I do soft proof, but find I still tweak my images after printing/drying. As imagined, it gets expensive printing on Epson EFP or other premium paper. Now that my P800 is on the way, larger paper is even more expensive. Is there a way to proof on less expensive paper rather than burn more expensive paper? I usually use EFP by Epson, Museo SR, Ilford Galerie and Somerset Velvet. I am unable to find the answer so have resorted to displaying my ignorance here.
I know a lot has been said about soft proofing, but, like you I do like to see something tangible, so I print a “test strip” of the photo I’m working on. After I think I’ve finished processing, I bring the photo into the Print module and sit and have a good look at it “on the paper” to ensure colour and tonal values are correct. This is where I’m now looking at the image as a finished print and not a processing file. I think this is a step many people miss. You need to step back and take the whole thing in with a white border around it: check to see how the highlights relate to the “paper white”, how deep the shadows appear, and the overall colour cast, again, compared to paper White. A large, accurate monitor helps with this as well as an understanding of how your printing system works.
I’ve set up LR to print a 2.75” strip on the size of paper I’ll be using for the final print. In the Print module, I drag the image to show a section that includes the brightest highlight and, if possible, the darkest shadow area and hit Print. Two minutes later, I have a single strip of the photograph to evaluate, usually up in my living room where I have typical home mixed lighting.
Typically, without softproofing or a calibrated monitor (but using a Benq wide gamut SW2700PT monitor, calibrated using Apple’s system on my MacBook Pro), I print one test strip, rarely two, before I print an artist’s proof, which I put up on the piano to live with for a while. That being said, I use the same paper for my work (MOAB Entrada Rag Natural), so I know how it prints.
My belief is, and I know it’s counter to the techno-culture of calibration and softproofing helpfully espoused here, if you learn your craft well, your printing system - your monitor, printer inks and paper - and you slow down to carefully assess colours and tones on a white background, then make corrections, photographers will have greater success printing. They will also develop an eye for what’s correct. Yes, there’s an element of trial and error, and a learning curve, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch, either. These are the same principles I used in black-and-white and colour wet darkrooms for years and they are as important today as back then.
