Sharpening for printing

Hello mujabad,

I would just look the best fine-art printing shop in the area you are living, stop by at their location and have and in-depth discussion about your printint needs.

I would assume they would be more than happy to share their know-how - especially if you are a potential customer

Thnx Sigi!
I’ ve used pro print shops in the past, but when I start printing myself…then I’ll hardly be a new customer anymore.

Thnxs Pascal!
75%zooming and bicubic on. Worth trying! Although I will print A2 (maybe A3). Maybe zoom in at 100% ? I usually do this when editing images in PL.
Ow and I like to look at my prints up close.

But then there’ s also a second question. I guess I’ ll be exporting Tiff files from DXO PL into Affinity Photo (because there’ s no softproofing in DXO PL). In any program I tend to sharpen my files as a last step. In this case, that could very well be Affinity Photo. Don’ t know if it’ s wise to sharpen files before exporting as tiff to AP (where I ofcourse can sharpen them as well…as a very last step).

I use Qimage and it takes care of the sharpening depending on paper size and type. Does a masterful job. One of the best software packages I own. I process in On1 or DXO and export a jpg to a print folder and the use Qimage to print. Works like a charm. Can do multiple layouts, saved print jobs, text, all kinds of nice features.

Thank you Mike! I’ ve read a that many use Qimage. Maybe I should read more about that program. Sounds interesting! I thought of getting the (free) Inkjet Plumber. Seems to do a nice job programming a printer to print anything in a certain schedule. I know, not as complete as Qimage though.

Download a free trial of Qimage Ultimate and test it for yourself.

The sharpening / optimisation for print size (up or down) and type of printer is why so many recommend Qimage. Once off purchase, one of the best software investments I have made.

http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u/

Ian

Thank you IanS!
Does it integrate with the Canon Prograf Pro1000? (or does the Canon Pro1000 integrate well with Qimage). If so, in what way (to get a simple workflow)?

Qimage works with any printer and can even enhance the native printer driver capabilities under certain circumstances i.e. remove restrictions inherent to the printer driver. It can handle poster printing, canvas printing, layout of multiple photos/sizes, put cut marks on the paper etc.

The UI for Qimage is a little daunting at first but there are plenty of YouTube videos available to help you get going.

I used LR from V1-6 and it has a very good printing module but I never used it in earnest as I much prefer Qimage.

Ian

Thank you! Sounds good. But…working on Mac here. So only Qimage One is possible (which could be fine, because I’m only looking for print software…nothing else). Not sure yet how good Qimage One works, but I can find out.

I print on my Epson Pro 3880 straight out of DxO after ‘optimizing’ without any sharpening up to A2+. My photos are from either a Sony A1000iii or A7Rii. They look fine, even close up. They are mostly landscapes or city architecture. I work on an iMac.

Thank you Stephengoulden. I guess I’ ll have to try then.

A whole lot of your sharpening issues are taste, paper and subject matter dependent. Don’t get all uptight about sharpening until you have the printer in hand and are ready to print a few. Plan to print on letter size paper first, or plan to set up and print segments of your image onto portions of your paper to see how sharpening (or not) works. I have a Canon Pixma Pro-1, and if I only have 13x19 paper in the paper I’m using, I’ll select an important part of my image and print only that portion, but at final print size, on different places on the same sheet of paper to see what I like, before the final print. I can do this easily in Photoshop, I haven’t tried printing from PL2 or 3.
Also, if you have the Nik Collection, I would definitely examine the output sharpening options in Sharpener Pro. I’ve used that often as a last step before outputting a file for inkjet or halftone reproduction.

Thank you Evildad. I’ m not using any Adobe products though. Also no Nik Collection

I commonly print A2 + on my Epson P800 with Epson Print Layout.
Today, after many tests, I output a 16-bit TIFF with PhotoLab, then with GigaPixel AI, I put it at definition A2 + in 360 dpi (native resolution at Epson) and finally, I use Nik Sharpener Pro with settings suitable for paper and an accent that rarely exceeds 25%

I don’ t have Nik Sharpener or Gigapixel AI…but how was the result?

Before using this procedure I have never had such good results; I will say that my prints seem naturally sharper with a stronger presence of the image.

Some time later now. I have bought the Canon Pro-1000 and I use Qimage One now. Very satisfied! At the moment I only use 2 different Hahnemühle Fine Art papers. Photo Rag 308 and Photo Rag Baryta. Both in A4 and A2 size. Very nice!
Workflow is now; shooting raw / import in DXO PL3 / export as 16bit tiff to Qimage One for printing. Staying in aRGB in Qimage One.
Thank you all for all advice!

I´m just wondering if you use Epson Print Layout in PL3 or do you use the PL3 printing module?

@poloriton, @skurken

just saw this thread – you may check Printing - colour balance issue with PL 1.2

And no, I don’t use Epson Print Layout (anymore), while it can be helpful esp. with ABW.
For B&W I still use ABW-profiles from Eric Chan, but changed some settings in Epson P800 driver.

have fun, Wolfgang