Digital Negatives with QuadToneRIP Demystifying QTR for Photographers and Printmakers

Digital Negatives with QuadToneRIP is a text that fully explores how the QuadToneRIP printer driver can be used to make expert digital negatives. The book takes a comprehensive, Òunder-the-hoodÓ look at how Roy Harrington’s QTR printer driver can be adapted for use by artists in several different creative practice areas. The text is written from the Mac/Photoshop point of view. The book is divided into three parts. Part One is a step-by-step how-to section that will appeal to both beginning and more advanced practitioners. Part One includes quickstart guides or summary sheets for beginning students who want to jump into using QTR before understanding all of its functional components. Part Two addresses dimroom, darkroom, and printmaking practices, walking the reader through brief workflows from negative to print for lithium palladium, gum bichromate, cyanotype, salted paper, kallitype, silver gelatin and polymer photogravure, with a sample profile for each. It also includes an introduction to a new software iteration of QTR: QuickCurve-DN (QCDN). Part Three is devoted to contemporary practitioners who explain how they use QTR in their creative practice. The book includes: A list of supplies and software needed A summary QTR glossary with a simple explanation of how each function works A sample walk-through to create a QTR profile from start to finish How to linearize profiles with simple to more exacting tools A visual guide to modifying functions Quickstart guides for many of the workflows Instructions for crafting monochrome, duotone, tricolor, and quadcolor negatives Instructions for using QTR to print silver gelatin in the darkroom Instructions for using QTR to print alternative processes in the dimroom Instructions for using QTR to print polymer photogravure in the printmaking room Introductory chapter to QuickCurve-DN software Troubleshooting common QTR problems Generic starter profiles for processes discussed Contemporary artists: their work and QTR process. Learning how to craft expert digital negatives can be a bit overwhelming at the outset. Digital Negatives with QuadToneRIP makes the process as user-friendly as possible. Like other books in the series, Digital Negatives with QuadToneRIP is thoroughly comprehensive, accessible to different levels of learner, and illustrative of the contemporary arts.

Preface Biography Foreword PART ONE QuadToneRIP Chapter 1 Getting Started Why QTR? How digital printers work Why two-part QTR profiles? Sample QTR workflow Installing QTR and Print-Tool Installing a profile Installing the Build QTR Curve tool Printing with the Print-Tool App Chapter 2 Supplies Safety first! The digital workroom Computer with Photoshop and Lightroom Epson ink jet printer QTR and Print-Tool software Build QTR Curve software Transparency material The dimroom Stouffer’s step wedge (analog film) Digital step tablets/wedges Ultraviolet light sources Contact and vacuum frames Miscellaneous supplies Supplies, consumables Papers good for all alt processes Chapter 3 Overview of QTR Vocabulary Chapter 4 A Sample QTR Workflow Steps to Make a QTR Profile Determining basic exposure Using the Ink Pattern page Writing a Òbest guessÓ QTR profile Linearizing a profile Assessing actual prints Fine tuning with Gray Curve Chapter 5 Linearizing a Profile Using a cell phone for image capture Using a scanner for image capture Linearizing by hand Linearizing using Build QTR Curve Linearizing using a densitometer Linearizing using a spectrophotometer Fine tuning your linearization Which linearization method is best? Chapter 6 A Visual Guide to Profile Functions Sample overview of CurveView Toggling CurveView on/off Default (and other) ink limits Boost Gray parts and inks Gray values Gray highlight Gray shadow Gray gamma Gray overlap Gray curve Copy curve commands Curving individual inks Linearize Chapter 7 Quickstart Guides QTR Profile Terminology The Ink Pattern Page Calculating a UV Exposure Time Making a One Part Profile Step by Step Making a One-Part Profile for Silver Gelatin Making a Two Part Profile Step-by-Step Making a Two-Part Profile with Build QTR Curve Using Build QTR Curve to Linearize Profiles Linearizing a Profile by Hand Linearizing a Profile with a Densitometer Linearizing a Profile with Data-Tool Monochrome Negatives Monochrome Negatives for the B&W Darkroom Duotone (Warm/Cool) Negatives Tricolor (RGB) Negatives Quadcolor (CMYK) Negatives Chapter 8 Troubleshooting QTR Curve installation issues Print-Tool issues Prints do not look as expected PART TWO Sample Workflowsfrom Negative to Print Chapter 9 Silver Gelatin by Doug Ethridge Quickstart to making a print Preparing an image for print Building a test file Preparing the computer Preparing the darkroom Deriving the QTR profile Setting the black point with exposure Setting the white point with ink load Adjustments for tonal separation Calculating the adjustment curve Fine tuning the correction curve Personalizing the curves Exposure and variable contrast One-part vs. two-part profiles Advanced Print-Tool tips Digital negatives for lith printing Quick review of papers Chapter 10 Lithium Palladium Lithium palladium formula Lithium palladium over ink jet Chapter 11 Gum Bichromate Stock gum Arabic Stock ammonium dichromate Stock color Making the gum print Gum QTR/Christina Z. Anderson Chapter 12 Cyanotype The classic cyanotype negative Cyanotype 10/10 formula Coating the paper Exposing and processing New cyanotype New cyanotype formula Coating the paper Exposing and processing Chapter 13 Salted Paper Supplies Papers to choose Processing solutions Silver nitrate solution 1% gold chloride solution Paper salting solution 5% salted water wash Gold sodium carbonate toner Alkaline fixer Hypoclear Salting the paper Sensitizing the paper Exposing, processing, and toning Chapter 14 Kallitype by Don Nelson Supplies Safety first! Papers to choose Developers Clears Toners Fixer Hypoclear Sensitizing the paper Exposing, processing, and toning Biography Chapter 15 Polymer Photogravure by Clay Harmon The two approaches Two-exposure method Direct-to-plate (DTP) method Tools, materials, software, digital files Print measurement device Plate calibration Install QuadToneRIP Direct-to-plate workflow Make a carrier for the printer Set up the printer Establish the matte black ink load Create a starter profile Refine the profile through iteration Two-exposure method Create a quadfile starter curve Determine screen exposure Evaluate the screen test Create a limited .quad Measure the 21-steps on the test print Print A6-StepTest again Conclusions Chapter 16 QuickCurve-DN by Richard Boutwell Technical notes and materials Transparency materials Printers and ink sets Papers Light sources QCDN instructions Standardizing your practice Getting started Determining your base exposure Finding the blocking density Using the blocking density .quad file Printing the blocking density test Creating the starter curve Printing with the starter curve Measuring the print of the starter curve Linearization Loading the measurement data Smoothing the measurement data Manual curve control Saving the linearized .quad curves Confirming linearization Creative practice Creative process Biography PART THREE Contemporary Artists Chapter 17 Contemporary Artists Harlan H. Chapman Martha E. Davis David J. Eisenlord Douglas Ethridge Kate Jordahl Sandy King Michael Puff Judith Roan Michael P. Rosenberg Keith Schreiber Bill Schwab Mark Severson John Foxe Sheets Ryan Stander Sam Wang Jeanne Wells Tom Wise Rebecca Zeiss Appendix Units of measurement Sources for supplies Bibliography Index

Dr. Ron Reeder (1939–2019) was a research molecular biologist, retiring in 2002 from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle at which time he devoted himself to a second career in photography. Reeder’s particular interest was landscape photography. In addition, he relished taking wildlife, portraiture, and still life. Reeder was the first to apply Roy Harrington’s QuadToneRIP software to the making of digital negatives and went on to author books on the subject. This book is Reeder’s third on the technology of making digital negatives using QTR and is a testament to his role as mentor of the photographers included in its pages. Christina Z. Anderson’s work focuses on the contemporary vanitas printed in a variety of 19th century photographic processes, primarily gum and casein bichromate, salted paper, cyanotype, and palladium. Anderson’s work has shown internationally in over 100 shows and 50 publications. This is her sixth book on alternative processes. Anderson is Series Editor for the Contemporary Practices in Alternative Process Photography series and Professor of Photography at Montana State University. To see more of her work, visit christinaZanderson.com.