Calibration! Do I need it?

Take a look at the following graphic to find your calibration score. What is the lowest number that you can just barely see? 1 – 9       Fantastic! Great job! You’re calibrated to print. 10 – 15     Good job – your calibration allows you to see some shadow detail, not all. 16 – 19    Better than most but you’re missing the very dark shadow details you are capable of adjusting if you could see them. 20-30    Not so good I am afraid… 31+        Poor. You’re missing the entire range of shadow detail which is what allows Piezography...Read more

Checking your linearization

You can check the quality of your own linearization with a tool that I have provided in the form of an Excel spreadsheet called “Linearization_Checker.xls”. This spreadsheet has a form for entering in the measurements of a 21 step density chart that has values from 0 to 100% ink in 5% increments. You can enter either Luminosity values (L of Lab) or Density values if your instrument is a densitometer. After entering in the values, a chart is generated that shows the IDEAL linearization and your current linearization. You must have Microsoft Excel or a compatible spreadsheet shareware or...Read more

Piezography Profiles

Piezography K7 (K6) is a system of seven (or six) shaded monochromatic inks and matching media “profiles,” that when used correctly produce a perfect black & white ink density linearization on a specific media on a specified printer. Piezography K7 (K6) uses a special profile that I make that is compatible with the QuadTone RIP (QTR). However, it is not a traditional QTR profile that can be made with QTR. As such, it can not be edited nor can it be used as a base for making additional QTR profiles. A traditional QTR profile is a set of adjustment points for curves that can be...Read more

A Calibration Primer

Introduction Piezography K7 is intended as a synergistic relationship between seven shades of carbon black ink and a special Piezography curve for the QuadTone RIP (QTR) software. The Piezography designed curve has the uncanny ability to map the entire 8-bit grayscale space (256 gray levels) onto a media. Piezography provided many of these media curves at no charge as part of the installation of (QTR) software. Additional curves are available by purchasing custom profiling services from Piezography. Alternatively, a user can perfect their printer’s linearization by using this premium...Read more

Pre-Visualization Strategies for Piezography part 3

So if a photographer can not calibrate their display to print, or refuses to… why would a photographer refuse to calibrate to print? The reason I hear the most, is that they do not like the look of the display. The next reason is that they like their image better when its super contrasty. So what happens is that they see fantastic blacks and then complain that the resultant Piezography prints are “too light”. Yet Piezography is capable of making fantastic blacks. In fact, the best strength of Piezography is its ability to render endless detail in the shadows. Some...Read more

Pre-Visualization Strategies for Piezography part 2

Lets take a look at what happens when a display is calibrated too bright. Many photographer like to look at their images as if they were looking at them on a light box. They often calibrate so that the dark point is about 0 L and the white point is about 100 L. In fact, a lot of well-meaning experts will actually convince them to do so. But most well-meaning experts are not printmakers and do not regularly calibrate their displays to match prints. Experts in printing convince photographers to calibrate their displays for print when printing, and calibrate their displays for other purposes...Read more

Pre-Visualization Strategies for Piezography intro

Standard K7 profiles are made to differentiate between 256 gray levels from RGB value 0 (black) to RGB value 255 (white). Therefore, displays should be calibrated to print specs of an approximate contrast ratio of 275%, with black point near .34 cd/m2 and a white point near 90 cd/m2. These Luminance values are not very dark, nor very bright and are intended to make the display imitate ink on paper. In fact, the appearance of a properly calibrated display can be quite unusual when the user realizes that their uncalibrated display has a native contrast ratio often as bright as 875%. And...Read more