dark bands in skies - defective Illuminata paper

[Roscolo]

A custom profile could possibly help the situation. I believe that some profiling software will even allow you to specify more data points in a certain region of color and tone, this would allow for more tones to be represented in that area- and could reduce or eliminate the tonal compression banding in that area. However that would mean that the profile will be weaker in some other areas.

Another possibility, if you are dedicated to printing on that paper, is to manipulate that selected area in photoshop to reduce the gradation of tone to something that will print without the bands.

    

It's now confirmed this has nothing to do with profiles or settings. The paper is defective. I made numerous custom profiles on 2 different printers. I operate a very busy print studio...I can't accept trying to alter each file (of thousands of files) to accommodate a manufacturing defect in a pallet of paper, not that that is even possible for the bands that are prevalent in this paper before it's even taken out of the box. Paper should not have lines like you see in the photos...period. Finally got through to the manufacturer via the retailer. Initially they weren't even inspecting the paper before sending it out. That's pretty scary in and of itself. Then, they inspected a a shipment but did not look at photos I sent nor follow my instructions to light it from above and did not even seem aware what to look for. Their inspection apparently consisted of laying it on a table, where it is definitely harder to see the bands. But once you light it from above and see the glaringly obvious bands in the paper grain or coating (I'm leaning towards the theory that the problem may be in the inkjet receptive coating) of this stuff, you can't unsee it. Looks like tablecloth material or a repeating pattern in wallpaper. Hoping it gets resolved soon. Now it looks like the manufacturer has actually inspected the paper and acknowledged the problem. I say they acknowledged it...they went from saying they could not see it, to then saying they could see it under one light...and then apparently "the owner" said it shouldn't make any difference. That sounds like an opinion from someone who hasn't printed on the stuff, so now they are going to cut some off and print on it, which I would have thought would be a regular process on each batch of paper just as part of normal quality control.

 I'm holding off on reviewing the supplier and manufacturer for now as it looks like we're getting somewhere now. The breakdown in communication between customer, retailer, and manufacturer was a big problem. Sounds like their entire master roll of this paper is worthless, so someone likely will have to get replacement for that master roll from the actual paper mill, or perhaps from whomever applies the inkjet receptive coating, at some point.

The good news is now that it seems to have gotten their attention, anyone else from this point forward will be spared the experience I've had.

[Roscolo]

I'm going to update this thread with some more info. I bought 36 rolls of this paper ( Illuminata Warm Tone - same paper is sold under other brands as well ). Back in January, the supplier, after just blindly sending pallet after pallet of the same paper I demonstrated time and again was defective, finally did what I had suggested to get away from what was clearly a bad master roll and substituted the Cool Tone. Same files, same settings, same printers, no banding on the Cool Tone. So, I have been waiting since January for them to pick up the pallet of defective Warm Tone. I had almost thrown it out or donated to the local high school art class. Keep in mind this pallet of paper weighs 500lbs. I don't have a pallet jack, so it has been sitting, still wrapped, in my studio where the delivery driver dropped it back in January! I hear nothing about this until one day last week when I received an email and then a tractor trailer shows up unannounced 3 hours later as I was on my way out to deliver prints. So, delivery driver says no big deal, gives me his trucking company's number and says to call and arrange a time and they will come pick it up. I did so the next day, scheduled pickup for Monday the 11th. No one called. No one came. Then the supplier tells me that I can't contact the trucking company; it has to come through them. Keep in mind this 500lbs of useless stuff has been ignored for months now. But today it occurs to me that when they get it back, they might intend to sell it to some other unsuspecting customer. The paper is Illuminata Warm Tone 200 44"x50' sold by IT Supplies (sold under other brands as well if you do a little research). I had various cut numbers sent to me...ALL had the banding problem in the paper. So if you're thinking about buying this paper, you may want to stay away from it. To be clear IT Supplies has been helpful, it's their supplier from whom the paper was dropshipped who has been, shall I say, less than helpful. And that's an understatement.