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Author Topic: What's your print workflow?  (Read 1165 times)

Benny Profane

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What's your print workflow?
« on: August 13, 2013, 07:21:58 am »

I have been working in pre press shops for some time. All of them have used a RIP of some sort to convert RGB files to CMYK proofs on Epsons. At present we are using an Oris product at the proofing side, which, from what I understand, is very expensive software at around 8000 dollars. But, it works in a production environment.

I am about ready to buy a 7900 for personal/small business work. How should I prepare files for output? I am not spending 8 grand for a RIP. How do you do it, so that files are accurately matched to your monitor, and stay stable over time? Photoshop? Lightroom? something else?
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aaronchan

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Re: What's your print workflow?
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2013, 08:05:27 am »

there are bunch of books talk about how to prepare your file to print.
you can check out the last book from schewe call the digital print.

if you are going to print bitmap files only such as tiff or photos, you should print them in RGB mode with a proper ICC profile.
That should work correctly.

aaron

jferrari

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Re: What's your print workflow?
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2013, 08:41:29 am »

1) Client supplies files in jpeg format, sized and with all edits complete
2) Into PhotoShop for wrap (I print only canvas, mostly with mirror wrap)
3) Into Lightroom for printing using either factory or custom ICC profile, as required

No sense re-inventing the wheel, this works for me.     - Jim
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Garnick

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Re: What's your print workflow?
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2013, 10:03:16 am »

Not sure which Epson or print driver you've been using to print CMYK files.  For most, if not all of the Epson printers I've used, the last thing one would want to do is send the printer a CMYK file.  The Epson printer needs to receive an RGB file, which it then converts to CMYK for printing.  If you send a CMYK file the printer software will attempt to convert it to RGB and then back to CMYK.  All of this to say that the end result is almost always pretty ugly looking.  I assume the reason for the 8K$ Rip is to do all of that work upfront so that the Epson printer can handle the file and produce the desired results.  I print quite a variety of subject matter and from various file formats.  Whatever the file format that's presented to me I convert it to TIFF in Photoshop.  Do to the volume of work, most of my printing is done in PS as well.  So far I've found Lightroom somewhat slow compared to PS for my printing requirements, but that may change as I become more familiar with all of the nuances in LR.  Most of the printing I do is for other photogs and I also do fine art reproduction for local artists, an area that is expanding nicely.  I print on Photo papers(SemiGloss, Luster and occasionally Gloss) as well as heavy weight Fine Art paper, mostly Epson Cold Press Natural.  I also print canvas, using Breathing Color Chromata White.  I use an Epson 9900 and also an older 7600 for smaller jobs that don't require quite the precision I can obtain with the 9900.  The 7600 is set up with Matte Black ink for the Fine Art paper.  On the 9900 the cost of changing from PK to MK and back is approximately $13.00, so of course I always want to be doing more that one Matte Black print in order to do the switch to MK.

Of course to reiterate some of what Jim wrote, display calibration and good printer profiles are the basis for successful printing on any platform.  For the 9900 I find the canned profiles(the ones loaded with the driver) do a fine job, but you can also have custom profiles made or do them yourself.  I hope this is of some help.

Gary       
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Gary N.
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Benny Profane

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Re: What's your print workflow?
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2013, 12:44:02 pm »

Not sure which Epson or print driver you've been using to print CMYK files.  For most, if not all of the Epson printers I've used, the last thing one would want to do is send the printer a CMYK file.  The Epson printer needs to receive an RGB file, which it then converts to CMYK for printing.  If you send a CMYK file the printer software will attempt to convert it to RGB and then back to CMYK.  All of this to say that the end result is almost always pretty ugly looking.  I assume the reason for the 8K$ Rip is to do all of that work upfront so that the Epson printer can handle the file and produce the desired results.  I print quite a variety of subject matter and from various file formats.  Whatever the file format that's presented to me I convert it to TIFF in Photoshop.  Do to the volume of work, most of my printing is done in PS as well.  So far I've found Lightroom somewhat slow compared to PS for my printing requirements, but that may change as I become more familiar with all of the nuances in LR.  Most of the printing I do is for other photogs and I also do fine art reproduction for local artists, an area that is expanding nicely.  I print on Photo papers(SemiGloss, Luster and occasionally Gloss) as well as heavy weight Fine Art paper, mostly Epson Cold Press Natural.  I also print canvas, using Breathing Color Chromata White.  I use an Epson 9900 and also an older 7600 for smaller jobs that don't require quite the precision I can obtain with the 9900.  The 7600 is set up with Matte Black ink for the Fine Art paper.  On the 9900 the cost of changing from PK to MK and back is approximately $13.00, so of course I always want to be doing more that one Matte Black print in order to do the switch to MK.

Of course to reiterate some of what Jim wrote, display calibration and good printer profiles are the basis for successful printing on any platform.  For the 9900 I find the canned profiles(the ones loaded with the driver) do a fine job, but you can also have custom profiles made or do them yourself.  I hope this is of some help.

Gary       

Hey thanks. Yeah, we send CMYK files converted to the GRACOL space before printing. I know that I'll have to get used to printing RGB, but, that's cool, as long as it works.

I know that there are whole other threads about this subject, but, how old is the 9900 and how has it treated you as far as reliability? We have three, and they are rock solid, but churn prints 10 hours a day, five days a week.

Also, do you shoot the artist's work before reproducing, or, do you send it out to someone with a flatbed?
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Garnick

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Re: What's your print workflow?
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2013, 08:59:52 pm »

Hey thanks. Yeah, we send CMYK files converted to the GRACOL space before printing. I know that I'll have to get used to printing RGB, but, that's cool, as long as it works.

I know that there are whole other threads about this subject, but, how old is the 9900 and how has it treated you as far as reliability? We have three, and they are rock solid, but churn prints 10 hours a day, five days a week.

Also, do you shoot the artist's work before reproducing, or, do you send it out to someone with a flatbed?

As far as the reliability of the 9900 is concerned I'm probably the last person you want to be posing that question to.  I've had a number of threads pertaining to the woes I've experienced with the 9900, so I won't get into that here.  Suffice to say that before the first warranty had expired I decided that extending it, though costly, was my only recourse.  In the first year of use I had three service calls and a number of replacement parts, including a print head.  From there on there were two more print heads, an ink bay, two pump/cap assemblies etc etc.  So of course I opted for the second warranty extension as well, which expired about four months ago.  I'm now on my own and have, out of necessity, learned a lot about the self maintenance routines on that machine.  I know I could replace the print head and other parts, so I'm somewhat ready for the next round I believe.  However, since the warranty expired the printer has been behaving quite well, so hopefully it has overcome its growing pains.  But alas, I said wasn't going there in this post, so I really should keep my word.  One thing I will add is that with your experience and the usage of the 9900 printers you have worked with I still believe it's a great printer.  Obviously it likes to be busy, and it sounds like the ones you've been using have certainly had the usage they needed.

Most of the artwork I reproduce is scanned on an old Epson Expression 1680 and then stitched together in Photoshop.  It's a standard size scanner and I've successfully scanned originals up to 20x30" in size.  Occasionally I run into a problem piece and have difficulty stitching, but there's usually a wrok-around for that.  On larger originals I have a friend who shoots those in his studio using a Nikon D800.  I also have some tests to run soon that should increase the resolution and provide more detail with the camera files. 

I hope this is helpful.
Gary
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Gary N.
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hugowolf

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Re: What's your print workflow?
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2013, 09:30:35 pm »

A RIP really isn’t necessary for RGB work. Apart from CMYK and prepress, a RIP would give you better use of the O and G inks, and layout tools. If you are using only Photoshop, then you will realize that it is a one image at a time program, but there are plenty of excellent programs that now offer print layout options, including Lightroom, Aperture, and if you are using a Windows platform, QImage.

The Epson 4900, 7900, and 9900, need to be used frequently. If you are not printing at least twice a week and every week, then I would look at different printers.

Brian A
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