The accuracy of the soft proof is conditioned on the accuracy of the calibration of the display. The highest accuracy will be on calibrator display models such as the Eizo CG series or the NEC Spectraviews when either is calibrated with an istrument via the Eizo or the NEC software (which bypasses the computers video board to calibrate the on-board computer of the display itself.) The next best thing is to use a software system such as Color Munki, Eye1, or Spyder to calibrate an ordinary display with an instrument using the computer’s video board. Because the video board in necessarily limited by software calibration, it does cut down on screen fidelity and the accuracy of Soft Proofs. But, it is substantially more accurate than looking at Soft Proofs on non-calibrated displays.

The Soft Proof ICCs profiles are not used for printing. They are only used for previewing images.

You can download the ICC Soft Proof profiles (at the end of this article) for the new Piezography2 system and use them to preview any form of Piezography printing. They are divided into ink groups and there are several papers that have been profiled in each ink group.

They are easy to install.

• When you download the ZIP files, most operating systems automatically “unzip” them into a directory (folder).
• If not – double click the .zip file and it should expand into a directory (folder) of ICC profiles.
• On Mac’s you copy or move the ICC profiles to your User/Library/ColorSync/Profiles folder.
• On Windows you get to right click each ICC profile and select Install

To use the profiles in Photoshop

• Go to View / Proof Setup / Custom menu on the Menu bar
• In the Device to Simulate menu you can select one of the ICCs you have down loaded.
• If you have trouble finding them – look for the ones that start with QTR (we used the QTR Create ICC software to produce these).
• Set the Rendering Intent to Relative Colorimetric
• Under Display Options check both of Simulate Paper Color and Simulate Black Ink
• You can select OK to exit this window, or you can Save the setup so it is easily selected again under View / Proof Setup

Your image (even a color image) will have converted to the color of the inks that were profiled while you were selecting the ICC profile in the Custom menu. You will notice that anything that was brightest or near brightest changed to a new color of white relative to the color of the paper that was profiled. And the dMax (the darker parts of the display) got appreciably lighter to as near exact to that amount of light that is reflected off the darkest bits of the inks on that paper that were profiled. The contrast of the image will be converted to Gamma 2.2 and you will only notice that if your display has not been calibrated to Gamma 2.20 (which it should be!).

To use the profiles in Lightroom

• While in Develop mode check SoftProofing on the Toolbar.
• Clicking that opens the SoftProofing Pane
• In the Profile menu you can select one of the ICCs you have down loaded.
• If you have trouble finding them – look for the ones that start with QTR (we used the QTR Create ICC software to produce these).
• For Intent I suggest Relative
• Check Simulate Paper Ink

Judging the Results

This is where time really shows the difference between imaging in the 1990s and 2000s, and imaging today. Hate to get all “back in the day”, but back in the day everyone had a D50 environment. No one really printed at home for themselves. Every one doing advanced digital imaging in the 90s and 2000s were mostly professionals in studios – that had perfect viewing conditions for both their calibrated displays and the printed proofs they used for comparing to the display to.

The displays were CRTs calibrated to 5000k. The displays were in darkened rooms without any other source of light that was not the same color temperature as 5000k or made the room brighter than 50lux. Adjacent to the display was a small viewing booth which the print was put into. The light in the booth was dimmed to the same brightness of the calibrated display, and the color temperature of the booth’s light was the same as that of the calibrated display (5000k).

As ICC improved each successive year, the quality of the match of a print to the soft proof on the calibrated display became more and more accurate to being in the high 90s% of match. Then the CRT died, and the LCD came on – and with the exception of the Eizos and the NECs I mentioned – it has been catching up ever since. Frankly, color management today is not what it used to be. And yet that is not saying that ICC profiling does not work. It does. Printing is better than ever. What is lacking is such a small percentage of users at home have set up good viewing and comparison conditions.

So, the results will vary as they say. Depends fully on the quality of your calibration and the viewing conditions. For example, I can not use the latest greatest MacBook Pro that I’m writing this on (even though it has both Photoshop and Lightroom.) I have calibrated it with EyeOne – but Apple didn’t design this MacBook Pro’s display for previewing soft proof ICC profiles. But, I do have a Mac Tower with a 30″ NEC hardware calibrated using their own sensor and software. The room it is in is painted off-white and dimmed to about 50 Lux. There is GTI soft proof (dimming) viewing booth – and everything is calibrated to 5000k. The display is reduced to the dynamic range of the Piezography prints for viewing when I am making prints. I use the soft proof in both LR and PS. I will set it brighter for general photo work and can also change it on the fly to look like what most the world sees when they look at facebook and web pages.

Summary
And to be fair, it does take some getting used to. The first thing that happens is all that wonderful, contrasty, super-brilliant, whites and pitch dark blacks (you know the range of lights and darks that you can’t print) suddenly disappear. The image on the screen looks dull and dim, almost as if it were a print rather than a super-bright punched out image on a computer display that has been set to bright. That bit takes getting used to. But, I assure you that eventually you begin to see it and realize that what you are seeing is your print. A soft proof of it. And when you realize that what you are seeing is what you can print – you begin to undertand the delicate nature of making adjustments to an image being edited for printing. The soft proof may be accurate enough for you to not have to make so many printed proofs to get it “right”. The time saved for some is valuable enough to warrant the investment in a true calibrator display and viewing booth. It’s practically a lost art these days – but never more affordable.

Click each to download.

• Carbon P2 soft proof ICCs
• Neutral P2 soft proof ICCs
• Selenium P2 soft proof ICCs
• Special Edition P2 soft proof ICCs
• Warm Neutral P2 soft proof ICCs

Happy Printing!

Jon Cone

We have photographed together two years in a row in the rain forests of the Pacific Northwest during December & January. Photographing the landscape in cold wet rain for hours is significantly easy in comparison to what we encountered in Iceland. In general, we encountered some of the most harsh conditions we have ever faced photographing – or simply walking in nature. There were a few moments in which we almost lost Cathy and we almost lost me. I have no idea where we would have been blown to or swept away to. On the other hand – it is weather that often makes for the best photography.

“That Nature is always right, is an assertion, artistically, as untrue, as it is one whose truth is universally taken for granted – Nature is very rarely right, to such an extent even, that it might almost be said that Nature is usually wrong – that is to say – the condition of things that shall bring about the perfection of harmony worthy a picture, is rare, and not common at all.”
James M. Whistler

Our first day of shooting was directed at the beach near Vik. We have no idea where the strong wind suddenly came from. The ambient temperature was 24f/-4c but the wind chill reduced it to 3f/-17c. It was numbing to any fingers exposed for working camera controls. It was numbing to the eyes and cheeks. The use of a tripod for time exposures was difficult at best because the wind was simply too strong. We wanted to shoot this location, but ended up retreating to the beach to look for shelter from the wind by getting behind the exposed cliffs.

Sheltered from the wind, photographing cliff bases by the ocean, exploring the pebble beaches – we gathered our wits and made it back up to the cliffs to photograph.

We lasted perhaps 45 minutes before the wind got the best of us. It was now a steady 30-40mph. We decided to drive East towards a wonderful waterfall called Skógafoss. With two hours to warm ourselves and a drive across a barren landscape – it would give us our first real impression of Iceland and it’s vast landscape. Sigur Ros on the radio, and some overbearing weather system beginning to descend – we found the sun through cloud cover as thick as any we’ve seen.

Skógafoss is one of those waterfalls that exists on every photographer’s Iceland itinerary. It’s approchable and its wonderful and in the wintertime it’s barren of tourists. I had brought a number of antique lenses with me that I have adapted to a Sony NEX-7. I wanted to photograph Iceland in a way that might remind me of a memory. If I could have passed through Iceland on the turn of a century before – what would I have brought with me? What glass? I had a 100 year old Goerz, a fast 3 inch WWII French aviation lens, a pair of fast 1950′s Kern-Paillards, and a 1970s Leica 35mm. To bring me to present time, I had a pair of fast Zeiss wide-angles for my 5DMkII, and a Voightlander 15mm for the Sony.

It was a truly inspiring day of photography. The waterfall warmed us in comparison to the coastline. But, we witnessed something that should have given us an indication of weather to come. At Skógafoss, across from the parking area in the distance we saw a smaller waterfall that was flowing up instead of down. The wind was so strong that the water as it went over the cliff was pushed high into the air above the falls. It was as if gravity were reversed. Where we were standing the wind was only slight.

Being resilient, as many photographers are, we found that an hour drive towards the Sólheimajökull glacier gave us all the energy we needed to explore and photograph that place as dusk apporached. It was an eerie sight to behold – and a short 1/2 mile hike towards a blue glacier creeping along black earth. It was for me, an unforgettable experience. This was my Iceland. Black and white even when in color…

I enjoyed this place because as remote it was – there was no wind. The glacier can only be as cold as ice. It was finally quiet. I had never walked under ancient ice. It was a maze that extended forever. And when dusk comes – anything is suddenly transformed into the best moment ever. I could be contemplative. I was finding the Iceland I had come seeking. Though the light fading and our time short – I could have returned here again and again. It was an amazing day of photography.

The next morning, an unexpected blizzard arrived. The weather forecasted was light morning snow. The reality was 70-100mph wind driven snow that compacted to form a texture I have never seen in snow in Vermont. For 25 winters, I have encountered many storms in Vermont. But, an Iceland blizzard is most unusual. The moisture from the sea combined with strong driving winds form a snow that is more like cement than snowfall. The wind prevents it from sticking to the unique road surfaces. It just blows past. However, the drifts form over the roads, the winds turn them to ice. We limited our second day to exploring a nearby farmer’s cave, or photographing the landscape in front of the hotel when there was a momentary break in the storm.

Our third day of this photographic expedition involved a morning attempt at driving in the blizzard. That was ill advised being only the 5th cart to venture onto the highway. They count cars and windspeed, etc and post to live weather maps. The amount of cars is the most accurate forecast for roads being opened or closed. We would make it only the few miles to Vik where we found a plate of lamb stew and incredibly warm Icelandic wool sweaters and caps. The snow in Vik was beginning to pile up to cover the first story of the houses! We also found a church at a higher elevation which we could drive to in Vik that was well worth photographing. All the churches in Iceland are incredibly iconic. The snow abated just a little to allow photographing, but not the wind. We had to take turns positioning the SUV and we used the windows as tri-pods. This was classic drive by shooting.

The road out of Vik to venture West again was impassible and we were forced to turn back. We made the best of it to photograph through the windows of the hotel.

The next morning we punched through Vik to head West again. The town was mired up to its eves in snow. It was a welcome sight to see an official snow plow after we had been driving for miles on snow covered highways – and our confidence began soaring. Our guide Mark Voce decided to venture off-road to look for an old crashed Navy DC3 aircraft. We went about 4 to 5 miles off-road over a very snowy and uneven terrain – stopping to check drift depths and then circumventing one hill for another. I thought we were lost. And then the DC3 found us.

From inside the SUV, the bomber looked eerily like the cover of a familiar Sigor Ros album cover. But, outside the SUV the wind speeds were easily 50mph and shooting was difficult at best. In some ways, we weren’t certain if we should laugh or cry at this point. Obviously, we were not on a winter vacation to Costa Rica. But, in our minds we were both thinking – what if we get stuck out here… What if the water and the chocolate runs out. Using a tripod was out of the question. Holding the camera to the chest, keeping the wind to the back, was the only possible way of keeping possession of our gear. The landscape was utterly eerie. Pure white and black with a silvery gray bomber and a loud howling wind. I don’t know if we could find a more authentic Iceland moment.

And when we tried to drive back to the highway, I didn’t know if we could find a more authentic Iceland moment. Our tracks had already been covered over by drifting snow. We had no compass. My google maps on my iPhone could not get a signal. And yet we were happy as peas in a pod, munching chocolate and drinking cool Icelandic bottled water. I have never been more happier as when we accidentally crossed perpendicular to our tracks in. We stumbled upon a way back to the snow covered highway.

We would stop to photograph another church and then we would venture back to the blizzard that we had left earlier that morning.

On the way back home – the roads in Vik had been cleared. The storm was still going strong and we braved 100mph gusts to photograph the beach. Cathy was picked up off the ground. We were all pelted by a constant sandblasting of the lava sand from the beach. The snow was blowing horizontally. It was one of the most awesome experiences I have had and I spent five seasons roadracing motorcycles in the USA. The weather was so extreme, what we were doing was so risky, and yet by being photographers we somehow skirted the issue of dangerous sporting events.

I eased my way to the top front of the derrick to get a better vantage point and unfortunately lost my lean back. The wind drove me to a more forward postion and I felt that sensation one does when about to be pitched into the frigid North Atlantic ocean which was boiling with rage. Was time to fall backwards, let the wind pick me back up and do the reverse shuffle. It took all of my leg strength to back into the wind. I did manage to get my shot. This is what Iceland looks like with 100mph wind at one’s back.

Finally, the blizzard over, we travelled the next day East this time towards one of the largest glaciers in Iceland. The landscape was fantastical. Iceland’s major volcanoes have all erupted in the past two centuries leaving behind a landscape of strange formations. Occasionally, the lava misses one farm or another – but vast stretches of farmland are rare. Ancient and modern lava beds are not. Even the occasional mountain top that has been sheared off and carried by a glacier forms a surprise in an otherwise flat expanse.

The Skaftafellsjökull glacier is so enormous that you approach it for an hour. From the distance you see it flowing between two enormous mountain ranges. It is truly something to witness. As you make your progress towards it on what seems an endless straight highway, its true beauty slowly unfolds moment by moment. You can only stop and photograph it a few times while approaching – or you never arrive at the destination.

The glacier itself offers wonderful access. You can photograph it from the park. You can transverse it with the proper gear. You can drive to the mouth where ice bergs are being birthed and carried out to sea. Make your way to the beach as we did to see the shards and remnants of blue ice washed shore.

From here up into the mountains of Skaftafell park to photograph the Svartifoss waterfall. This time, the winds were lighter – just a steady 15-20 mph. The hiking was pleasant. The reward was great! The waterfall was sheltered from all the wind. The views from the heights were magnificent. Svartifoss falls is about a 60 foot drop in front of basalt columns. How can it get better than this? It is a stunning setting.

The day was well spent with the sun setting and the long twilight about to set in for our walk back to the car and the long drive back to Vik to our hotel.

The next day we would have one more day of shooting while making our way back towards Keflevik where we flew in and out of. We stopped at the Skógafoss waterfall again. We photographed Icelandic ponies. Cathy and I ate some of the best lightly fried fish we have ever had – and washed it down with Viking beer.

We crossed over one lava field after another to find ourselves eventually in 70mph winds again. The coast around Keflavik can be very windy. This time, it was unexpected. When we stopped to photograph the cost line, the car door bent backwards on itself…leaving the typical Iceland door crease on the SUV. The wind was simply too strong. Our guide parked the car instead of into the wind, away from it. When the door handle was released from the inside, the door took off with enough force to cause damage. They do not insure doors and under carriages in Iceland. The bill for this would come from the rental agency and we would split it with our guide. Lesson learned.

The wind however, was relentless. A custom frame I fitted to my NEX-7 vibrated loose from the howling wind – making it impossible to find any way to steady it against a constant pushing and shoving from the back. The wind taunting me – bullying me really… I immediately thought of Man V Food and the host giving up with just two bites of some 5lb egg omelet left to go. I thought of Héctor Camacho saying “no mas” to the referee when he gave up against Sugar Ray Leonard. That made me think of Mike Tyson biting off a bit of Holyfield’s ear in order to have his boxing match stopped. If I could have bitten the ear off this wind, I would have. All I could do was take my busted tripod and camera back to the SUV, pack it up, and give up. Cathy and I laughed.

We were in a landscape dotted with foul smelling sulpher pools, in a car with a bent door. What were we doing in Iceland? Was this crazy? Was this Iceland? How do people survive here?

We spent our last evening in the famous Iceland Blue Lagoon bathing in warm natural hot springs, covering our faces with silica mud. Our bodies warm, our bones warm, our hair frozen from the wind. We were happy. We were relaxed. We would have one of the best meals of our life that night.

Iceland is fantastic. It can be a photographer’s journey to be sure. But, as we think back on the absolute best meals of Icelandic lamb, Arctic Char, smoked salmon, fish and chips…we realized we ate really well. We had a rock lobster bisque at a small rest stop near a glacier that was one of the most delicious things we have ever eaten. It is easy to think that frigid weather and relentless wind can cloud the mind. But, taste buds know better.

Would we come here again is the question. And if we did, would it be in March when there is such an amazing opportunity to photograph with weather. I think that we would. The hotel we stayed at has a small conference room with enough space for three or four Epson printers loaded with Piezography inks. We could organize a workshop. We could eat well – venture out – and stay warmer. We know what to expect now – and how to be better prepared – and how to prepare others. There was not a tremendous amount of hiking. We photographed easily accessible places. And with a much larger and more comfortable SUV like this monster Mercedes class van…..

We are thinking of an Icelandic Piezography workshop. The type where you photograph all day, eat really well, and then print into the evening hours. It’s almost a guarantee of a gorgeous portfolio.

One thing for certain. When they made Iceland, they definitely had Piezography in mind.

However, I’m on Lion 10.7.4. Sadly, it is not possible to print directly from LightRoom through Mountain Lion (10.8) without impacting shadow and highlight detail. To print from Mountain Lion, a LightRoom image must be exported with an AdobeRGB 1998 profile, then opened in QTR Print Tool, then printed to QTR from QTR Print Tool. If you attempt to print from LightRoom in Mountain Lion, the shadow and highlights are compressed and boosted prior to printing (by Apple) if the user decides to have the printer “manage color”. It reduces a stop or two of tonal latitude. Perhaps for a casual user – this compression (or boost) by Apple is appreciated. But, for Piezography which is highly sensitive to shadow and highlight detail, this boost defeats the additional fidelity that Piezography is capable of.

I am mentioning this because it is in itself a compelling argument to upgrade LightRoom to version 4, but not Mac OS X to Mountain Lion. I have reported on the many internal color management schemes that Apple has been experimenting with beginning with OS X 10.5. We now advise those on 10.6 and higher to use QTR Print Tool if they want linearized output from QuadTone RIP.

Print professionals (at least in my generation) have only and always upgraded after every last bug had been worked out, and every possible unforeseen circumstance that could railroad a studio had been eliminated in subsequent updates. It is not uncommon for a pay for print studio to lag several OS X versions behind the current. In fact, it is quite common.

My own studio, Cone Editions Press, is still on OS 10.4.7 because that was the last operating system released by Apple that allows a non-color managed workflow. Piezography requires a non-color managed workflow. The reason is that if you work on a grayscale image perfecting its tonality and contrast, the last thing you want is for Apple to convert it into a new contrast gamma prior to your printing it with QuadTone RIP. And Apple began doing this after OS 10.4.7 when it detected that a user was trying to print without an ICC profile. And it began converting the non-ICC profiled image quite differently from one version of the OS to another – without rhyme nor reason – returning to subsequent schemes or trying new ones.

I am sure that Apple’s intention was to prevent its customers from experiencing poor output from OEM printing systems. And probably it works quite well for Apple’s consumer base. On the other hand, print professionals get hung out as a result. Not all – but those print pros or those users who wish to take 100% control of their output, are unable to. The QTR Print Tool allows a Piezography printmaker to bypass the Apple OS.

So, for the moment, Apple and Adobe are again at peace collaborating together in my workflow – probably by mistake or coincidence. But!!! I have it locked down in a new studio we just put into our company.  We bought two spanking new refurbished “2010″ version Mac Pro towers so that we coud use 10.7 (Lion). New towers only come with 10.8 (Mt. Lion).  The 2010 is this litte gem you can buy from Apple’s Refurb store and it comes pre-installed with Mac OS 10.7. They are new leftover computers.

We also bought two refurbished NEC PA301W-BK 30″ calibrator reference displays at just over $1,040 each. The SpectraView software for these is only $99 and we can use an existing instrument to calibrate them through their 14-bit, on-board video engines. Big memory bumps of 32GB were purchased from Other World Computing.

With a $700 dimming 5000K viewing booth – we have a pair of true PRO printing systems for less then half the price of  comparable new systems from Apple (that would include rather useless (for printing) 30″ Apple Cinema Displays). We get state of the art equipment for our intended purpose. What we do not get is better integration between our iPhone, iTunes, and iCloud – a small price to pay for having tonally correct prints directly out of LightRoom 4.  For us it is easy to bypass the critical10.8 iCloud integration – because cell phones do not work in our part of Vermont. No one can call us. We can not call out. We have no need for an iPhone that integrates with a remote iCloud. And if we did – we still would not upgrade to Mt. Lion if it knocked out my printmaking workflow.

I would never upgrade my OS without first insuring that everything works with it. You can not revert once you upgrade your operating system. So, you should take the responsibility yourself in vetting it by partitioning a relatively inexpensive drive and have the ability to boot off of  either Lion or Mountain Lion. You need a return path these days.

Does it make sense to keep a system which is two or more generations old?  We use a lot of color management at Cone Editions Press and we do a lot of numerical calculations on profile making, etc. We like the DTP 70 instrument and we like some older ICC software that are no longer supported by the processors in modern Mac Towers. Our older systems are superior to the replacements being offered by the color management companies. So, we simply keep systems for using what we need.

Another example is our Hell 3400 drum scanner. This is such a superior system to modern scanners that we can’t even justify having it’s 3,000lb shell rigged out of our studio for free just to recover the huge amount of space it takes up. We could fit two or more large format printers in the space it occupies. The scanner is no longer valuable. It cost $110,000 new and we could possibly eBay it for $1,000. Who in the heck needs a drum scanner these days? Our clients absolutely do! So, we have no choice – we must maintain it and we must maintain the supportive equipment it requires.

We maintain a 1998 Apple PowerMac Blue and White G3 so that we can run a version of Linotype HELL software developed before they went out of business. This software requires OS9 and SCSI-1. We have another 2000s era Mac Tower that is modern by comparison that is using a sophisticated converter  for transforming firewire signals to SCSI-1 signals. We bought this to run the drum scanner off of a hugely expensive 16bit scanner interface. It runs only on an early version of OS X. But, both these systems are antiquated with no further upgrade path to use the software or interface we require to run the drum scanner. We have no choice but to maintain OS9 and OS10 systems on compatible hardware.

We have been digital printmaking for clients since 1984. You can not imagine the amount of backup systems we have used over the last four decades. We maintain an archive of extremely outdated equipment for the rare occasions when artists need to revitalize decades old projects. To use some of these antiquated drives we must still maintain a 1995 Apple Quadra 950 computer. What alternative is there? We can’t spend the time to transfer image files from Syquest, Bernouilli drives, even floppy sets and all kinds of obscure data systems. It’s all a bit of a Catch-22 trying to keep relevant and it often has little to do with the latest greatest bigger faster. In the end, it comes down to what works.

Finally, my interest in pictorialist lenses is getting the better of me. I spent most the summer milling out lens adapters to fit many of my collected turn of the century lenses onto my 5D MKII. This past Autumn, I decided to revitalize my 4×5 view camera and an early version Dicomed 4×5 digital back that I used to use with my 4×5 in the early 1990s. The problem is that besides needing SCSI-1, the digital back also requires an old serial port connection. Both SCSI and serial ports have been long gone from Macs for decades. So my old PowerBook G3 bit the dust the moment I powered it up (probably due to dust frying the main board). I went on eBay and bought a very good working model of the same one. The keyboard has a tendency to fall off but a little tape and it works like a charm.

I bought freshly made SCSI cables. I need a floppy disk to install the Dicomed software and old PowerBooks (bless their heart) have floppy diskette drives. The point being – is that this Summer I will be lugging a 4×5 with an old brass Pretzel lens (from a wet plate camera) and a WWII vintage Elgeet military lens out into the landscape. I will be primordial photographer man…toting nothing more than a 50lb battery pack and cabling, a 35lb tripod, about 20lbs of view camera and digital back, and a clunky laptop computer with which to make my exposures and save to an external SCSI hard drive (not a particularly light one). I will need water for hydration; food for energy; a first-aid kit in case the camera falls on me once set-up. I am considering looking for an old covered wagon to haul everything around in and getting a mule I can name Hypo.

Cathy Cone and I were invited by John Pack to come to The Aegean Center for the Fine Arts on the island of Paros, Greece for a ten day visit last May. He asked me to spend a day or two helping him sort out and perfect their Piezography environment and workflow. The rest of our time was to spent getting an impression of heaven on Earth. I had an opportunity to make a presentation to the center on my own life’s work as a printmaker. My favorite experience however, even outside of enjoying island life, was working with the students in the digital lab. This was an extraordinary group of students. And really they are a reflection of attending what can only be described as the modern day equivalent of the School of Athens.

John is the Director of the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts and has been a Piezography user for many years. I first became aware of his work when he asked if Piezography would sponsor The Greater Journey Exhibition which opened September of 2008 at the Sidney Cooper Gallery in Canterbury, England. The Greater Journey is a collaboration between the poet Peter Abbs and the photography of John Pack…and it has now evolved into the production of a limited edition book.

John Pack and Jon Cone in the digital lab at The Aegean Center for The Fine Arts

In May, I finally had a first-hand look at John’s Piezography prints for his half of this two volume collaboration. It was immediately evident that he is a Master Printer extraordinaire. The printing is absolutely fantastic, and this is going to be an amazing Piezography printed livres de luxe. And I can’t wait to receive mine. I am an instant fan of John Pack’s photography – his eye – his sensibilities.

John is an educator extraordinaire. The Agean Center for The Fine Arts is not just an art school located in an extraordinary place. It is an extraordinary art school located in an extraordinary place directed by an extraordinary artist/teacher/guide. And this center would be extraordinary no matter where it was located. It offers an opportunity for study in the arts unlike any other. To the degree of learning if offers in the fine arts, it is very appropriate that the center be located above Parian marble (which gave us the “Parthenon Marbles” pillaged by Lord Elgin) and that students should be able to walk on ancient roads in a culture that produced the Fayum portraits unearthed in Egypt.

And with all of the attention Greece gets in the news, we visited Athens during one of the worst times of the recent crisis and never felt anything but safe. Greece is truly timeless. And even while the World restlessly awaits its progress, Greece remains in many ways its own universe.

Ancient amphoras from the collection of ceramicist Monique Mailloux, Paros.

John has been director of the center since the early 1980s. It is a life’s work; the result of one man’s commitment to the foundation of teaching art in a classical manner far outside of the politics and restrictions of large university art departments. And far away from the commercial concerns and the various strategies of the “art world”.John was very much outraged by these restrictions when he taught at university in the USA in the early 1980s. He designed a series of trips with USA students to visit Europe so that they could have an immersive experience with art and artists, far away from the commercial exploitation of the 1980s art world. This eventually led him to Paros and the Center, first as student, then as a teacher, and that eventually evolved into his becoming Director.

In the digital lab

To call this the School of Athens  reincarnate is not an exaggeration. The environment, and learning process are very similar to the ancient principles of Plato who founded the first institution of higher learning. The Aegean Center for the Fine Arts takes less than 40 students from an application of more than 250 each year. The process of selection includes a lengthy correspondence between Pack and the applicants. These developing “conversations” allow Pack to pick the students which will most benefit from the experience. Those who continue past a semester do so because they are invited back. We met four students who had been there for five terms. There is a cross section of paid and financial assistance. Each and every student we met was incredibly articulate even as they were shy or outgoing. The confidence brought on by knowledge in the arts was inspiring.

Photography is taught of course…but so are painting, drawing, printmaking and music. The staff is a special group of people. Each has picked up from some established life elsewhere and moved to the middle of the Aegean Sea to teach young minds and even older minds, as there is no age limit for students. Cathy sat in on Jane Pack’s Life Drawing class to an experience she told me was unlike any other in her experience. Jane is also an extraordinary teacher.

Learning is a life-long process. The center absolutely (and I believe exclusively) celebrates this pursuit in the arts. You can find this perhaps a week at a time when you join something such as a workshop hosted by a photographer or an artist. But, that type of “workshop” energy here is a daily routine. It absolutely boggled my mind that it is available as a course of study. And how John keeps that energy alive week after week is a testament to the man.

The Center’s etching press.

The butcher and his friend, Paros.

John and I are similar in age. I certainly know what that energy feels like – and I have channeled mine into many sorts of different directions – while John keeps his true to one purpose. He gives fully of himself to his students. He administrates a program and faculty that mirrors that energy and commitment. And above all, it is given with open hands and with love. The environment is as nourishing as the island and its people are. Greece is known for being friendly – but the people of Paros are known even in Greece as being friendly. Cathy and I certainly felt that no matter where we traveled, or what time of day that we traveled. We were always met with open hands and usually gifted with some food or an incredible greek coffee.

Jane and John Pack reading my fortune in the grounds left behind in my coffee.

The Center is birthing artists. It made me long to be back in Art College. It made me long to be here as a student. And there were adult students studying at the Center! Now nearly a year later as I edit this, I still long to be there.

Many of the students we met, were between high school and college. Many had already been through college fine art programs. A few were even far into their adult careers as artists. Each had a gift of articulation and confidence – and I believe it comes from knowledge. And I believe it is knowledge and the pursuit of it that differentiates the Center from other art schools. That this exploration of knowledge should be applied to The Arts (Painting, Drawing, Photography, Music) seems so appropriate to me. Deep knowledge. Esoteric knowledge. Ancient knowledge. Practical knowledge. Necessary knowledge.

For many of us in our fields, we are past the time that we can study in such an immersive manner. But, had I known of the the Center when my own child wanted to attend art school – I would have had him apply. I would encourage anyone with children interested in the arts, or with children who have gone through art schools, to apply. This is an absolute life changer. I feel in some way, that my own life has been redirected again by my ten days on the island.

The time I spent with John was truly inspiring. I reflected on my own commitments to learning. I took a workshop this past Summer at the Maine Media Workshops. I just taught a workshop this Fall in Santa Fe. I will start up the Cone Editions workshops again in the Spring. Knowledge is everything. Sharing knowledge is the basis of humanity. If you have bread, you share it. And if you are like John, you dedicate your life to sharing the process of learning. He is someone I aspire to be. A new hero for me.

I spent years doing amazing things with my body. I am a little beat up now from 15 years of kung fu, followed by 5 seasons of motorcycle roadracing. John leads a Friday “hike” which Cathy and I tagged along on. John has the energy of someone twenty years younger. I do not think it would be possible to actually keep up with him. Yet he never makes you feel like you are lagging or lumbering. Paros is steep and he leads hikes often on ancient paths that connect one village to another. The reward of course is lunching on amazing food in some unexpected taverna (more about food later!) On this particular “Friday Hike”, John took the students to see the Paros marble mine. It’s ancient. At one time, the tiny island supported between 45,000 and 60,000 slaves who mined this marble by hand.

It is the marble, unarguably the finest in the world, which makes this little island in the Aegean Sea known around the world. All of the greatest Greek scultptures were carved from Parian marble. The Medici Venus. The Elgin Marbles. The roof tiles of the Parthenon. Parian marble is unique because light can penetrate it deeper than any other marble in the world. Substantially deeper. The quarry has been closed for many years now. It is deep into the bowels of the Earth. You can only see the outside of it through a fence and visit a small museum. But, we would steal down the original ancient path (along side an abandoned 20th century improvement) that led into the heart of the quarry. We would journey deep underground to see one of the original veins. John found this passage years ago; long before the fence.

It is down here that John once lead the sculptor Naguchi to a piece of marble unlike any other in the world. John is often surprised by spelunkers. I should say spelunkers are often surprised by John. And on a nationally supervised descent into the mine, Naguchi was being given the opportunity to find a block of marble. But, the entire team of “experts” could not find a vein worthy of being quarried. John knows these ancient tunnels and paths unlike anyone else alive today. He has journeyed through them for decades. He knows the ancient tunnels that leads to the original veins. And on that particular day as the experts became lost, John could hear voices as they carry as they do through tunnels and he stepped out of the darkness  to lead a nearly blind Naguchi to that final marble which he sought. The marble was found, but never realized before his death.

And in the pitch blackness of our trip with John, he touches the face of a flashlight to a protruding vein of this soft white marble and he can suddenly and magically illuminate a cavern. There just is no experience in the world witnessing absolute darkness becoming absolute light. Most marble allows light to penetrate only a few mm or perhaps a cm. This marble, unlike any other, allows light to penetrate so deeply that stone appears like flesh.

As John brought us all deeper and deeper into the mines, we stopped to listen to him. I learned so much. I was in school again listening to marvels of how the ancient sea creatures became marble, how marble is separated from the bowels of the earth by slaves using nothing more than the basics of wood and water, how it is dragged up vertical tunnels nearly too steep to climb, how it becomes sculpture, how sculpture reflects light, why and how and touch it and feel it and can you see the two ancient ships supporting between them a sling on which a 10 ton slab of it sails slowly towards Athens. Here you can see how it is separated from itself by drilling a hole with a stick and pouring water into it, how a hot stone forces it to boil and the steam creates the crack that will dislodge it. Here is where they recorded its weight on the wall with some ancient pigment. Here is where they dragged it, thousands of men, to the surface. And the sculptors, the most famous in Athens, come to make some initial cuts, to reduce its weight, in the hopes that it will not drag the ships and their crews to the bottom of the Aegean.

The climb out a back passage I discovered was as challenging as any climb I have made in Vermont or the Canyon de Chelle (this past Summer). And coming back to the surface is like entering another reality. I felt I learned more about sculpture in that descent than I have in a lifetime. But, the marvel is that we descended with a student who had extreme clostraphobia – and who John talked through this experience. John always giving him the option of returning him back to the entrance, and lovingly working him through it. I sat next to him feeling his tremble of fear and it brought me to tears at the end to see him make it. I’ve just never witnessed something so miraculous. I’ve worked through fears. I know how hard that is. I’ve had a teacher like John once before.

So, does Piezography exist on this ancient little island? Yes. You can drive around it in three hours, and you will have circled around students and teachers who use it – and artists and photographers who call Paros home – that come to the center to print. John maintains two Epson large format printers perfectly. Humidity does not often visit this island. Electricity is too precious with which to run humidifiers – so John creates his own to keep the print heads moist. He teaches a perfected Piezography method that starts with the paper – and how it is handled and how it is fed. He calibrates his displays and honors the technology internal to the K7 curves. His students produce really fine work with it. There is a final display station with a viewing booth for precision.

What I brought with me to the island was every flavor of Piezography ink and lots of sets of refillable carts to begin them on desktop printing in an Epson R2880. It was immediately evident that Piezography Glossy was a big hit with half, while Piezography Matte was a big hit with the other half. Many of the inks were used and swapped out for others in just minutes. It was a printfest scheduled to run a couple hours which went late into the early evening. Each of the students would load up their favorite ink set in the printer, make their images and then hand it over to the next. Split-Toning and custom split-toning seemed to be very popular. In the end – the system was incredibly accessible and at the same time very customizable. The students instantly advanced into customizing Piezography ink sets to suit their particular vision.

I wish I had been invited to lead workshops for ten days but it was finals week and there was precious little time. And as designed, Cathy and I were to enjoy Paros life – which we did. But this would be the perfect setting for a long Piezography workshop, hours of conversation about photography, good food and wine, an immersive knowledge.

The location of the Agean Center for the Fine Arts is in the heart of a sea port white village named Pariokos which is simply spectacular for its natural light. There just is nothing quite like the light that filters into the art studios from a white village. The studios of the center were plentiful and spread about on different floors and in different buildings all interconnected by courtyards and stepping stones. Pariokos is ancient. Parts of this village are pre-hellenic and many of the buildings are built from marble quarried on the island and found in the ruins on which Pariokos was founded. I photographed this island for days, returning to the same places to match myself against the light, subject myself to its presence. And all of it lost to a computer crash. What I brought back however, will last me a lifetime.

Had I not made the journey to Paros to meet John Pack, to work with him, to be inspired by him, to adventure with him, to witness his teaching and relationship with his students, to have my own world turned topsy turvy in the most amazing way – I would not have known that an art school like this could exist. And the school of fine arts that he directs is unique in the world. It provides what truly is necessary for an artist to practice creativity. The foundation is everything and it is delivered without dogma. I remain energized to this day, a changed person, a changed photographer, and a re-inspired teacher, and a re-awakened student.

It covers the new Macintosh Operating System issues and moots them with instructions for using the new QTR Print Tool. It also updates the Digital Negative with instructions for use including how to more easily use Digital Negative with an existing K7 printing system (without wasting much ink!)

Finally, it includes how to edit the GO curve to perfect glossy printing on substrates which could use a little more or a little less. It’s certainly worth a read if you are having any issues with Piezography.

If you have installed Piezography correctly, it should ONLY be easy to use, repeatable, and produce the absolute highest standard black & white print of any system from any manufacturer. It greatly exceeds EPSON’s ABW that they advertise to exceed your vision, which makes Piezography exceedingly good indeed!

If you own a printer that works with Jon Cone’s Digital Negative Methodology #3 system I would recommend it for high quality digital negatives for carbon printing. I have installed this inkset on my Epson 3800 and after a couple of weeks of experimentation am getting negatives for carbon printing that are much freer of artifacts than I was ever able to get with the Epson K3 ink set. You can find more about the methodology at  http://www.piezography.com/PiezoPress/blog/piezography-digital-negative-update/

Last year I tried Cone’s Methodology 1 system with an Epson 7600 but this did not work out to my satisfaction, in part because the digital negative profile created too much UV transmission Dmax, and in part because changing from a digital negative to regular K7 inkset for printing on paper wasted lots of ink. And overall quality was not any better than I was getting with my own profile and the Epson K3 color ink set.

The new Methodology 3 system is a much better solution for those who own one of the supported printers. I am using the Epson 3800 with the Cone Auto Reset cartridges. First, image quality is very high in that the negatives on Pictorico are very smooth with virtually no digital artifacts (grain, dithering patterns, etc). Second, there are several different quad profiles from which one can select in order to more or less equal the UV density range of your current negatives. And third, with a purge of two inks you can switch back and forth from a system that makes K7 prints on paper, or digital negatives.

One thing you need to bear in mind is that Cone’s data for density range is made with optical reading, not UV, so that the profiles give a lot more DR than the ending figure would suggest. For example, there are five PZDN-X800-Meth3 quad profile, from -1_4.quad -1.8 quad. The last figures suggest a DR of 1.4 to 1.8. In fact, for UV printing these DR figures are much higher, about 2.4 – 2.8. This makes them pretty much ideal for carbon printing as one can easily adjust the strength of the dichromate sensitizer to match the DR of the negative. So basically you match the DR of the negative to the ES of your particular carbon process by adjusting the strength of the sensitizer.

I have attached a table that shows the difference between UV and visual light readings for Methodology 1 and 3 step  wedges printed on Pictorico.

UV and Green densitometer data from two 21 step transmission wedges (0%-100% in 5% increments) printed on Pictorico, one with the Methodology 1 quad curve, the other with the Methodology 3 1.8 quad curve.

Today, Roy Harrington (author of QuadTone RIP) put up a trial version of the new QuadTone RIP Print Tool for Mac OSX 10.6.8+. This software allows Mac users to print without color management and more importantly, to print without the Mac OSX imposing any color space conversion on a grayscale image. This is critically important because since OSX 10.5, Apple has been producing some form (or another) of internal color space manipulation on files before they are printed. I even went so far as to ask one of the top color management gurus if he had a handle on it that he could share. I figured if anyone would – he would – and he couldn’t.

With color files, this manipulation of the image file prior to handing off to the printing system can range from benign to barely noticeable because its RGB to RGB and it’s well organized by Mac OSX. But, with grayscales, any manipulation whatsoever changes linearization. You can not change a shade of gray and expect to print the same shade of gray before it was made lighter or darker. It’s a matter of “simple arithmetic”.

Still, Piezography looks extraordinary in the successive versions of the Mac OS. Yet, if perfection is attainable in Windows and just escaping the user in latter versions of OSX – a fix is needed. The workarounds we provided yesterday came after exhaustive research. Clearly we needed some relief in order to move forward with Max OSX. We needed something to stabilize it. Apple certainly can no longer imagine that black and white images are being printed without color inks. When we got to the last version of 10.7 hoping that Apple finally awoke to the needs of “all” of its customers, and we began staring into the face of Mountain Lion, we asked Roy Harrington if there was anything that QTR could offer to side-step Apple’s interference of grayscale images.

Roy sent us a new tool to try and it was instantly successful. It makes the latest versions of the Mac OS transparent when it comes to printing. Now Mac and Windows can both print Piezography K7 or K6 curves as they were originally intended to be printed. A grayscale image is no longer manipulated by Apple prior to printing when it is printed via the new QTR Print Tool. For us in our own studios at Cone Editions Press, we can finally upgrade from 10.4.7 to anything our hearts desire.

But the reality is that professional printing studios do not need to ever be on the latest and greatest. Often, many tools which are best for professionals become obsolete because of a shrinking demand. For example, I still can’t run my Eizo CG displays in 10-14bit with Apple because they only support 8bit graphics. Windows supports Eizos the way they are meant to be used. I must run my IRIS 3047 printer from Windows for Workgroups 3.2 because that is the last version of the ConeTech RIP for IRIS that we produced. When IRIS went out of business in the late 1990s, we no longer were supplying software to every new IRIS 3047 installation destined for fine arts. But, we still use our IRIS Printer at Cone Editions Press. So, I keep an old PC around which uses an ISA slot IKON board adapter to the IRIS, runs the ConeTech color lookup table library from DOS, and an OS9 Mac to run the IRIS Format plugin for Photoshop CS3. So you get the picture of what studios may do to keep superior but obsolete printing tools alive.

The new QuadTone RIP Print Tool is easy to use, as far as Piezography is concerned. With QTR Print Tool, your images “should” have been saved with an embedded Gamma 2.20. You launch the tool. You select the K7 Printer you have installed, set the page setup size, and create a grid pattern if you like to help you align images. You can open a number of images at once and place them on a page setup, resize them, etc. I can open PSD files along with tif and jpg. I am not certain how many file formats are supported, but the ones I most frequently use are. No Color Management (remember that option?) is selected and the Print button clicked – which brings up QuadTone RIP. You will know what to do from there…

I would imagine that once you try this new QTR creation, you will want to license it. A lot of work went into it and like everything Roy Harrington does – it is a very high standard product. It has a color capability side to it – but, that’s another story.

The short of this is that the Apple OS has been growing (from a painful color management perpective) since the introduction of 10.5. And we here at Piezography now need to provide some instructions for users who have different combinations of Mac OS and Photoshop.

Our Windows users have a pleasant ride because they use a standalone version of QuadTone RIP. Mac Users must use the File / Print command and that calls Apple (literally) into play. Mac OS notices the user attempting to not use color management and rushes in to avoid something potentially disastrous (or why would they interfere?) from happening. From Apple standpoint – the only inks and printer systems are those provided by the OEMs. And the OEMs do not provide black and white printing systems. They provide color systems that can print black & white with color inks. Therefore, Apple insures that every print job running through their OS is color managed either intentionally or unintentionally. And they do this with good intentions. But, they forget about a segment of users who expertly print without the need of color management.

And no…Adobe is not at fault here. In fact, they have been trying…even to the point of releasing their own printer utility. But, in the latest versions of Mac OS – Apple intercepts the utility. What is needed is a standalone QuadTone RIP printer driver for Mac and we have been testing one for Roy Harrington. Like everything Roy does, this is an exceptional new piece of software. My understanding is that release is forthcoming. I wish we had had a standalone like this years ago as it could have really changed the way we offered Piezography to Mac Users. It has many exciting bells and whistles.

And kudos to Dana Ceccarelli of  both InkjetMall and Cone Editions Press for putting in all the weeks of research to determine what exactly was happening in the many possible combinations.

So,  look for your current combination below and modify your print settings!

MAC OS AND PS Combos

A) Printing from 10.4.11 with Photoshop CS3 or below:

1.  Set Photoshop Color Settings Gray Working Space to: Gamma 2.2
2. Open image in Photoshop by assigning or converting image to Working Gray Gamma 2.2
3. To print, select Doument: Gamma 2.2, Color Handling: NO Color Management and either Realitive Colorimetric (with Black Point Compensation ON) or Perceptual rendering intent.
4. Select the curve and resolution in QTR as normalThis is the normal Piezography K7 workflow as it has been since time immemorial.
   Above is the normal Piezography K7 workflow as it has been since time immemorial.

B) Printing from 10.5.8 with Photoshop CS5: 

1. Make a custom Gray Working Space of Gamma 2.0 in Photoshop’s Color Settings
2. Open the image in Photoshop using the embedded profile
3. Assign Working Gamma 2.0 to image (Edit> Assign Profile)
4. To print, select Document: Gamma 2.0, Color Handling: Photoshop Manages Color, Profile: sRGB and either Realitive Colorimetric (with Black Point Compensation ON) or Perceptual rendering intent.
5. Select the curve and resolution in QTR as normalAbove with the Gamma 2.0 we are trying to compensate for the Mac OS converting the image prior to printing. This works well.

C) Printing from 10.6.8 with Photoshop CS5 + 6: 

1. Set Photoshop Color Settings Gray Working Space to: Gamma 2.2 and RGB to: Adobe RGB(1998)
2. Open the image in Photoshop using the embedded profile
3. Convert the image to Adobe RGB(1998)
4. To print, select Document: Adobe RGB(1998), Color Handling: Photoshop Manages Color, Profile: Wide Gamut RGB and either Realitive Colorimetric (with Black Point Compensation ON) or Perceptual rendering intent.
5. Select the curve and resolution in QTR as normalThe above version actually requires getting the grayscale image into the world of color – hence the conversion to Adobe RGB(1998). This works well.

D) Printing from 10.7.4 with Photoshop CS5 + 6: 

1. Make a custom Gray Working Space of Gamma 2.0 in Photoshop’s Color Settings
2. Open the image in Photoshop using the embedded profile
3. Assign Working Gamma 2.0 to image (Edit> Assign Profile)
4. To print, select Document: Gamma 2.0, Color Handling: Photoshop Manages Color, Profile: sRGB and either Realitive Colorimetric (with Black Point Compensation ON) or Perceptual rendering intent.
5. Select the curve and resolution in QTR as normalWe think Apple took a step back again to the internal CM of 10.5 .  We try to correct for Mac OS conversion of the file prior to printing. This works well. 

It does seem incredibly confusing, but it’s not really.

When you import your photos into Lightroom, they are not actually converted from Gamma 2.2 to the Gamma 1.80 of Lightrooms ProPhoto RGB space. Lightroom 4 does not always use ProPhoto RGB as it’s internal color space as is widely believed. In the Library module for example, it uses Adobe RGB color space to preview everything. The Develop module also displays in the Adobe RGB color space. The only way to escape working in Adobe RGB is to actually select a Soft Proof profile. So Lightroom is using a gamma of 2.2 to display all your images to you, unless you select a Soft Proof profile that differs from Gamma 2.2 or from Adobe RGB.

Change the Lightroom external editing preferences here.

When does Lightroom then actually use ProPhoto RGB?  When you transfer an image to Photoshop via the Photo / Edit In menu item. But, you can override that by changing one of the Lightroom Preferences.

When you select to edit the image in Photoshop, Lightroom will use the internal color space of ProPhoto RGB unless you have set the “External Editing” Preferences to the color space of Adobe RGB. If you select this preference – then images from Lightroom which are transferred to Photoshop will be in Adobe RGB which has a gamma of 2.2.

Lightroom export settings.

If you are using Lightroom to export tiff format images which you print in Windows version of QTR – no conversion takes place from the Adobe RGB if you select Adobe RGB in the export preferences.

When you print from Lightroom directly to QuadTone RIP on Mac OS, and you select in the Color Management Pane, “Profile: Managed by Printer” – then Gamma 2.2 is transferred directly to QuadTone RIP.

So it is actually very straightforward to use QuadTone RIP from Lightroom.

Just remember that profiles for QuadTone RIP are only chosen in QuadTone RIP. If you are using Piezography inks, you should only SoftProof to Piezography softproof ICC profiles which you can make using QTR Create ICC and and Eye One spectro. Otherwise, if your display is calibrated to Gamma 2.2 and your brightness is not over 85l or candelas – they you are very nearly calibrated for Piezography.

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.