Printing on the Epson 9600 Preparing your image to print You should save a second.psd or tiff version of your image for printing Resizing To observe the image size and resolution of an existing file, you can go to image image size. This brings you to the Image Size Dialog Box This can be used to view and change the current resolution of any open document Document File Size- How much space the file will take up on your hard drive. Pixel Dimensions- How many pixels the image has Physical Printed Size-If you printed this image, how big would it be? Resolution- How many pixels per inch If your resolution goes under 300 ppi at the size you want to print, you may see pixelation Scale Styles will scale any styles applied to your image, such as a stork Constrain proportions will constrain the aspect ratio of your image Resampling means physically changing the pixel dimensions of your image Nearest Neighbor gives you the lowest image quality. With this method, Photoshop looks at the colors of surrounding pixels and copies them. Nearest Neighbor is known for creating jagged edges, so you ll want to use it only on images with hard edges like illustrations that aren t anti-aliased
Bilinear tells Photoshop to guess at the color of new pixels by averaging the colors of the pixels directly surrounding the ones it s adding. Bilinear produces slightly better results than Nearest Neighbor and is still pretty fast, but you re better off using one of the next four methods instead. Bicubic makes Photoshop figure out the colors of new pixels by averaging the colors of even more pixels surrounding the new one in order to make a better guess. This method takes longer than the previous two but produces smoother transitions in areas where one color fades into another. Bicubic Smoother is similar to Bicubic in the way it creates new pixels, but this method blurs pixels slightly to blend the new ones into the old ones, making the image smoother and more natural looking. Adobe recommends this method for enlarging images. Bicubic Sharper is also similar to Bicubic in the way it creates new pixels, but instead of blurring whole pixels to improve blending between the new and old like Bicubic Smoother, it softens only the pixels edges. Adobe recommends this method for downsizing images, though some Photoshop gurus claim that it also produces better enlargements than Bicubic Smoother. Bicubic Automatic is new in CS6, and it tells Photoshop to pick the best method depending upon the content of your image and whether you re making the image bigger or smaller. Sharpening Sharpening improves most digital images but won t save a photograph that was made out of focus. It is an important adjustment that should be applied to all scans and digitally captured photographs, usually just before printing The amount of sharpening for best results depends on a number of factors, one of which is the resolution used for a particular output. To sharpen your file, first make a copy layer and convert that layer for smart filters by going to Filter Convert for Smart Filters. Then, go to Filter Unsharp Mask Unsharp Maksing means sharpening. The seemingly contradictory name is a legacy from darkroom photography, a way of improving sharpness by placing a slightly out-of-focus negative in contact with a film positive, or slide, during enlarging. The result of this film sandwich is creased contrast at the edges of objects. The unsharp mask identifies areas of transition, then it exaggerates the transition. Amount - controls how weak or strong the mask image that is blended in will be. Thus, it controls how much edge contrast will be added and how much apparent sharpness we will get. If set too low, we won't see any change at all, but if set too high, the inverted halos from the mask will be visible in the final image and it will look artificial. The recommended setting is 100-300 depending on how sharp the original image was to begin with Radius controls the degree of unsharpness the mask image will have. Thus, it determines the width of the halos the mask will produce. The higher the radius
the more evident the sharpening effect will be. Set too low, the effect will be invisible or too subtle to be effective. The appearance of the halo will also vary with the content of the image since the amount of contrast already present will play a role. The recommended setting is usually between 1 and 2 Threshold selects how much adjacent pixels need to be to be considered an edge. Thus, it prevents sharpening of unimportant or incidental detail while reserving the effect for detail that should stand out. It separates signal from noise, if you will. Set too low, sharpening will be applied to every edge or change of tone throughout the image including such things as film grain. If set too high, no transitions will be viewed as being edges and no sharpening will result. The recommended setting is usually between 0 and 4. Color/Brightness for our 9600 Our printer tends to print a little dark and a little magenta. Add adjustment layers to correct for this first, or wait to see how your print turns out and make adjustments as necessary. Recommended Settings: One Levels Adjustment Layer with blended with screen and set to an opacity of 10% One Color Adjustment Layer with 3-8 points of green for the shadows, highlights, and midtones About the 9600: 44 wide format printer Operates by propelling droplets of ink onto paper Uses 7 Epson UltraChrome Inks. The inks are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Light Cyan, Light Magenta, Black and Light Black. There are two types of Black: Photo for use with glossy papers and Matte for use with matte papers. To print, Turn Printer ON Sign in to computer next to printer. This is the only computer that may be used for printing. Username: Printer Password: nozzlecheck Before printing, you must perform a Nozzle Check. This will ensure that the print heads are clear and ready to go. If roll paper is loaded, you are ready to perform a nozzle check. Otherwise, insert a piece of plain printing paper.
On the dock, click on Epson Printer Utility 4 This window will open Click on Nozzle Check Click Next The printer will print a check on the paper that is installed in the printer. Check to make sure there are no gaps in the check. Even a very small gap will cause problems
If there are gaps in your nozzle check, press clean and then repeat the process until the gaps disappear. If there are no gaps, press finish and close the printer utility. Load the appropriate paper into the printer- this was demonstrated in class. See Kate if you need help or if you are printing on alternative media Select the appropriate paper source on the printer. (Choose Roll: Auto Cut for Roll paper. Choose Sheet for Sheet Paper) Open your file in Adobe Photoshop CS6, go to File Print A new window will open Under Printer set up For printer, choose Epson Stylus Pro 9600 Copies Click on print settings A new window will open
Printer: Epson Stylus Pro 9600 Presets: Last used settings will use the last settings you filled in Copies 1, Collated checked Paper Size: Click on manage custom sizes at the bottom Set up a custom paper size for your print job. If you are using the 24 roll, then set your width to 23.5. Set your height according to the height of you image. IMPORTANT: No matter how small your image is, keep height in custom paper size at or over 12 inches Set all of the printer margins to 0. When you have your custom size entered, press OK. Now, click on the word layout and go down to print settings
Fill in the following settings: Page Setup: Roll Paper Media Type: Choose the correct media type. If you are using the roll of paper in the lab, choose Premium Luster Photo Paper 260 Ink: Color/BW Photo Color Settings: OFF Print Quality: Fine 720 dpi UNCHECK HIGH SPEED Press save Now, under color management For color Handing, choose photoshop manages color For printer profile, choose the correct profile for your paper. If you are using the roll paper in the lab, choose Pro9600 Premium Luster 260_PK Rendering Intent: choose Perceptual, which will aim to preserve the visual relationship between colors so the colors are perceived as natural to the human eye. Keep black point compensation checked on
Click print Study your print for accurate contrast and color. Reprint as necessary. Turn printer OFF when finished