Breathing Color Blog

We get a ton of questions from listeners who find their prints speckled with ink drops or smudged by roller marks, so we invited long-time Epson technician Ron Ardito onto the show to identify what’s causing these frustrating imperfections.

Many printmakers that don’t know the printhead is a consumable part may confuse the signs of a failed printhead with standard ink clogs. Ron Ardito, New York City Epson technician, joins the show to clarify the differences between these two commonly confused issues. He also offers up a few small recommendations for lower-volume printmakers.

Automatic Head Cleaning Failed error and a discussion comparing the Epson Stylus Pro 7890 to the 7900.

Transferring files in the correct color space for the desired results.

Part of running a successful printing operation is setting clear parameters for the types of files you’re willing to receive and print. Renée Besta, professional printmaker and photographer, shares insight into how to educate the customer on file transferring, avoiding embedded profiles that disrupt an efficient workflow, and why larger commercial labs may only accept images in the lower-quality sRGB color space.

* The importance of guidelines when transferring images to be printed

* Key formatting choices: resolution, color space, and file type

* An explanation for why you may only be able to upload your images in the sRGB color space to labs

* Built-in look-up tables

* Internal LUTs that allow you to easily move your calibrated display to another computer

* Fuji Chrystal Archive – the best paper in its category, not the best paper in general.

* eCommerce platforms that allow you to pick your print vendor from a large list

* Weighing effort vs. ease of use – put more work in, get better images and more print options.

* Much more!

Listen in to learn about embedded ICC profiles and the sRGB color space

Show Notes

* Check out Renée’s photography and blog by visiting her website.

* Listeners featured in this episode include Jim, Steve, and Paul.

* We’ve compiled all of Renée’s printmaking articles and podcast appearances into a single PDF! Get it by texting “RBESTA” to 33444.​

* Love the show? Have some feedback for us? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Audio Transcription

Prefer to read over listen? Want to save this conversation for reference later? We transcribe all of our shows for these reasons! Download this episode’s transcription below:

CLICK HERE to download the free audio transcription of Episode 23 of #AskBC

Or, to view a web version of the transcript:

Click Here

[Music]

Announcer 1: You are listening to the AskBC podcast – your printmaking questions, answered by the experts!

Justin: Hey guys, it’s your host Justin. Welcome to Episode 23 of the AskBC podcast. Today we have back with us, a special guest, Renee Besta joins us again, and we are going to talk about embedded profiles, display look up tables, and printing files from the sRGB color space. Let’s go ahead and jump right in!

Announcer 2: Jim asks, “How do I use embedded ICC profiles in a customer’s image when printing with BC papers or canvas?”

Renee: I’ve mentioned this before in prior podcasts, I encourage people writing with questions to be as detailed and as specific as possible. First of all, what does he mean by embedded ICC profiles? And by that I mean, what type?

So i need to better understand what types of profiles he’s referring to. There’s a lot of types as people may know – you have input ICC profiles, output – your display has an ICC profile, you have working space profiles. So what is he referring to and then what issues is he encountering with that from the customer?

And what i kind of think may be going on is that the customer is actually embedding an inappropriate profile. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s Breathing Color papers or any papers. First of all, he’s got – he should be defining his own file specifications for the customer. In other words,

Picking the right media type on Canon machines, fixing paper curl on fine art prints, and more.

Unsure how to tell your printer which media type you’re working with? Professional printmaker Renée Besta is on the show this week to talk through Canon media type settings, setting up great side-by-side soft proofs in Lightroom, and defeating the dreaded paper curl on fine art prints.

* Letting Photoshop control colors on Canon printers

* Making sure your media type matches your desired output

* Decoding Canon special media types

* Taming paper curl – Causes, prevention

* Tools to fix paper curl (low and high cost options)

* The easiest way to keep colors in gamut (and the hard/inefficient way)

* Side-by-side soft-proofing – don’t just trust your memory of color

* Much more!

Listen in to learn about Canon media settings and defeating paper curl

Show Notes

* Check out Renée’s photography on her website, and get our PDF of all of her blog posts and podcast appearances by texting “RBESTA” to 33444.

* Listeners featured in this episode include Jim, Howard, and Otis from Lightscap3s.com.

* Resources to help remove paper curl:

* Use a commercial device such as the BIENFANG D-Roller.

* Create a homemade device with metal or PVC pipe, a window shade (awesome low-cost solution), or the one described in a past blog post.

* Love the show? Have some feedback for us? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Audio Transcription

Prefer to read over listen? Want to save this conversation for reference later? We transcribe all of our shows for these reasons! Download this episode’s transcription below:

CLICK HERE to download the free audio transcription of Episode 22 of #AskBC

Or, to view a web version of the transcript:

Click Here

[Music]

Announcer 1: You are listening to the AskBC podcast – your printmaking questions, answered by the experts!

Justin: Hey guys, this is your host Justin. Welcome to Episode 22 of the AskBC podcast. Today we have back with us, resident expert Renee Besta, and we are going to talk about Canon media type settings, soft proofing in Lightroom, and resolving paper curl. Let’s go ahead and jump right into the questions!

Announcer 2: Jim asks, “I’m having a hard time understanding a particular issue regarding printing when using PhotoShop’s plug-in with my Canon iPF6450 printer. When I select ‘Let Photoshop Control Color,’ how does the printer know which media I am using? It would seem that I have to set the media type. If that is the case, what setting would I use for Silverada Canvas?”

Renee: Okay, great question. And of course, yes you always need to choose the media type when you’re printing. It doesn’t matter what brand or type of paper you’re using, and that controls how much ink is laid down and in what matter it’s laid down. What he needs to do, there are very detailed instructions on Breathing Color’s website suppport pages that’ll walk you through all the s...

Nervous about sending your work off to a commercial press? Scott Martin, a print workflow expert, explains how you can use Photoshop and smart paper selection to simulate a four-color press look and proof your prints at home with a printer like the Epson 3880.

Scott Martin, a color management and print workflow consultant, joins the show to talk about layout software – a good middle ground for printmakers that don’t want or need to dive into the world of “full blown” RIPs. Scott also helps out a listener that’s looking to streamline their small two­-machine printer network.

“What are ICC profiles, anyways?” We take a few minutes this week to go back to basics and outline what ICC profiles are used for, how they improve your prints, and where to find them for your specific printer model. Also on the show, a few solutions for a listener looking to print onto magnetic material, and a reminder that your prints are near bullet proof after being varnished.

Hard proofing is the best way to get a feel for how your final print will turn out, but it can be costly! In this episode, Justin covers a few tricks for getting the most for your money when hard proofing. He also covers a few solutions to mount photo prints to rigid substrates to display them without glass, and answers a listener question on the risks of using Glamour II and other water-based varnishes to seal inkjet photo prints.

If you’ve ever wondered what effect changing color spaces has on your image, this week’s show dispels the rumors and details how you can use color space to your advantage. Renée Besta, photographer and printmaker, also calls in to outline a couple of great wide gamut displays and makes the case that they’re not a luxury, but a necessity.