune a print, and how easy it is to make contrast.

Carole Seborovski, Three Black Bars, 1986. Aquatint gravure from charcoal drawn tissue plates. Printed and Published by Cone Editions.

dMax really changed for me back in the 1980′s when I was printing aquatint photogravure  for painters and photographers. Etching black ink has a way of forever transforming dMax into something more substantive than absolute black. I had many different black pigments in my studio back then. Each had its own quality. Some were often too dark.

I believe dMax can be characterized in two ways. 1) It is the darkest black that is possible to produce given a specific technique/materials. 2) It is the darkest black that one chooses to generate given a specific technique/materials. These two can be mutually exclusive, and the latter does not necessarily conclude that it is less dark than the former.

dMax perhaps, should be just black enough to support the content. Like torqueing a bolt with a wrench until the threads strip, and then backing off a half-turn. That’s the target for me.

Sometimes, I do pay more attention to producing a definite black. But, I don’t do so at the expense of the near blacks. I have a technique I use that I have mentioned before that allows me to draw dMax out of the deepest darks while preserving the detail of near black. It’s especially useful when no black actually exists in the image file.

Piezography can only print dMax when a pixel value is at LØ, or RGB 0,0,0, or 100%K.

L1 prints lighter. L2, just lighter than L1. That’s one of the greatest features of Piezography: how deliberate one must be in order to print absolute black. Piezography is unique in being able to produce such a wide tonal latitude and to define it with such a huge amount of both highlight and shadow detail.

That simply is not something that Minor White, nor Ansel Adams, nor even my teacher Arnold Gassan could have achieved in silver. I mean no disrespect to these Masters. I just comment on silver’s reluctance to render detail at the toe and shoulder. This is precisely the areas in which Piezography uniquely out prints any other system.

And while silver quickly forms black, Piezography easily differentiates right up to the point of sliding into dMax. So, when I print Piezography I am reluctant to force detail to black that would otherwise print with beautiful differentiation. Then I am reminded by one who I used to print for that told me “nothing really interesting happens in the shadows, so just let it all go black!” And in Piezography if you want black, you just need to make sure that you have a lot of LØ pixels.

Cathy Cone, White Line, 2012. Piezography Warm Neutral on Canson Rag Photographique. Printed at Cone Editions.

I think about dMax in Piezography as a black that is supporting content. I don’t actually have to have a dMax and a specular. Sometimes (even often), a strong black detracts from the beauty of the grays. In White Line by Cathy Cone, the print was made without a true black. In this example, strong black would have destroyed the light that was difficult to originally capture. The darkest areas of the image are in the high L40′s. While some people might consider the image to be lacking dMax, its dMax was very deliberately chosen and defined as only a very dark gray.

For me, dMax is optional rather than requisite. Many of my own landscapes simply do not have a white point and a black point. Seldom in nature do I shoot on such bright and contrasty days that this is imposed on me. And mostly, I love shadow detail that goes on forever.

“I wanna see it painted black, painted black
Black as night, black as coal”

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, 1966

Black itself is a context. I really like printing on a handmade paper of 50/50 kozo and cotton. It is highly absorbent and it doesn’t have an inkjet pre-coating like nearly all inkjet papers. By pre-heating this paper and printing with a very unique combination of inks, I am able to hit a dMax of 1.40. And it “feels” hugely black in relation to the print.

Standard Piezography matte printing can reach into the high 1.60‘s on some papers like JonCone Studio Type 2, Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, and Canson Rag Photographique. And some printmakers use a special but now rare and discontinued black ink (Piezography Portfolio Black) to hit the 1.80‘s on these papers.

Piezography Glossy can easily reach into the 2.80‘s on many different papers. When I make Piezography translits for customers, I hit 3.00 nervana! So, dMax is attainable.

But, keep in mind with Piezography that dMax is measured at absolute black – and absolute black is measured only by pixel values LØ (or RGB 0,0,0). While your display image may seem black, it may only be an illusion from too bright a display. Too bright equals too black. But, it is quite easy to determine if you actually have a strong black in your image using either the Histogram or the Levels tool in Photoshop.

When you open the Histogram window or palette in Photoshop it gives you a direct analysis of the pixels in your image in its current state.

In the example above I have placed the Photoshop Histogram on top of a slightly over-exposed digital capture from my Canon 5D MKII. I have positioned the mouse/cursor over the Level Ø value and it returns that I have a “Count” of 4,092 pure black pixels (Level Ø), which out of 21,026,304 Pixels is a mere 0.02% Percentile. Just doing the math, there simply is not enough pure black to make a visual reference in the print as dMax or maximum black. And as you may have gathered, I am totally fine with this because that is the dMax and it is subtle. This is how I shoot. I can repair the sky where it is overblown (notice the huge jump in pixels at the far left Level 255). Yet, the image “looks” like it has a lot of black in the tree trunks on the left hand side.

They aren’t black at all. The image is being Soft Proofed with an ICC profile for Carbon Glossy inks on JonCone Studio Type 5. The trees are actually in the L27 range…nicely very dark gray. If I wanted to print a lot of black, which I don’t, I may be disappointed. Luckily, I’m a fan of dark grays and near blacks.

Another way of looking for dMax, and one which is more visually intuitive, is to look at the image black levels using the black point Input slider of the Levels tool. When Levels is opened as in the illustration below, the same histogram is presented in the Levels Window.

If you press the alt or option key while clicking the mouse on the Levels black point Input slider, the display image will show white except for those pixels that are at or below the Input level selected. In this case in the illustration below, an Input Level of 0 reveals that the 4,092 pure black pixels are incredibly hard to notice.

In fact, I need to click and drag the black point Input slider while simultaneously pressing the alt or option key to nearly the Level 22 point before I actually notice a sizeable amount of pixels. This Level 22 area however represents 94.5% gray. You can see this in the illustration below.

So, my choices here? Live with endless gorgeous ever darkening grays, or compress everything from 94.5% to 100% together in order to form a larger mass of pure 100% black. I can do so if I choose with or without regards to the other grays near 94.5%. Or, I could just leave gorgeous near blacks be. I think by now, the reader can foretell my choice. Though, I may be tempted to finesse something in between these two choices with my technique.

Mapping dMax to dMax, or how my display dismays

So then…what about the relationship of the density range in a digital image between dMin and Dmax – and the print? That’s a loaded question. It’s loaded because the print is a definite. The image file is a definite. The display however, can be all over the place. Therefore the relationship between dMin/dMax of the display image to print can easily be askew.

For those who use hardware calibration like the Eizo CG series it is easy to get very, very close as long as they are willing to calibrate to print. But, for those using ordinary LCD/LED displays via software calibration through the video board (e.g. datacolor, x-rite), it can be hugely challenging. Calibration has been well-covered on this blog and not much has changed since.

The short of it is that the contrast of a print cannot be dialed up because there is no luminance level adjustment knob on a print to make the paper brighter and the ink darker. Using non-calibrated displays and staring at images through a blast of light makes it difficult to judge dMax when dark grays appear black on the display. The resultant print therefore “seems” to be lacking in dMax. But, it isn’t. The image file is lacking in dMax, but the display or the way it is calibrated does not reveal this to the viewer.

While a CG model Eizo can be adjusted to match the contrast ratio of a print, many other LCD/LED displays cannot. Buying a software calibration system from x-rite or datacolor necessarily decreases the fidelity of the computer’s video board which these software use to “calibrate” ordinary displays. While the instrument is placed on the display, the software actually changes and limits the video board in order to make the display “calibrated”. This necessarily reduces the output from 8/24 bit on the video board. Software calibration is better than doing nothing, but it is not a substitute for a true hardware calibrator display such as the CG Eizo. So, this is the rock and hard place.

It is really not advised to put tons of imaging work into files on uncalibrated systems, especially if the output is not matching. You really should only be editing images on systems which have displays matched to the output.

By example, we image at Cone Editions on hardware calibrated 10bit Eizo displays that are as bright as our viewing booths which are located just adjacent to the displays. The viewing booths have dimmers and 5000k light sources. Our displays are calibrated to 5000k, Gamma 2.2 with a luminance about 88. We choose 5000k because this is the light source which humans see as achromatic (neither redder, nor bluer, nor greener). 5000k is the white point (or white color temperature) which the standard human observer sees as “neutral” and can best judge color differences with. We choose Gamma 2.2 because this is the contrast at which Piezography prints. The room is very dark – mostly illuminated by the light of the display and the dimmed viewing booth. We know not to wear bright colored clothing, lest we see it reflecting off the display and “coloring” our judgement. This may sound extreme, but it is actually the standard viewing condition in nearly all professional print environments. Prints that we put in our viewing booth look uncannily like the images displayed on the Eizo when we view them through a SoftProof ICC. 100% accurate? No. We’re satisfied in getting within 95-97% accuracy.

Not to rewrite a calibration article, but a display needs to be calibrated to print. The average LCD has a luminance level over 200. The average luminance level of a correctly calibrated display (for print) is under 90. Once a display is calibrated to about the same contrast ratio of ink on paper, it can be used to judge contrast, tonality, dMin and dMax. To perfect it, a SoftProof ICC can be used to preview the image in Photoshop (and someday in Lightroom). The SoftView ICC is created using the QTR CreateICC and a spectro such as the X-Rite i1. The ICC records not only the current linearization of tone in the Piezography print, but also the paper color and how it effects the highlight shades, and it also reduces the black on the display to look like the dMax on the paper. When the ICC is selected in Photohop’s View/Proof Setup, the grayscale images turns into the color of the Piezography ink complete with highlights and dMax correct to the printed results.

SoftProofs take some getting used to. Truly, calibrated displays take some getting used to. If you think about it…when you image on an uncalibrated display you are imaging with a contrast ratio that may be as high as 800:1. Bright and sexy! When you print on matte paper you may see a contrast ratio of 250:1 in the print. On glossy this may increase to 400-450:1. Human visual systems can not possibly map dMin/dMax from uncalibrated displays to their equivalents in ink and paper. Incidentally, the SoftProof accuracy is limited by the quality of the calibration of the display. A SoftProof on an Eizo CG will be substantially more accurate than a Spyder calibration on a Mac LCD.

I tend to buy the best display, rather than the most expensive imaging station.

Just wanted to mention…

Minor White, Haags Alley, Rochester

What if years ago, an image that was captured on silver film could have been transposed onto a projector of sorts where endless tweaking and turning of knobs could have transformed the latent image into anything in real time prior to committing it to silver paper…would that actually have been appealing to Minor White?

It is so easy to rationalize that White would have used these tools were they available, or would have embraced digital were it available. But, they weren’t. And we don’t know if we would have accepted or rejected them when film was still available. Contemplative photography was not a bi-product of digital imaging.

Light reflecting off ink and transmitting through a display are so vastly different from each other. They even require different parts of our brain to visualize.

For 200 years right up until the 1990s, the Print was so dominant in the life of nearly every photographer. Today it seems more like Adobe has become the dominant factor in Photography. I still believe that fine prints come from fine printmaking, and that printing should not be an “output” activity. I’m so old school that it’s embarrassing.

I know that most Photoshop masters teach Photoshop mastery and that it is very difficult for photographers to learn digital printmaking when all their best efforts never seem to match the output. Photoshop is actually a virtual space (no matter who told you what to the contrary). The output if printed correctly, is actually the reality. I do not know how Adobe gained such dominance over printing. It wasn’t always that way, I can assure you.

One way to gain mastery over the printer is to revert to a little old school digital.

Ask yourself if you know the L values in your digital images. There are 256 of them. Only LØ produces dMax in Piezography. Only L255 produces dMin (paper white) in Piezography. You should know the range of LØ-L31 like the back of your hand. You should also know the range of L240-L255. These are the Photoshop struggle zones. This is where you adjust your shadow and highlight details. You should know what these values look like in print. You should know your gray values both in the image and in ink. You can start by printing the 21 and 51 step gray charts from QTR or go straight to 256.

As photographers we think, we see, we even speak in terms of gray value. There should not be guessing nor estimating what Photoshop L value produces what gray, what near black, or what near white. Printing always comes down to finite ink possibilities. Piezography is a very well designed and consistent system because of the K7 curves and über-steady QTR driver. Printing out test charts of grays is in my opinion, still critical as a first step until you know them like you knew your silver negs and silver prints. dMax is just the first gray on the chart.

What are your favorite printed grays? Where do you see gray giving over to dMax? Maybe you need to print only the grays from L15 to LØ. Can you identify these same values in your digital image? Have you set your eye dropper tool for 3×3 matrix? Is your Info palette set to Grayscale and RGB so you can see both % and L? Never close it. Unlike your display, it will never mislead you.

I know that dMax is desirable, but L2 and L3 are to die for! Are you willing to sacrifice gorgeous near blacks because because you are supposed to have a strong black in order to have a “good” print? This I believe, is what Minor White would have wanted to explore. These are ranges of near black and near white that silver fiber paper has never been able to resolve. These are the extra Zones – and there are tons of them. You should protect them. Don’t let staring into the light of a display convince you they’re unneeded or might look better darker. Let the print be your guide in that.

Do I know what I am proposing? you ask….  In fact, I do. I’m asking you to make a proof before you begin editing. I’m asking you to mark it up as to how you want it to be…and I realize that means contemplating it. Then, I am asking you to consult your printed gray charts to give you an idea of your target values and make these adjustments in Photoshop with respect to the values in the Info window using your Eyedropper (although the cursor of any tool is an eyedropper). Then make another proof and contemplate. Glory be! I just gave you your darkroom back. And it will make you a more skilled imager (for print). Truly it will. At some point, you’ll even understand your display better.

I’m a tough one to ask about dMax because I seldom chase it. Yet my whole printmaking experience evolves around it.

I’ve been on her mailing list and I often get workshop announcements. In November I got an announcement that instantly caught my attention: new Vintage Tintypes Workshop with Bonny Pierce Lhotka and Carrie Neher Lhotka. I signed up for it right away. This would be the first workshop that I have attended ever! I have been giving digital printmaking workshops since 1992. Before that, I taught aquatint gravure workshops, etching workshops, screenprint workshops, and experimental printmaking workshops. I’ve been teaching since 1987, and yet never once took a recharge for my own self.

The Digital Tintype blew me away as a concept. I’ve been shooting dark and moody lately…printing dark and moody lately and I had this vision of some type of distortion of context that I might be able to produce if I could make digital tintypes. I didn’t have much of an idea of what to expect – but I did have a concept of what I had hoped for in my own work. I wanted to move into a realm that confused technology with historical tradition with the hope that I might be able to make transcendent photographs on metal.

Lhotka’s studio is called DASS (digital art studio seminars) and she is all about sharing information and knowledge. Her studio is located in Boulder, Colorado in an enormous purpose-built facility that features loads of natural light, super high ceilings and tons and tons of available workspace for workshop attendees.

I arrived just early enough to grab a little private Bonny time, but not early enough to interfere (I hope) with the setup time. I wanted mostly to walk around and get a feeling for Bonny’s studio. That tells me a lot about someone and what to expect and how I can either plop into or skirt around. Bonny’s studio is one in which you can just plop right into and do your thing. It’s totally comforting and it feels totally like it’s there for everyone to do their own thing. It’s roomy although completely filled with the stuff that one uses to make art by hand.

Bonny Lhotka's Studio

In a way it doesn’t actually feel like a digital studio. It’s not filled with computers. It doesn’t have special displays and arrays of hard drives spinning. The lighting is not controlled and the printers, while there, are often hidden under art materials. In this studio, it is the art material that is front stage and center and the printers take a back seat. It’s not about output nor inkjet printing here. It’s about what can you do with the output and this output is almost exclusively on film that is transferred to other media and other objects. The printers are there to put ink onto transfer materials. It’s about what happens to that ink that is magical. That magical process is many times removed from the printer once it begins to manifest.

Beam me up Scottie! A self contained digitally driven laser!

Yet – there in the middle of the main studio room sits the object of envy for any digital printmaker. Bonny has a laser. There was a time that I would have tattooed beam me up scotty on my forehead to own a laser. I had so many plans I wanted to do. It’s wonderful to see that Bonny uses it to make work that one can only dream about doing without one. But, that hopefully will be a whole other workshop.

Bonny makes her super secret "Super Sauce" recipe while Carrie looks on.

My workshop experience was wonderful. I didn’t touch a computer or a printer (well maybe a touch). I got to use my hands and my body. It was a blast – and it was physical. Bonny and daughter-in-law (custodian of Bonny’s son) are a great teaching team. Bonny is an absolute wealth of knowledge that is still expanding. Carrie keeps her on track. I don’t mind when Bonny goes off-track because she conceives possibilities on the fly that are so absolutely appropriate. Still Carrie makes sure that no one overloads or over-doses.

Making Digital Tinypes is a hybrid transfer process. The basics are that the aluminum plates need to be “cooked” to distress and age them. There is some resemblance of control in the techniques shown. We actually cooked in four different ways – all of which can be done at home with fairly simple gear. Bonny actually developed her initial cooking methods in a Bosche washing machine (which we happen to share a love of). But, it can also easily be done in an electric table roaster or in homemade designs using readily available materials. The agents for change are cleaning agents that one may actually have around the house.

Before cooking. the aluminum plates are sanded by hand and the variations of such affect how the cooking affects the plate. After cooking, the plates can be further worked with a wide variety of materials such as SOS pads, sand paper, and power tools!  But, the magic is done via Bonny’s “Super Sauce” recipe which is an extremely good transfer gel. The plates are painted with this material and before they dry, the inkjet printed film is aligned and the artwork carefully transfered. The technique seems tricky, but under Bonny and Carrie’s careful guidance it’s quite easy.

My first tintype was an old family portrait made from a photograph taken from my mother’s Zeiss Ikon when she was a young girl at Shoreham Beach in England. My second was a portrait taken of my mother when she was three years old. Instant family treasures can be made quite easily with this process. But, my real challenge was to make a tintype that I felt had some potential as a form of photographic expression. To that I began working with very dark images. I quickly realized that pre-printing all the film was a bit of a disadvantage because the process has a definite gain of about 1 or 2 stops in the mid-tones. I used my digital negative ink set and the Pictorico OHP curve.

Ellie, by Cathy Cone. Digital tintype.

If I wish to use this process in a calibrated manner I will probably produce a Piezography curve for it. But, a simple Photoshop lightening curve for the mid-tones will suffice. I made an image that I truly liked. As I show it around, many people can not decipher what it is. I see it. Others don’t quite. I’m not sure, but I think that may be a sign of success in this particular work. I wanted it to look like something aged and mysterious. It’s a portrait of a horse from a photograph by Cathy Cone. There is an outline that looks like it’s from an overlay oval cutout that frames the head…but it all melds into dark carbon. A strong light in a dim room however, reveals such a beautiful and subtle photograph.

I worked with a great group of attendees who all made such interesting work with this process. We all worked harmoniously and yet so differently from one another. It allowed me to see the range of possibilities that were possible. Aida Tejada from my home town of Miami, Florida came with a year of digital tintype experience under her belt. Still she came for more Bonny knowledge – this being her third or forth workshop at the Boulder location. Aida makes plates of mystery and then mysteriously inlays mysterious images into the distressed tin. And the photographs are totally successful. While I was literally trying to capture the historical essence of older found objects, Aida managed to turn this process into her own.

I highly recommend Bonny Lhotka’s DASS workshops. You can contact here here.

I’ve been printing on this paper continuously ever since. I’m having somewhat of a love affair with it. Each sheet is an object. Actually, each sheet is carefully inspected and measured for weight and then carefully tagged at it’s corner as a guarantee of content. The paper is very expensive. Giant eight by fourteen foot sheets cost thousands of dollars each. The sheets I have made are significantly smaller and no more than four by seven feet. Still they costs hundreds of dollars for a single sheet.

So what is it about this paper that makes artists and photographers wish to use it?

Probably the most significant factor is sheer sensuality. Paper has always been attractive to artists as an object with a look and “feel” that is essential to choice. Holding a sheet between fingers and feeling the texture is part of a sensual experience. It’s a different experience from the texture that the eye sees. These sheets weigh several pounds each. Even a 44″ x 78″ sheet weights more than 2.5 lbs. They’re objects. Thick. They can stand against the wall “Diggin’ the scene With a gangsta lean” (in the lyrics of William DeVaughn).

Forming a single large sheet

They’re thick. They’re not pulled from a vat of slurry like Western paper. These papers are moulded and scultpted with trowels. The kozo and cotton slurry is poured on and smoothed out over a giant mould. The deckle then fitted to produce what I think is the most beautiful deckles ever. And the surface texture is obviously not patterned. To the contrary, each sheet is unique.

Printed triple-thick Japanese handmade kozo/cotton

The paper is nearly 4mm thick. Can’t go through an Epson, HP or Canon. It really can’t go through my Roland. But, I modified my Roland to print this paper. I raised the print heads about the height of two pennies. I also had to raise the capping stations and the cleaning station. My Roland is a 64″ solvent printer that has been outfitted with pigment aqueous inks that I make. I choose the solvent printer because it has a paper heating base. I can heat the paper up so that the ink dries nearly on contact.

Close up of a printed image. Tons of dMax for an uncoated paper, produced by printing on the heated paper.

The paper does not have an inkjet coating to prevent bleed and spreading. Heating is essential and it allows me to increase my ink load appreciably. This paper is far more archival than the modern inkjet papers from Epson (Signature Series), Hahnemuhle digital fine art papers, Canson, Moab, etc…  The presence of an inkjet coating, much like gelatin in a silver print, will always maintain a hydroscopic presence soaking up atmospheric pollution. We know from experience, that the modern inkjet papers outgas and that they are highly susceptible to the presence of gasses around them. Some inexplicably turn yellow for no apparent reason. Some stain after coming in contact with plastics, steel, etc…

Six pure carbon shades printing on handmade...

The washi that is uncoated with an inkjet receptor coating stand a far better chance of lasting as long as the ink on them. Both Aardenburg and Wilhelm have given ratings now to inks that assume 100+ years of constant exhibition. Incidentally, I should mention that Piezography Carbon (formerly called Sepia) inks are leading all other manufacturers in longevity ratings at Aardenburg. But, currently the longevity tests only assume OBA fade.

Paper is susceptible to damage. We know that they should be acid-free and lignen-free. But, little is known about inkjet receptor coatings other than that they are hyper-sensitive to atmospheric pollution (especially at the immediate room level). So, with this thick handmade paper I feel that I am printing on a material that has the best opportunity of standing the test of time. Further, it’s expensive and substantial and these prints will never be casually handled or left about. Those who are choosing to have me print for them on it have the resources and intentions to insure that they will be acquired by and housed by collectors and museums who are conscious about the protection of works of art on paper.

For my own work, I have been printing my photography on this paper in a slowly developing style that features a deep rich black, long soft tone produced by pure carbon, and several layers of custom inks that are essentially toning agents. A very cool monochrome ink (much cooler than PiezoTone cool neutral). A very warm ink (like dirty tea). I’m not opposed to using orange pigments to alter warmth. Selenium finds its way there too in a unique way.

I work in grayscale. I manually partition or separate the grayscale into channels of information that are printed in these inks. I tie everything neatly together with a profiler I authored. I limit my inks to the maximum possible and calculate that over the presence of five or six or more channels of ink. For the Ashes and Snow projects, eleven different inks were used. Two blacks made it an even twelve. Now, I’ve simplified my process and made a system that achieves a greater range of tone and expression.

My own wok printed in ink separations simultaneously on a Roland 12 ink printer. All custom process - all custom inks.

In my own work, I am printing square paper and paper that is formatted to my Canon 5D MKII. For others, I have paper made to their choosing. Zana Briski has panorama sheets made with huge feathery deckles that protrude one to one and a half inches from the main. And for each artist or photographer I develop their own unique “inking”.

Each sheet is a container for an image or an expression. I choose to print over every possible ink by bleed printing. Some of my clients have me print with defined borders. One uses an incredibly small thin white border around his images and receives a considerable amount of after print process by a team of paper artisans. I prefer the untouched look of pigment on fiber. The surface is so sensuous. The results are more like painting then photography, but it serves photography quite well.

My process is more akin to printmaking than digital printing because of the way I partition so many inks and the effect that gives. It is maybe closer to serigraphic or lithographic separations. Much of it is seat of the pants, but some of it I have down now as a science. There just is nothing like this material to work on. While it may fall flat with conventional inkjet printing, it arises to the occasion of being courted with excessive amounts of ink and heat. It is like a love affair.

If you would like to discuss a project with me using this paper – please contact me at Cone Editions Press. We call this type of printing “extreme printing”. We now have an inventory of smaller sheets about 20″ x 30″ fitted to full type sensor digital camera files.

I prepared a 5 minute video of working with this paper for art photographer, Yatin Patel.

yatin-print-web

So, we pre-charged a few sets of refillable carts for the Epson R1400, R1800, R1900, R2400 and R2880 printers. We have only a few sets of these available. If you’ve been thinking of Carbon K7 or Carbon K6 and you have an Epson R1400, R2400 or R2880 printer available to you – this is an excellent way to try this unique ink.

“Prudent display conditions can achieve 100+ years of little or no noticeable light-induced fading for all Piezography ink sets” according to Mark McCormick-Goodhart, director of the Aardenburg Imaging & Archives. But out of all ink sets tested from OEMs and other third parties, only the Piezography Carbon ink set can meet the strict Aardenburg 100 megalux criteria in both the upper and lower ranges. If longevity is your most important concern, this is the ink that has no peer. And now you can try it in the Epson R1400 at a nominal cost.

Carbon is warm and it may not be everyone’s taste. If you like very cool prints – then Carbon is not for you. But, Piezography Carbon is so finely ground that it takes on the hue of the paper beneath it. So the ink can be warmed or cooled depending upon your choice of paper white.

In any event - click here to try this ink set in your Epson R1400 printer for under $100!

- click here to try this ink set in your Epson R1800 printer for $120!

- click here to try this ink set in your Epson R1900 printer for $120!

- click here to try this ink set in your Epson R2400 printer for $120!

- click here to try this ink set in your Epson R2880 printer for $120!

PiezoTone ink dominated the monochromatic ink market from 2002 until 2005 with tens of thousands of customers at a time when Epson had still not released any black & white solutions. PiezoTone was originally introduced as a second generation ink designed specifically for use in foam filled cartridges and in CISS systems. It was also the first 100% pigment monochromatic ink set we introduced. The printers for which this ink was initially designed included the Epson 1160 and 1520 (4 ink printers) as well as the Epson 1200, 1270 and 1280 (six ink printers.)

It had many competitors including Lyson, MediaStreet, MIS, and Sundance. At the time, no other ink could produce such a smooth and velvety appearance; zero-metamerism; nor compete with its fade resistance. It was followed by the introduction of PiezographyBW ICC, my second generation PiezographyBW System.

PiezographyBW ICC with PiezoTone inks was a fully Soft-Proofed system that hijacked Epson’s own RGB printer driver as the monochromatic ink engine when used with our newly invented PiezographyBW ICC printer profiles. A fully linearized print resulting in a perfect 1.80 Gamma. It has no peers, yet has been exceeded again with the introduction of Piezography K6 and K7.

PiezoTone inks are true quadblack inks available in four shades (hence the “quad”.) However, with PiezographyBW ICC we doubled up the light shade and medium shade installing them in the light magenta and light cyan position of Epson six ink printers. The PiezographyBW ICC caused the ink set to behave as six shades. In addition to the Epson 1200, 1270 and 1280 we introduced PiezographyBW ICC on the Epson 7000/9000 and 7500/9500 printers. Later we adapted it as a dual ink set on the seven ink Epson 4000, 7600 and 9600 printers. Many of our customers brought this ink forward into Epson 7800 and 9800 printers. A few die-hard PiezoTone addicts even brought it forward into X880 series printers.

The Piezography Profiler could be used to custom profile a customer’s printer and this version was called iQuads. Decidedly ahead of its time, very few photographers and companies were selling ICC solutions in 2005 that actually worked. PiezographyBW and iQuads not only worked, they worked beautifully. It was a quantum leap in quality from our original release of the PiezographyBW plugin and PiezographyBW Pro and were offered at a fraction of the cost.

PiezographyBW ICC was discontinued in 2007 after we released Piezography K7. Today only a few customers of PiezoTone inks remain active and they are totally dedicated to this ink. I’m one of its biggest fans. I use PiezoTone ink in my Roland 12 ink printer. The four shades give me a lot of freedom to turn a 12 ink printer into something quite complicated. But, this ink also had a quality that is not duplicated in K7.

While there is a PiezoTone Warm Neutral and a Piezography Warm Neutral K7 – the two inks are quite different. K7 is encapsulated and has significantly better head performance. PiezoTone is livelier in color tone. It is in some way for me similar to the passing of the IRIS 3047 printer. The grinding of PiezoTone pigment is to a tolerance and technique that can not be duplicated. The original grinder of this pigment notified us last week that it will no longer be able to provide this level of production for us any longer. This ink was the first ink with which we collaborated with our amazing chemist. It is in some way, hard to imagine that we were able to preserve it for so long after creating new generations of ink. But, we had such devoted followers of this ink.

Guest Blogger: Berel Lutsky Associate Professor of Art, UW-Manitowoc

Berel Lutsky received his BS in studio art with a concentration in printmaking from UW Madison, and his MFA in studio art with a concentration in printmaking and drawing from UW Milwaukee. He has taught at several UW Colleges, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Carroll University in Waukesha, and the Avni Institute in Israel. His work is public and private collections in Israel, Belgium, Japan and the US. He is currently an Associate Professor of Art at UW Manitowoc

I was introduced to the transparency inkset while doing a one-on–one workshop at Cone Editions this past summer. At the time I was impressed with the density of the printed image on the film, and recognized an opportunity that has really not been available previously for creating digital transparencies which could be used for graphic arts applications and alternative photo processes. This fall, I set out to develop a work flow for Image-on HD which would use the capabilities of this inkset. In the works are workflows for positive litho plates, cyanotype and multi-color gum bi-chromate prints. I want to thank Jon for his hard work on this inkset, and for Piezography as a whole, and for his and Dana’s help, both this summer and as I was figuring this all of this out. I was also ably aided in this entire endeavor by my student assistant Andrew Musil.

The new Piezography Digital Film transparency inkset plus a new Image-on formulation were a bit of a challenge – but, I believe  I have created a workflow  that will work consistently.  The especially good news is that the new Piezography Digital Film inkset (designed to produce backlit prints on transparent or trans lucent film)  produces a transparency that  enables  a greater range of grays than ever before.  The opacity of the ink deposit approaches that of ortho films and thus enables the formation of very light grays that are opaque enough not to overexpose the image-on at the light end of the ramp, and yields a smooth ramp of grays to  a full rich black. My previous attempts with laser printed transparencies, Epson K3 inksets, using ABW, and the Cone K6 neutral inksets all resulted in a loss of tonal range in the lighter grays – as they were not dense enough to keep the emulsion from completely hardening .  This workfow will allow you to make plates and prints that rival those made with the extremely toxic KPR  process.  Better still, this process uses no solvents, and the plates do not need to be etched and can be re-used. The harshest chemical needed is sodium carbonate (usually used to soften water and control the PH in hot tubs.)

Photogravure, Imageon-on HD, Black ink by Andy Musil

Image–On HD should be applied to the plate per the directions supplied with the product.  This process and other essential Image-On information can be found in Keith Howard’s book The Contemporary Printmaker; Intaglio Type and Acrylic Resist Etching and on various web sites.  Application of the Image-On HD should be done in a safe lit area.  It is best practice to apply the Image-On HD  about 24 hrs  ahead of time, especially if you are using a plastic plate, to ensure that the Image-On film  adheres well.  Edges should not be filed at this time  – only blunted or deburred.   Better still to avoid having to deal with “edge failure” of the Image On (it tends to chip easily at the edges) I recommend  using  a plate 1” or more larger than the paper you plan to print on.  While you will be sacrificing the plate mark – you will be guaranteeing  a pristine edge and margins  for the print.  Plate edges should be beveled and polished after the plate has been exposed developed and hardened.

Photogravure, Imageon-on HD, 3 color by Andy Musil

Your image should be prepared in Photoshop as follows:  Make whatever adjustments you need to make –  and your conversion to BW using a proof set – up  that is simply set  to a 2.2 gamma gray space profile, preferably on a calibrated monitor.  Note, these images when finally printed to paper from an inked intaglio plate will exhibit the tonal qualities of the chosen intaglio ink/paper combination and the “hand” of the printmaker.  Thus, soft proofing at this point only requires a proof set up that will give an accurate representation of the densities of the image.

My Photoshop curve

When the image is to your liking save it as a .psd with all of its layers  etc.  for future editing if need be.  Then flatten the image – add a curves adjustment layer and simply move the black output from 255 up to 128.  The rest of the curve should remain linear.  Although this might seem too simple at the outset – after careful testing of some gentle curve bending to boost the output at lighter end of the ramp, the results of tweaking the curve actually had little effect on the dark end of the ramp – and actually compressed the ramp on the lighter end  – again it is the particular qualities of this inkset  and the underlying  .quad printing curve developed by Jon Cone and supplied here that enable the linear curve to match the sensitivity of the Image-on HD.    It is this adjustment that enables a transparency that will produce a full range of intaglio grays in the Image-on film. Flatten and save the adjusted image as a TIF identifying it as needed.

Photogravure, Imageon-on HD, Black ink

Transparency should then be printed to your film though QTR, being sure to use the correct K7 printing model for your printer and the curve (NewS9aNG2b-PictoricoUPohp) supplied here.  In QTR, the resolution option should be set to 2880, printing speed option should be set to unidirectional, media option should be set to photo paper.  Your transparency should be slip sheeted and stored.  Best practice is to let the image dry overnight before exposing – this will harden the image on the film a bit and keep it from being damaged from the pressure of the vacuum or contact frame.   If you are really in a hurry – still wait for at least an hour before exposing.

Gum bichromate single color by Andy Musil

Exposure takes place in a contact or vacuum frame.  Tight contact of the transparency to the plate is extremely important. Exposure is as follows using an Olec AL 13 lamp controlled by an Olix 121 light integrator.  Units are LU (light units) which are roughly seconds. (see below for more re: exposure)  Light is set to its lowest intensity setting.

Exposure should be done in this order :

Aqua tint screen 45 LU

Flash 1.2 LU

Film Positive (prepared as described above) 60 LU

This set of timings yields a full gray ramp on a step wedge.  You may need to adjust the last exposure slightly, relative to your image –a  longer exposure will result in a lighter print, a shorter exposure will result in a darker print.    Do not adjust the exposure times for the aqua tint screen or the flash!

Gum bichromate 3 color by Andy Musil

Peel the mylar off the plate – and still develop in a covered tray for 9 minutes in a solution made by dissolving 10 grams of sodium carbonate in 1 liter of water. Note: at this point in the procedure the Image-on film is still soft and easily damaged. No agitation or other encouragement of the development process is advised.   Remove – rinse – spray with vinegar water- rinse again – removing the dissolved emulsion if need be, with gentle strokes of a clean hake brush under cold running water. The emulsion is still soft at this point and care must be taken not to damage it.  Carefully blot dry with clean newsprint and let the plate harden in room light for about 45 minutes, or expose to the UV light again for 3 minutes or so.

Gum bichromate 3 color by Andy Musil

The plate may now be inked and printed as a traditional intaglio.  Ink should be stiff, wiping should be done carefully with a stiff tarlatan – finish with a paper wipe.  After printing your plate can be cleaned with vegetable oil followed by a liquid hand soap and water rinse.  Avoid any cleaner with ammonia,  a strong base, Simple Green or any solvents with acetone or toluene which can damage the Image-on coating.  If you have, inadvertently of course, allowed ink to dry in the plate and the vegetable oil will not dissolve it, try kerosene or alcohol solvents first – again followed by a wash with hand soap.  When you have finished printing, the plate can be easily reclaimed by using an ammonia cleaner (quick and smelly) – or soaking the plate in the sodium carbonate solution (slower but more environmentally friendly)

Materials/Equipment:

Image on HD photo emulsion – this product is significantly slower that anything previously released – exposure times were more than double what I had been using before.

Prepared copper, steel, zinc, ptg plastic or plexi-glass  plate

Image on developer -  ( a 10% sodium carbonate solution)

Gum bichromate 3 color by Andy Musil

Exposure unit – preferably a vacuum frame with a UV light source and light integrator – I have an Olec AL13 lamp and a AL 121 light integrator – (how ever this process can be done with a good contact frame and a bank of florescent  lights or even  sunlight, and a stop watch) If you have a light meter that can give you a measurement in foot candles I can tell you for reference that this unit’s output measured at the surface of the vacuum frame is just over 50 foot candles.  Besides the intensity of the light source there is also the issue of the UV spectrum.  The Olec system is designed to emit strongly in the blue section of the UV spectrum which is the most useful for most graphic arts films.  The exposure times I list can be used as a starting point – but you must take the time to figure out what works for your chosen set up.

Aqua tint screen – Do not try to make your own –its just not worth it, a durable, predictable, aquatint screen, with a proven dither pattern and the dot density of a lith film is essential to this process  – an 18” x 24” can be had for $152, 10” x 12 “ for about $67 from Graphic Chemical  or Elizabeth Dove http://www.elizabethdove.com/screens/index.html

20% Vinegar Solution in a spray bottle

Trays or tubs large enough to accommodate your plate

Running water (cold)

2” or 3”  clean Hake brush

Epson ink jet printer with at least 7 ink positions

QTR and Photoshop or Lightroom on your computer

Piezography Digital Film inkset for Methodology 1
Currently available here for Epson 2400, 2880, 4800, 7800/9800

The “NewS9aNG2b-PictoricoUPohp“ K7 curve for this inkset  (this is a .quad file for QTR available here)

Modification curve for Image on (applied to your image before printing through QTR – per instructions above)

Pictorico OHP film – (other films may work – right now this is the best out there and, surprisingly, not the most expensive)

A darkroom or other reduced light area – and a safe light – or 25 watt bug light

A hair drier

10” Hard Squeegee for screen printing

Plastic graphics Art burnisher (or old credit card )

Razor Blade Knife and blades

Guest Blogger: John Dean

John has been a working photographer and visual artist since the late 1970’s. His work involves both still life and urban landscape iconography that is often shaped, colorized, and refined in the computer. He has been working with digital imaging since the mid 1990s. John started his imaging business, Dean Imaging, in Atlanta in 2001 to specialize in the expanding area of high stability pigment based digital imaging for the art community. Dean Imaging works with art photographers, painters, and multi-media artists to materialize their creative ideas digitally.

For me these ultra durable inks have a depth and solidity that no other black and white inks I have used can match. I’ve used them for portraits, landscapes, architecture, still life, and just about everything else. K7 has a dimensionality that my other pigment inks can’t duplicate ( no matter how hard I try). As a matter of fact everything else I’ve tried, no matter how nice, look flat in comparison.

This is why I chose these inks in 2008 to print the historic and amazing photographs by Harry Burton, done in 1922 as part of the original discovery and documentation of the most intact Egyptian archaeological find that was ever found, undisturbed for over 3,000 years. I worked from scans of Burton’s original glass plate negatives that were all shot on location at the original tomb in Cairo as Howard Carter found them.

As a printmaker what I needed most was an inkset that would be incredibly delicate in tonal range, glowing, though not fake looking, and having a good dmax while rendering as high of a resolution as I could muster for these glass plate scans that were often shot in difficult conditions, underground, with very long exposures on an 8×10 glass plate. After many tests using several kinds of printers and inks, the perfect combination for me was Piezography Carbon K7 on the Crane Portfolio Rag paper. This gave me the print color and the resolution that I needed in an inkset that is among one of the most permanent, if not the most permanent ever made. Now that this project is well behind me I still have a warm feeling in the back of my mind knowing that these prints will continue to look they way that I made them for decades and centuries to come. As a matter of fact, like a great Rembrant etching, I expect them to last as long as the paper they were printed on, and beyond. Thank goodness for Piezography Carbon, it is in a class all it’s own. My hat’s off to K7 Carbon.

John Dean
Dean Imaging, Atlanta Georgia