• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Free Print Targets For Photography! What do you use?

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Not often do "experts" give things away. One of the things we treasure is the sincere colleagial approach we have nurtured here. We have no gurus, just exchange. It's that simple.

So when we see a guesture of kindness to other photographers, I'd like to say thanks!

Uwe Steinmueller has gotten together with input from Jack Flesher and brought the LAB output printing target of Bill Atkinson to the common world of our RGB set up (albeit CMYK) printers from Epson, Canon, HP and more. Printers do not necessarily behave with each paper batch and ink set exactly as expected.

Viewing conditions and staring at the screen can alter perception. Photometry is important but perception needs a real print! There's a whole train of remapping and assumptions that are at work in choosing inks to build a paticular dot on your print. That's the world of mathematics. Still the result has to work with our eyes and brains.

It's valuable, therefore, to have a standard reference file to be able to check the images have no failure in rendering.

550_PrinterEvaluationTarget.jpg


This file offers a number of unique advantages as explained by Uwe:

Uwe Steinmueller said:
  • Can be printed as is on Letter sized paper
  • ProPhoto RGB and not LAB mode (some new printer plugins cannot print from LAB)
  • 16 bit
  • Some new elements (printer black/highlight test ramp by Uwe Steinmueller)
  • New B&W test image by Jack Flesher
  • Large black patch to easily measure the dmax
  • Pure white close to the border to check the influence of Gloss Enhancers

The great thing is that the file is available for download free of charge!

Thanks guys!
 
Last edited:
We call it now Printer Test Image and not target to avoid confusion with profiling targets.

Also a lot of credit is due for Jack Flesher and of course Bill Atkinson.

Uwe
 
>why a 'Letter sized' lay-out?

To be able to print on smaller sized sheets.

I most of the time print on 9.5x13 (13x19 cut in half).

On the Z3100 need now 4x 9.5x13 to make:

- 1x Printer calibration
- 2x Printer targets for EyeOne Photo
- 1 Printer Evaluation Image

But also only Letter sized sheets would work. I hope it would also work on A4 though.

Uwe

Uwe
 

Will_Perlis

New member
An excellent tool! Thank you. (And I know I'm going to appreciate that razor blade in the upper left when nothing goes right)
 
Jack Flesher will write about the use of the test image.

But it is amazing what only the strawberries can reveal. If you just want to grab them to eat then the print and profile are likely quite good. If the strawberries don't look quite ripe (too light and lacking definition) you may have a printer, paper or profile issue. Start with the profile.

Uwe
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Let's see an update on use of test images!

:)

What do you use?

A comprehensive resource for free downloadable test images, (for all stages in accurate image photography making), is found here in Northlight Images, a UK based website. There are numerous goal specific test images:

  • B&W
  • Non linearity
  • Monitor setup
  • Skin tone
  • Hair detail
  • Dark hair without blocking
  • AF lens testing accuracy and calibration -references our own Bart Van Der Wolf's moiré methodology
  • Deep shadow detail and so much more

Or you just print?

Asher
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
By "original", I meant the print version. Comparing prints to anything else than prints is a problem. So I compare the output of my printer to the professionally produced print from Xrite. If they match under a variety of lights, including daylight outside, I consider my system well calibrated.

It is a very simple test and one with few possibilities for errors and I am always surprised that so few people use it.
 
Top