Print Preparation

[Steven Draper]

I have been viewing the From Camera to Print series of films and it has generated a question over part of my workflow that I'd like to explore further and hopefully carry out some experiments.

However before I do so I wanted to see if anyone else has any thoughts on both my workflow and also how to get most from an experiment.

Briefly my print workflow is:

Open NEF in Capture NX, adj exposure if required, modify any settings such as camera focus to Nil and then save as TIFF.
In Some cases where the DR seems to be just outside that of one file 2 or 3 different exposure TIFFS may be made and a Photomatix blend carried out.
Open TIFF in CS2.
Capture Sharpen using PK Sharpener
WB adjust if Required,Curves, Levels, creative sharpening other required techniques etc, to produce a master file.

To print on a B9180 I

Crop master file to required format.
Using Genuine Fractals generate a print file at the exact dimensions at 600dpi.
Tweak curve and Output sharpen using PK sharpener (Inkjet 300 dpi matt or Glossy)
Use the Photoshop pluggin to print.


According to the video it would suggest that if I used photoshop to generate an image size equal to the print size, provided the dpi remained within a sensible range then just output sharpen and send it too the printer for optimum results.
This would save time, but of also importance I have loads of massive files on my HD. Some images total several GB of different print files.........

So I am interested to discover if I am wasting my time doing what I am doing, or am I squeezing out a little bit extra - the prints are generally very sharp, well detailed and receive good comments and some sales from the public.

I'm using a D2x, expose right if poss, normally pro zooms, often tripod mounted, cable release, MLU etc and the biggest print size is currently 18x12. Sometimes - well nearly always these are from crops.

Also GF doesn't seem to get very good press from the video, whilst I'm sure many will have added PK Sharpener to their software team as a result of the video.

Any thoughts would be very welcome.

Regards
Steven

[dmward]

I have been viewing the From Camera to Print series of films and it has generated a question over part of my workflow that I'd like to explore further and hopefully carry out some experiments.

However before I do so I wanted to see if anyone else has any thoughts on both my workflow and also how to get most from an experiment.

Briefly my print workflow is:

Open NEF in Capture NX, adj exposure if required, modify any settings such as camera focus to Nil and then save as TIFF.
In Some cases where the DR seems to be just outside that of one file 2 or 3 different exposure TIFFS may be made and a Photomatix blend carried out.
Open TIFF in CS2.
Capture Sharpen using PK Sharpener
WB adjust if Required,Curves, Levels, creative sharpening other required techniques etc, to produce a master file.

To print on a B9180 I

Crop master file to required format.
Using Genuine Fractals generate a print file at the exact dimensions at 600dpi.
Tweak curve and Output sharpen using PK sharpener (Inkjet 300 dpi matt or Glossy)
Use the Photoshop pluggin to print.
According to the video it would suggest that if I used photoshop to generate an image size equal to the print size, provided the dpi remained within a sensible range then just output sharpen and send it too the printer for optimum results.
This would save time, but of also importance I have loads of massive files on my HD. Some images total several GB of different print files.........

So I am interested to discover if I am wasting my time doing what I am doing, or am I squeezing out a little bit extra - the prints are generally very sharp, well detailed and receive good comments and some sales from the public.

I'm using a D2x, expose right if poss, normally pro zooms, often tripod mounted, cable release, MLU etc and the biggest print size is currently 18x12. Sometimes - well nearly always these are from crops.

Also GF doesn't seem to get very good press from the video, whilst I'm sure many will have added PK Sharpener to their software team as a result of the video.

Any thoughts would be very welcome.

Regards
Steven
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=165208\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Steve,
The first think is why the 600 DPI image and then output sharpen at 300. It is my understanding that the reason there are the various output sharpening DPI options is that each is optimized for that DPI image when sent to the printer. Seems like you are defeating the purpose by going to 600 and then using the 300 as an output sharpening size.

I have been using the Photokit sharpening tools since early on and have found the results very satisfactory. One thing I liked compared to my tests with other options early on was the ease of implementation in Photoshop.

I also have found several suggestions that Jeff and Michael make in the camera to print series very beneficial.

DMW