The basic set up is as seen under Studio. using the SLR/n and S2 Pro cameras with a Nikon 28-105 AF lens and Kepcor Infra red trigger mounted on the hot shoe. Using the 029 Manfrotto tripod head this set up allows for portrait or landscape shots. I use a Sekonic L-358 incident flash meter measuring for f11 or f16. To trigger the meter when checking the lights, I use a Jessops 100M flash gun (£9.90), handheld, with a piece of "opaque", spent transparency film taped over the lens.

I use the Kodak DCS SLR/n and Fuji S2 Pro, digital cameras and Epson 2100 printer for colour. I shoot in RAW mode at ISO 100 and f11-16, downloading to the PC and converting with Fuji Raw File Converter, or Kodak DCS Photo Desk, into 48 bit TIFF images. The rest of the editing process is done with Picture Window Pro in conjunction with Photoshop CS.

Since the upgrade to a digital I thought it was about time I calibrated and profiled the monitor. This has now been done with ColorVision PhotoCal and Spyder.

I have now invested in PrintFix (used to produce printer profiles). Prior to this I was using the Epson printer profiles downloaded from their Australian site and the Premium Semi Gloss profile seemed fine. Obviously if I wanted to use non, or different paper and ink combinations I would have to make separate profiles.

The installation of PrintFix went without a hitch (I know some people have had trouble installing on both Mac and PC). There were a couple of problems.

1. Positioning the Calibration Chart in the clear plastic sleeve. With the chart pushed right up to the top of the sleeve, I was not able to read any instructions with regard to slider adjustments, so by trial and error I adjusted the chart so that I could read part of the word PrintFix. The instructions, if any (there were none in my case) would be displayed to the left of this, after scanning and displaying in Photoshop. If it is placed too far down, the bottom edge of the chart is lost. This problem could easily be addressed by ColorVision with positioning marks on the base of plastic sleeve, as positioning needs to be very accurate to attain the above desired effect.

2. It takes a few tries to get the chart to run parallel in the scanner. Progress can be seen on the screen, cancelled if it is not running parallel and try again.

The first print, using the supplied PDI Test Image and subsequent images of my own, came out unacceptably dark. This can be overcome by adjusting the sliders, which pop up during the profile building process. As there is no "soft proofing" when adjusting the sliders, it is a case of trial and error (wasted ink and paper) until you get it right. In my case it was Brightness: +4, Red: -4, Magenta: -2 (Green: +2). I have now re assessed this (20/11/03) and now find I only need to adjust brightness to +4 and make any colour adjustments in Photoshop, although since using the Fuji S2 and its custom white balance, I haven't even found colour adjustment necessary.

When adjusting images in Photoshop, or any other editor for that matter, it is essential to have a "control image" (an image you know produces an acceptable print with the profile you are using) as a comparison, on screen, alongside the print you are currently editing.

Bundled with my copy of PrintFix came DoctorPro. This is supposed to take the guess work out of having to use the slider adjustments and allow a "soft proof" view of your adjustments using Photoshop tools. For my simple mind and not being a Photoshop guru it does need an idiots guide to be able to understand the Actions and Script part of the instructions. Another one for ColorVision.

Whilst I'm on my hobby horse I might as well mention that when setting up Print Options on the Epson 2100 I was not able to use the full SuperPhoto (2880 dpi) resolution of the printer when using PrintFix. Using Archival Matte Paper as PrintFix instructions, I was only able to use Photo (1440 dpi) resolution. I queried this with ColorVision some time ago and have not yet (30 Oct. 03) received a reply.

Having said all that, this has been the most cost effective way I have tried of producing printer profiles.

I now use the instructions for printing as set out in the PrintFix User Guide, although I imagine printing would be just as effective using PWP.

Printing Update Nov. 2004.

I have been having problems with blue jeans and similar shades of blue showing a distinct turquoise when printed using the above method, although everything was normal when viewed on the screen. Try as I may I could not find the answer to this, as all other colours appeared normal. I decided to go back to square one and try several different profiles. The one that seemed to work the best was the Epson SP2100 Premium Semigloss_PK (using photo black). Setting this up in Photoshop, View/Proof setup, indicated it would print too dark and so I made an adjustment (1.00 to 1.12 with the gamma slider) using Image/Adjustments/Levels, also moving the highlight slider in to the edge of the histogram - 255 to 248 typically.

The printing setup for using this profile in Photoshop was as follows:-

1. File/Print with preview
2. Show More Options/Color Management.
Source Space/Document
Print Space/Profile/SP2100 Premium Semigloss_PK, Intent/Perceptual
3. Print/Properties, Media Type/Premium Semigloss Photo Paper
Advanced
Media Type, Premium Semigloss Photo Paper
Print Quality, SuperPhoto 2880 dpi.
No Color Adjustment
MicroWeave ON, the rest OFF
Click OK three times and you are ready to print.
If you have Print Preview ticked the colours will look peculiar - don't panic, just hit
the Print button and all will be OK.

Now for Black and White, using Epson Grey Balancer, Photoshop CS and Picture Window Pro with Epson Stylus Photo 2100

The PC is a Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo 600, Pentium 4, 3.2 Ghz., 1 Gb. RAM and 233 Gb. hard disc, running Windows XP and a Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 720 flat screen monitor.

The scanner is a Polaroid Sprintscan 120, medium format film scanner, with a resolution of 4000 ppi.

I found Wayne Fulton's and Norman Koren's web pages most useful whilst getting to grips with scanning and digital editing.

I first select the slide I am going to use, colour in this case. I clean this and the slide holder (I use the glass slide holder for medium format) with a soft slide brush (I've never got on with canned air, as it seems to disturb and replace as much dust as it removes) before placing in the slide holder. This has to be done by trial and error with the Sprintscan 120 as there are no positioning marks on the glass slide holder. Incidentally, I needed to update PolaColor Insight from the Polaroid web site to use the glass slide holder and Windows XP, to version 5.5.1.0

I then place the slide holder in the scanner, noting the position of the slide - 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. As I said, I needed to find these positions by trial and error as the manufacturers omitted to do it. This has now been addressed in the latest software version, by allowing the use of a film strip of six images (35mm.). A cropping tool can then be used to select the required image before the final scan.

I open PWP and click, File - Acquire (File - Select Source when first setting up. I then select PolaColor Insight, the programme bundled with the Sprintscan 120)

At this stage I set up Edit - Preferences, in PolaColor Insight. The only two I alter are the General tab, setting the Auto Lamp Off to 30 min. and the Scan tab to Process Final Scan with Work Space Color Profile and set this to sRGB. I also make sure the Enable Auto focus is ticked. I leave the rest at the default settings.

Next I make sure the display is in Preview and set the Media, Input and Display profiles as appropriate, not forgetting to set the relevant Frame number (or Film Strip). I find it's easier to set the Orientation later, before the final scan.

When I'm sure all is OK here, I click the Preview button and the preview scan commences.

If I've positioned the slide correctly, I'm presented with a low resolution preview of the image, or several images in the case of the film strip setting. I adjust the Orientation at this stage, as appropriate, position the crop box and move the frame edges up, down, in or out as required.

When I'm satisfied with this, I click the Scan tab. I set the Resolution to 320 dpi (I know Wayne Fulton and Norman Koren say 250-300 is enough and I'm sure that's OK). This is for inkjet printing, by the way, on my Epson 2100. The Quality box isn't used for inkjet printers. I set the Scale To box to a % age to give the maximum scanning resolution of 4000 ppi. This shows at the bottom left of the window after clicking in the Width or Height boxes. I don't check the Fixed Size box. I set the Resample Method to bicubic, the best for photographs - the resampling will be done in PWP. These settings produce a printed size of 19" x 16" at 360 dpi. and 23" x 19" at 300 dpi. with a massive image size of over 115 Mb., so a large memory is paramount - 1 Gb. in my case. OK, so it's too large for my printer, but the gurus say it's better to resample in a good image editor like PWP and Adobe Photoshop.

NOTE from Norman Koren:
" PW Pro ignores the resolution setting of the image file. All that's important is the pixel dimensions. You set print size at print time. If you scan 35mm film at 4000 dpi you'll get about a 120 MB file-- HUGE. The more memory the merrier".

When I've checked all the settings I click the Scan button. The Save Image As box appears and I set the File name, Save as type as TIFF, Scan and Correct at 48-bit colour (16 bit colour depth), 16-bit black and white (8 bit depth) tick the Launch Application, click Save and the final scan commences, transferring the image to PWP.

I then resize the image - in pixels if required for the web (I like 560 high) or inches if for printing. I don't allow any sharpening at this stage and leave the Resolution set at 360 dpi., even if the image is for the web. I reduce this later, to 96 as it makes the file size slightly smaller (about 1.5 K). I set the Preserve, to Proportions and Interpolation Method to Bicubic.

NOTE from Norman Koren:
" PW Pro handles printing differently (and I think better) from Photoshop. You don't need to resize for printing. Again, the dpi setting is irrelevant; only the total pixels count".

The next operation is adjusting the brightness with the Brightness Curve, (setting the black and white points). At the same time I use the Smooth Curve tool to set the brightness, observing the Preview window for the desired effect. I leave the Color Space at the default, HSV. When I'm satisfied I click Apply. Alternatively, you can use the Image, Adjustments, Levels and Shadow/Highlight controls in Photoshop CS.

NOTE from Norman Koren:
"I prefer to adjust in HSL. These color spaces are only intermediate steps for adjustment. The image is stored in RGB. I have a new light and color page that discusses HSL and HSV (it doesn't make a huge difference)".

Color Balance, Correction and Saturation is sometimes necessary but otherwise the next task is to get rid of any dust specks and skin blemishes with the Clone and Speck Removal tools.

The next operation is to apply USM (unsharp mask). the settings I use for people are Radius 1 -2, Threshold at least 10, with amount up to 100% for printing and 50 - 100% for the web. I have found 230% usually about right for printing when using the Fuji S2, or SLR/n with sharpening turned off.

I then save as TIFF or JPG as appropriate. I save JPG images at 97% Quality and Color sampling 4:4:4. I convert the TIFF file to 24-bit before saving (PWP converts to 24-bit colour automatically before saving as a JPG)

NOTE from Norman Koren:
"For web display you can save JPG as low as 80% (I typically use 85-90%) to speed up loading. I always save original artwork in TIFF, but I'm looking more closely at PNG-- a great format for some purposes. It uses lossless compression, and it is compatible with the web. It's particularly nice for B&W because JPEG doesn't really support B&W. B&W JPEGs are color images with no color".

I then print using Photoshop CS, File/Print with preview, as above Update