Correction curve for silver printing needed?

InkjetMall Customer Support Piezography Inks & Printing
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Hi all,

I am wondering whether it is required to use a correction curve to get the best possible results from P2DN using Meth 3 for silver printing? At the moment I’m printing negs using a density of 1.60 as reccommended. Without any curve applied I am finding it difficult to get information in my dark/shadow values of my darkroom prints i.e By simply inverting the image in Photoshop without any prior adjustment the clear areas for the neg are nearly without detail.

I am finding I get better results when applying a Burkholder silver curve designed for the R2880. This increases the shadow values in my neg and although I have to ‘print down’ in the darkroom afterwards I get more detail in the darkest areas of my prints. However I understand that this is counter to the way in which the P2DN system works as the process is already linearized.

I also understand that a correction curve is needed for platinum printing which I have also been doing. So my question is how can I optimize my output for silver printing?




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The top image shows how the inverted image looks in Photoshop with the curve applied.

The second image shows the inverted image with no curve applied.

The third image shows the characteristics of the curve and its effect on the positive image in Photoshop.

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Hi Jarvman~

Thanks for the detailed information.

I haven’t personally developed Piezography Digital Negatives in the darkroom, but Jon did extensively while developing the system, and I have his detailed notes regarding settings, test prints, etc…
For developing silver prints, all you have to do to the image is invert and flip horizontal, then print with the Meth 3 ink setup and curves.
For platinum development, you need invert and flip the image, as well as apply a platinum curve to flatten the image information for the platinum process.

I do know that chemistry and media can have an effect on the final result, what silver paper are you using?
I see you’re using Windows, what operating system and QuadTone RIP version are you using? Are you saving your images with an embedded Gamma 2.2?

Please let me know so I can help you past this and onto happily printing PZDN.
Best regards~ Dana :slight_smile:

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Hi Dana, thanks for the reply. I’m using Fomabrom 123 Variant semi-matte paper and Ilford Multigrade developer. I’m using QTR 2.7 and a grey gamma of 2.2 with Adobe 1998 colourspace.

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Without much (recent) personal darkroom experience, I haven’t had much helpful information for you, but hope over time of getting used to the PZDN system, that you have now found a workflow that gives you results that you’re happy with. If you’re still having issues, please do let us know and I can review your information with Jon, as he has much more darkroom experience that I do.

Best regards~ Dana