Aperture 3 , Imageprint 8 and B&W prints

[glent]

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Hi guys, I wondered if you could help me with a printing problem that I have. I have converted some M9 DNG colour photos to B&W using the NIK Silver Efex Pro 2 plug-in in Aperture 3 and exported a TIFF 16-bit file for printing in Imageprint 8. Aperture is exporting using the Adobe RGB 1998 colour space. However, when I open the photo in IP it is heavily pixelated even when I use the High Resolution option. In addition, the prints are as per the screen image, i.e. heavily pixelated. What am I doing wrong? Colour photos print without any problems; it's just B&W I am having problems with. I would be grateful for any help you can give me.

I did speak to Imageprint who were helpful but they were not so knowledgeable about Aperture. I am also not using Photoshop.

Thanks

[Guest malland]

If you're exporting tiff files from Aperture they should print in ImagePrint the same way tiff files from Photoshop would print. In other words, this doesn't sound like an Aperture problem; but I don't know what the problem is.

 

And if your exporting it as an Adobe RGB file it should print as easily as a color file: could it be that in ImagePrint you're treating it as a grayscale file, which it isn't. Make sure the use the same ImagePrint settings as you do for color files.

 

—Mitch/Paris

Around Chiang Mai

[Guest WPalank]

Are you using the correct paper profile? In other words the profile name should begin with the printer followed by the black ink set (PK or MK), then gray profile for B&W printing (...._gray_.....).

 

Or are you hitting the fill canvas with image as opposed to "Center image button".? That should be easy to diagnose as the image itself should be distorted. Anyway, probably something simple. John Pannozzo the owner and I have been exchanging emails just this week. I don't use Aperture but Photoshop. I save out the Final TIFF to a Master TIFF folder and import from there. So it shouldn't matter what program you are using. Check your 'Export" Settings in Aperture. Possibly in "Preferences".

 

Finally, what is the ppi of your final image? Lot's of people say not to go below 180. I typically use 200 as my bottom and if necessary will use the IP8 RIP itself to uprez the image. Amazing results!

 

You can go to the Main site then click on "Help" which will have a list of resources including the User Guide and Trouble Shooting Tips:

ColorByte Software - Home of ImagePrint

[glent]

Thanks, just got to my messages. I will work on some of your suggestions over the weekend. In the meantime, just to confirm that I am using the correct gray scale profiles for the specified paper.

 

In the interim, what I found out is that if I export an 8-bit TIFF from Aperture (using the correct paper profile) it seems to print out as required. However, 16-bit TIFFs just don't seem to print out properly. Probably something I am doing, so will try and look at this again over the weekend when I have more time.

 

Anyway, thanks again.

[Guest malland]

...I will work on some of your suggestions over the weekend. In the meantime, just to confirm that I am using the correct gray scale profiles for the specified paper...

Isn't the problem that you are exporting RGB tiffs from Aperture and then applying a grayscale profile to the RGB color file? It seems to me that, if you're using an RGB file, even if it's a B&W file, you need to then use a color paper profile in ImagePrint. The alternative is to export a grayscale tiff from Aperture, which I assume can be done, and only then apply a grayscale ImagePrint paper profile.

 

—Mitch/Paris

Around Chiang Mai