The Darlow Report
by Andrew Darlow
8/15/08
Hello again! This is my second column for Red Dog Journal, and I've already received a lot of nice comments. If you'd like to
reach me, you can find my contact info below. For this installment, I have a printer tip and a show announcement.
Find Your Printer's "Sweet Spot"
One of the topics I often discuss in my workshops is how to save time when printing. Many people just bring up the printer driver's (or RIP's) dialog box, choose the best quality setting, and go for lunch (or a small coffee, depending upon the paper size). Every inkjet printer has a sweet spot with regard to quality vs. output speed, and I'm always surprised at the output quality of different printers using various settings. If you can find a faster setting that meets your quality requirements, then you can improve your productivity.
What I've found in practice is that as long as your printer is calibrated, and the heads are aligned (most printers have an alignment procedure you can run), you can often print at a quality setting that's lower than the highest setting, and get results indistinguishable from the higher setting. For example, you might choose 1440 DPI in the driver instead of 2880 or 5760 DPI. In almost all cases, the print resolution gets higher as you move down list in the print driver menu under "Quality." Viewing two prints side by side with a loupe will often give the edge to the higher resolution output, but most people judge prints with their eyes.
You can also often select a box like "High Speed," which generally means bi-directional printing (the print head puts down ink in both directions, which is faster than unidirectional printing). The best way to determine the sweet spot is to do a test using your favorite paper. Paper choice is also important, and matte papers can generally handle lower print resolutions compared with glossy or semi-gloss papers. The payoff in the end is sometimes 2-4x faster print output.
A good file to use for this testing is one I developed that contains some images that have been used by printmakers for many years, plus a 21 step neutral step wedge, which is great for determining how grainy your highlight areas are. You can download it here.
Please note that in the tip above I am not speaking about your file's resolution, which is generally recommended to be about 180-400 PPI at the final output size. That can also have an effect on print quality, and a quick test can help you determine where the "breaking point" is. Output quality is also dependent upon how much detail is in the image, and how much you sharpen the image. Nothing operates in a vacuum, as they say.
Show Announcement in Los Angeles, CA
Holocaust Archives - Richard Ehrlich - Photographs
Craig Krull Gallery
Aug 26 - Aug 30, 2008
This group of images is haunting. When I viewed them, I became more and more upset. They are very well presented, and help to bring some of the scale of the atrocities of the Holocaust to light. In some ways, it reminds me of the photos I've seen of piles of shoes that one can see at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland. I've personally visited the Dachau concentration camp in Germany, and that experience is one I will never forget.
From the gallery's description: "Ehrlich's portfolio contains 52 digital photographs of the Holocaust Archives at the International Tracing Service at Bad Arolsen. Photographs include Anne Frank's transfer document and the original Schindler's List."
Richard Ehrlich is a friend, and someone I greatly respect. He also contributed a number of the tips in my book, “301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers.”
The images from the exhibition can be seen on his website at http://www.ehrlichphotography.com/ (select "Images," and then Holocaust Archives, Bad Arolsen, Germany)
For more information about the exhibition, visit this page on artnet.com:
http://tinyurl.com/5cxg49
That's all for now. If you'd like to share any thoughts about my thoughts, feel free to contact me through the contact form here:http://www.inkjettips.com/contact-us/
