white "dropout" areas / no ink "holes"

I'm sure there is discussion about this somewhere, but I guess I don't know the right terms as I'm not finding anything.

I'm interested in figuring out more about the pure white areas in an inkjet print. When viewed at an angle under certain light the white areas (that have received no ink) have a different texture to the inked areas and appear almost as holes in the image.

Is this an effect that's likely to be seen on all papers?

Does putting the picture behind glass eliminate it (to my eye I believe I can still see this effect under both regular and non-glare glass)?

Is there any spray or post-printing treatment that fixes it?

In particular I'm interested in the Epson 2200, but I imagine it is a general inkjet phenomenon.

Many thanks.

Do a search on that term and you will find a bonanza of threads on this subject.

Yes, framing apparently can help alleviate this problem. Also certain papers exhbit this behavior more than others. The R800 was in part made to address this problem by including a "gloss optimizer" which lays down a glossy coating. As a result, the R800 suffers very little from bronzing.

hosspics said:

I'm sure there is discussion about this somewhere, but I guess I
don't know the right terms as I'm not finding anything.

I'm interested in figuring out more about the pure white areas in
an inkjet print. When viewed at an angle under certain light the
white areas (that have received no ink) have a different texture to
the inked areas and appear almost as holes in the image.

Is this an effect that's likely to be seen on all papers?

Does putting the picture behind glass eliminate it (to my eye I
believe I can still see this effect under both regular and
non-glare glass)?

Is there any spray or post-printing treatment that fixes it?

In particular I'm interested in the Epson 2200, but I imagine it is
a general inkjet phenomenon.

Many thanks.

Click to expand...

Bronzing is more evident on glossy stocks. Putting the print behind glass or archival plastic (which is what you have to do to keep the prints from fading) will greatly minimize if not reduce the effect.

Mike
http://www.independentcolor.com

hosspics said:

I'm sure there is discussion about this somewhere, but I guess I
don't know the right terms as I'm not finding anything.

I'm interested in figuring out more about the pure white areas in
an inkjet print. When viewed at an angle under certain light the
white areas (that have received no ink) have a different texture to
the inked areas and appear almost as holes in the image.

Is this an effect that's likely to be seen on all papers?

Does putting the picture behind glass eliminate it (to my eye I
believe I can still see this effect under both regular and
non-glare glass)?

Is there any spray or post-printing treatment that fixes it?

In particular I'm interested in the Epson 2200, but I imagine it is
a general inkjet phenomenon.

Many thanks.

Click to expand...

Printers cannot make white and so pure white areas in a print are devoid of ink. You can see this in books as well. Maybe an R800 with gloss optimizer will impart a shiny coating on print?

I would have thought you should be avoiding having uninked areas in your prints. I think most inkjet printers have a fairly large step in values between the lightest grey they can print and no ink at all. Any detail in the image that falls between these points will just vanish.

By setting the whitepoint in the image to match the whitepoint for the printer will solve the problem.

hosspics said:

I'm sure there is discussion about this somewhere, but I guess I
don't know the right terms as I'm not finding anything.

I'm interested in figuring out more about the pure white areas in
an inkjet print. When viewed at an angle under certain light the
white areas (that have received no ink) have a different texture to
the inked areas and appear almost as holes in the image.

Is this an effect that's likely to be seen on all papers?

Does putting the picture behind glass eliminate it (to my eye I
believe I can still see this effect under both regular and
non-glare glass)?

Is there any spray or post-printing treatment that fixes it?

In particular I'm interested in the Epson 2200, but I imagine it is
a general inkjet phenomenon.

Many thanks.

Click to expand...

SteveDuff said:

By setting the whitepoint in the image to match the whitepoint for
the printer will solve the problem.

Click to expand...

Steve,

How do you do that?

Thanks,

Bob Schoner

I can't remember where this technique came from, so apologies in advance if it sounds familiar.

1. Create a rectangle in PS/PSE/etc. and gradient fill from light grey to pure white.

2. Posterise it so that you get a sequence of successively lighter grey patches. What you need is each patch values like 255,255,255 the 250,250,250 then 245,245,245 etc. You might have to have a few tries at this. It helps to put marks or numbers underneath the paches to identify them, but DO NOT put black borders around them.

3. Print this on your printer with your normal profile etc.

4. Find the lightest patch that is not white. This is the 240 patch on my Epson 895.

5. Apply a levels adjustment layer to the image, and set the output white point to correspond (240 in my case). That is the right hand setting on the lower slider (not the one on the histogram). This means that the maximum value in the image is now 240.

Note that this slightly reduces the contrast of the image. A more sophisticated way would be to use Curves to "knock the top off" the range so that you dont lose your midtone contrast.

Robert Schoner said:

SteveDuff said:

By setting the whitepoint in the image to match the whitepoint for
the printer will solve the problem.

Click to expand...

Steve,

How do you do that?

Thanks,

Bob Schoner

Click to expand...

SteveDuff said:

1. Create a rectangle in PS/PSE/etc. and gradient fill from light
grey to pure white.

2. Posterise it so that you get a sequence of successively lighter
grey patches. What you need is each patch values like 255,255,255
the 250,250,250 then 245,245,245 etc. You might have to have a few
tries at this. It helps to put marks or numbers underneath the
paches to identify them, but DO NOT put black borders around them.

3. Print this on your printer with your normal profile etc.

4. Find the lightest patch that is not white. This is the 240 patch
on my Epson 895.

5. Apply a levels adjustment layer to the image, and set the output
white point to correspond (240 in my case). That is the right hand
setting on the lower slider (not the one on the histogram). This
means that the maximum value in the image is now 240.

Note that this slightly reduces the contrast of the image. A more
sophisticated way would be to use Curves to "knock the top off" the
range so that you dont lose your midtone contrast.

Robert Schoner said:

SteveDuff said:

By setting the whitepoint in the image to match the whitepoint for
the printer will solve the problem.

Click to expand...

Steve,

How do you do that?

Thanks,

Bob Schoner

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Steve,

Thanks for getting back. I'll try it when I get home on Fri.

Your post explains why I couldn't find a "set whitepoint" button.

Bob

My Epson 2200 have the same problem. I think all the inkjet printers have similar issue.

No matter how rich the color is or how wide is the color range, it doesn't look professional or presentable to clients. :-(

Dyesub printers do no have the same problem but the prints life are not as long as archival ink. I prefer to use online services.

It is pure my opinion.

Brian

hosspics said:

I'm sure there is discussion about this somewhere, but I guess I
don't know the right terms as I'm not finding anything.

I'm interested in figuring out more about the pure white areas in
an inkjet print. When viewed at an angle under certain light the
white areas (that have received no ink) have a different texture to
the inked areas and appear almost as holes in the image.

Is this an effect that's likely to be seen on all papers?

Does putting the picture behind glass eliminate it (to my eye I
believe I can still see this effect under both regular and
non-glare glass)?

Is there any spray or post-printing treatment that fixes it?

In particular I'm interested in the Epson 2200, but I imagine it is
a general inkjet phenomenon.

Many thanks.

Click to expand...