pipkato Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Is there a tutorial anywhere on using Affinity Photo to print the inkjet equivalent of darkroom test prints? That is, using a small sheet of paper to get print variations on a selected area of an image. I want to make some A2 prints on my Epson P800 printer. My tests so far have not been what I wanted, although my monitor is properly profiled and I’m using the correct ICC profile for the paper. So, rather than continue to waste ink and paper, I was hoping to use a key area of my image and print a strip series of variations on e.g. an A4 sheet to decide on my best settings. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I don't know if there's a way to create a test strip like that. However, have you tried adding a Soft Proof Adjustment layer? That should let you preview what your print will look like. If you don't like the look, then you can apply other adjustments to get it right, then (important!) hide or delete the Soft Proof layer, then print. Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. Laptop 2: Windows 11 Pro 24H2, 16GB memory, Snapdragon(R) X Elite - X1E80100 - Qualcomm(R) Oryon(TM) 12 Core CPU 4.01 GHz, Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.7, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstdefence Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 what about duplicating the test area and aligning them side by side with different filters/settings. teststrips.afphoto Roger C 1 Quote iMac 27" 2019 Sequoia 15.0 (24A335), iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9 (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum) Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 3 hours ago, firstdefence said: what about duplicating the test area and aligning them side by side with different filters/settings. I have no idea if this would work or is perhaps my dumbest idea yet (which is saying something!) but what about instead of nesting different curves adjustments in each strip, substituting different soft proof adjustments for them? Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.5.5 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 All 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v_kyr Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Quote ... I want to make some A2 prints on my Epson P800 printer. My tests so far have not been what I wanted, although my monitor is properly profiled and I’m using the correct ICC profile for the paper... What does "have not been what I wanted" does more specificly mean here, in terms of what more concrete, as printed output color results, faded colors ... etc.? Quote ☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan ☛ Affinity V2.3 apps ◆ MacOS Sonoma 14.2 ◆ iPad OS 17.2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstdefence Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Something I noticed here is when adding soft proof adjustment layers, in order for you to understand the test strip you would either have to have labels on each strip with settings, or rename the adjustment layer. Wouldn't it be cool if the adjustment layer automatically got renamed to the setting you choose in the adjustment. teststrips inc softproof.afphoto teststrips inc softproof.afphoto Roger C 1 Quote iMac 27" 2019 Sequoia 15.0 (24A335), iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9 (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum) Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipkato Posted March 20, 2018 Author Share Posted March 20, 2018 Apologies to all who replied. I thought I was automatically notified if replies were made to this topic, but just now discovered I have to select 'Follow' the thread. So I just checked in to see why I'd heard nothing. 1. Walt. I've used the 'Soft Proofing'before and it does help, but I'd prefer to look at a print and want to try and cut down on ink and paper usage. 2. firstdefence. Thanks for the suggestion. I've seen that in tutorials for Photoshop users. I'll probably try that approach. However, I'm not really that familiar with Affinity Photo so hoped someone had already done the spade work and created a step-by-step tutorial. 3. R C-R. Thanks, but as I said above I'd prefer to be able to look at variations on actual paper. 4. v_kyr. What I meant was that the results I've had from mostly B&W prints (from scanned film original negs) have fallen short of what I could have achieved with the originals in a darkroom. If I had to put it simply I would probably have printed on a slightly harder grade of paper to get more punch. My inkjet prints seem to fall a little short of that 'punch'. But I've seen commercial inkjet prints that look great, so I know it's possible. And, I'm assured that the P800 can deliver the goods. 5. firstdefence. Thanks a lot for checking this out and offering the suggestion. If I go the soft proof route in the end I'll make sure to rename the layers. Apologies to everyone again for this tardy reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v_kyr Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 You will have to make your own individual test print strip template here, in a way as firstdefence showed and then maybe also try to automate parts of the template generation with reusable macros. Related to your Epson printer and B&W, see also: Achieving high quality black and white inkjet prints Printing a Black-and-White Image Epson’s Advanced Black and White Printing Mode Epson’s Advanced Black and White Printing Mode Part II Epson Print Layout software Printing Can be Fun and Easy The New Epson SureColor P800 Printer Review Quote ☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan ☛ Affinity V2.3 apps ◆ MacOS Sonoma 14.2 ◆ iPad OS 17.2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipkato Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 Thanks v_kyr. Thanks too for those links, which look very useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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