(Revised 1/17/2026 to emphasized the use of the system default printer preset) Welcome back! Here’s yet another swing at the Presets issue by Don Quixote. Next year, I’ll get a life (maybe…) This is a followup to my first posting, which has all the technical details, here at https://valleau.art/blog/printer-presets-no-longer-working-right/ My presets have (knock on windmills) […]
Dear Friends, As I push toward 80, I’ll admit I find it easier to stay home and make prints than to go out and take photos. And, as many of you know, one of my joys is making prints on paper, whether my own images or those of others. To that end, I’m please to […]
I recent ran across someone who didn’t understand what a raw file is, and had it confused with an image file. So, let’s take a quick look at it. Perhaps you’re old enough to remember the Weston Lightmeter: It had a “photovoltaic cell” (don’t panic) which is simply some goop which when exposed to light […]
NOTE: as of MacOS Tahoe 26.3, the part below related to using Colorsync no longer works for me. Please use Print-Tool instead. Printing a correct color target for custom profiling Here is how to print a target of patches, for use in creating a custom color profile. (Note: this requires that you either have […]
While dark environments, such as Apple’s Mojave, or the default settings for Photoshop & Pixelmator Pro, may look fashionable, they are terrible for editing photos. Why? Because they screw up your ability to see tones properly. Using a dark background will trick your mind into producing a print that has clogged up shadows, and is […]
When “good enough” isn’t: canned paper profiles In my business (making prints for museums and galleries) the usual prebuilt paper/ink profile, often described as “good enough” really isn’t. Instead I make my own profiles using X-Rite’s i1Publish Pro 3. If that applies to you as well, here are some tips: Printing on expensive paper […]
Let’s say you’ve just made a print of your latest image, but how do you know what it -really- looks like? You would not take a flashlight and cover the end with blue cellophane, and shine it on the print, because it would trash all the other colors. To get a more rational view, you […]
When “good enough” isn’t: canned paper profiles In my business (making prints for museums and galleries) the usual prebuilt paper/ink profile, often described as “good enough” really isn’t. Instead I make my own profiles using X-Rite’s i1Publish Pro 3. If that applies to you as well, here are some tips: Printing on expensive paper is, […]
This is a historical document with technical details. A more recent version with a clear explanation of how you get around the corrupt preset problem can be seen by clicking here. (If you are here for the technical details, scroll down to “The Gory Details” April 10, 2024 Original post: Well, I have […]
Hello There does seem to be a bit of confusion, or at least uncertainty here, and as usual, a lot of it comes from not using the correct words for your intended meaning. (Or, I just misread what I ran across here… ) -Regarding your monitor, there is ***calibrating*** AND there is ***profiling***. (These […]