Capture One/Photoshop/Printer - Optimal Workflow

[Alun]

Hi,

I would really appreciate any comments on this workflow please

CAPTURE ONE
1   Capture One used to do all colour corrections using the camera ICC profile to create a good file (no blocked or blown highlights)
2   The "Proof Profile" is set to "Selected Recipe"
3   Recipe generates an 16 bit TIFF ProPhoto RGB (no resizing, just cropped to the correct aspect ratio by Capture One) and hands off to Photoshop CC

PHOTOSHOP
4   When Photoshop opens the workflow dialog, the file is sized to the finished print size @ 360ppi (Epson's preferred resolution)
5   Minor changes/tidy up of issues and then sharpened using Photokit Sharpener
6   Saved with ProPhoto RGB color space and imported back into Capture One catalog

CAPTURE ONE
7   ICC profile now says "TIFF File Neutral"
8   "Proof Profile" changed to Canson Baryta icc profile
9   Levels adjusted to control print limits (mapped so that nothing of detail is less than 20 (which would print pure black) or higher than 248 (which would not apply ink)

PRINT DIALOG
10  "Color Profile" set to Canson Baryta icc profile
11  Rendering intent to Relative Colormetric
12  Black Point Compensation set to On


This gives me respectable prints but wondered if there was a better way?

[Alun]

Bump. Anyone? Please?!

[Denis de Gannes]

Seams fine to me but while you are in Photoshop and finished the image adjustments why do you not proceed to print from Photoshop.

[brntoki]

I would also wonder why not just printing from Photoshop. I don't myself, but that is because I print from Qimage. What I do, however, is soft proof before going to Qimage to see which way will be better, either relative colorimetric, or perceptual. Depending on the image, one may be quite better/worse than the other.

I'm also somewhat curious about step 9. If you have a well calibrated system, I don't see the need for this. Aren't you starting to "close your eyes" here? If you get results you like, well, great. But to me, the image should be able to be seen on screen accurately to how it will print. Is there some other dynamic at work that I'm not understanding?

[Alun]

Thank you brntoki and Denis de Gannes for your replies - very helpful.

I really don't know why I am not printing from Photoshop??! I suppose I just got used to it with Lightroom and have carried that over to Capture One - I'll certainly try that in future.

In response to the query about item 9, I've found its a really neat way of making sure that both the lightest and darkest elements that you want to print in your image actually do so. Here's how (it works well for me):-

1. I do a print of a test image I have which has the actual Luminosity values printed on black and white backgrounds. On, say, Canson Baryta Photographic, I can see that I can't read the "black" values after 20 (after which they just print as solid black) and the "white" values after 249.
2. In C1 preferences, I set the "Pick Target Levels" preference values to these numbers. This means that the picker icons in the Levels tool correspond to these values and I simply click the "black" icon onto the darkest shadow area I want to retain detail (C1 remaps this to 20) and the highlight that must retain detail (C1 remaps this to 249). I don't think that what you see on screen can truly represent this accuracy.

So all this step is essentially doing is altering the overall contrast of the image for printing accuracy. As I say, works for me and is so easy to achieve prints this way without the paper showing through in the highlights, etc

[brntoki]

1. I do a print of a test image I have which has the actual Luminosity values printed on black and white backgrounds. On, say, Canson Baryta Photographic, I can see that I can't read the "black" values after 20 (after which they just print as solid black) and the "white" values after 249.
2. In C1 preferences, I set the "Pick Target Levels" preference values to these numbers. This means that the picker icons in the Levels tool correspond to these values and I simply click the "black" icon onto the darkest shadow area I want to retain detail (C1 remaps this to 20) and the highlight that must retain detail (C1 remaps this to 249). I don't think that what you see on screen can truly represent this accuracy.

So all this step is essentially doing is altering the overall contrast of the image for printing accuracy. As I say, works for me and is so easy to achieve prints this way without the paper showing through in the highlights, etc

Interesting. Thanks for the explanation.

[msbc]

1. I do a print of a test image I have which has the actual Luminosity values printed on black and white backgrounds. On, say, Canson Baryta Photographic, I can see that I can't read the "black" values after 20 (after which they just print as solid black) and the "white" values after 249.

Hi Alun, sounds interesting and I'd like to explore this further. Would you mind sharing the test image?

Thanks,
Mark

[Alun]

It is a part of a larger test image but I have cut out the relevant area.

This is the link to it on my Google Drive - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0VvPaunRJKwb0VOajNDb3ktb0k/view?usp=sharing

Print on your choice of paper with the relevant ICC profile. Assess which numbers you can see before they disappear and set the C1 picker preferences to these numbers. Click on the highlight and shadow area that you need to retain in the print like in this one



Any questions, let me know

[msbc]

Hi Alun,

Thanks for the test image.

When you open it in Photoshop what are the number range that is visible on your display? I have a profiled/calibrated NEC PA271 but can only see 20 to 251!

Mark