Technique: Advanced printing with Epson R2400

So finally I had to try it again, the inkjet printer. Some time ago I had a go at a couple of other Epson printers, but they both disapointed me. Getting good black and white was almost impossible, so I gave it up.

Now I got the R2400 from Epson and a pack of Hahnemuhle Photorag 308 fine art-paper. I’ve seen some great prints on the Hahnemuhle photorag and it’s really promising regarding black anf white, fine art printing.

But it really isn’t as easy as they say to get decent results. The shadow and highlight detail is a bit difficult to get right, and the setup that Hahnemuhle explained on their web-site did not work at all. So here is a good starting point:
Set up the right papersize under Page Setup…, then Print with preview. Use the Matt Paper Heavyweight both in the print-preview and the print-driver. Use no color management in the print-driver.

The prints look pretty good, but I had to make a chart in Photoshop that I use to see how the prints look in the highlights and the shadows. By examing the test-print, it’s possible to see if the highlights are clipped, or if the shadows loose detail.
Print it once with the setup described. Then ad an adjusment-layer with levels to tweak the chart before you print it again. When you can see all the different shades of black and white in the print, then you have a perfect setup. Remember the figures for the levels-adjustmentlayer and use those every time you print. You can also make this an action to make it even easier.

You can download the chart here.
All numbers are percentage of black.

This should give you great prints and perfect control over the black and withe printing process as well. In my opinion you can get as good results as the old cemical process would give you.