If you're anything like me, you have wasted time, paper, ink and pulled hair out trying to achieve the perfect print from your digital files - especially neutral black & white prints. There are many solutions available, some that are very specific in nature and others that cover a broad range of needs. One of these solutions and the focus of this article is ImagePrint 5.6, published by ColorByte Software (http://www.colorbytesoftware.com).

ColorByte markets two levels of functionality with ImagePrint. A Lite version, reviewed here, with support for the Epson 1270/1280/1290 dye based inkjets and the Epson 2000P/2100/2200 pigment based inkjets. The full version that includes addition printer support, including the large format Epson, Roland, HP and Iris printers along with Postscript support, picture package templates, auto-print for shared printing, and the ability to tile across multiple pages, ranges in price from $790.00 to $5,995.00. Upgrades are available from the raster version to the Postscript version as well.

My testing was done on a Windows XP system with the Epson 2200 printer. ImagePrint also supports Windows 2000 and Macintosh OS 10.2 or later. Some features of ImagePrint are available only for the Epson UltraChrome inks used by the 2200/7600/9600 printers - I will get to these extra "goodies" in a bit.

What is ImagePrint?

ImagePrint is, however, a masterfully implemented color managed environment that focuses on printed output. ImagePrint bypasses the fragile color management chain of OS, image-editing application and printer driver. Just open or drop your edited image in ImagePrint, select the appropriate printer profile and print. ImagePrint is a RIP - Raster Image Processor - that talks directly to your printer. The advantage to this method is three-fold. First, ImagePrint uses very high quality profiles designed to match your specific printer, paper and ink. Secondly, ImagePrint manages multiple print jobs - you can place multiple images on a page, and each can have separate profile settings. Finally, ImagePrint has very versatile layout options to give you complete control over placement of single or multiple images to take full advantage of your expensive paper.

The quantity and quality of the printer profiles cannot be beat unless you are willing to spend $10,000 or more on a spectrocolorimeter and create your own. Even then, I think you would be challenged to improve on ColorByte's profiles. Along with a broad assortment of profiles that ship with the product, ColorByte is constantly adding new profiles which you can download from their website. I have found that the profiles for the Ilford and Hahnemuehle papers that I normally use have been better than anything I have seen elsewhere.

Getting Started

If you are one of those that do not read manuals (like me), this is one time that you will want to break that rule. ImagePrint has a wealth of options available at installation time and choosing the correct ones will save frustration later. ColorByte is evidently a bit paranoid about theft. ImagePrint requires the use of a security dongle, so you will need a free USB port to complete the installation. To activate the program, you need to log onto the ColorByte website and get an activation key, which is then stored with the dongle.

ImagePrint has a lot of functionality. Luckily, ColorByte provides plenty of help - there is an animated tutorial that will walk you through the process of using ImagePrint's tools. In addition, there is an extensive manual in PDF format that is well written, and I suggest you print a copy out for reference.

You will see that ImagePrint is actually in two parts. First, ImagePrint itself is where you will do your layout and printer selection. The second part is SpoolFace, which is a print spooler that manages your print jobs and frees up your computer while the job prints.

Preparing

As you explore options in ImagePrint, you soon find that it is not designed like most Windows applications. There is no "undo" available anywhere. If you make a mistake, you will normally need to start over again with that particular image by deleting it from the layout and then adding it back in. You will also find that most dialogs have an "Apply" and "Cancel" button but no "OK". When you are done with the dialog, you click the close button in the title bar.

You will start by either dropping your image file onto ImagePrint, or opening the file from within ImagePrint. Opening multiple files at once can only be done by using the drag and drop method.

The ImagePrint layout controls features are quite good. You can repeat an image, set precise offsets and spacing between repeats.

One of the most amazing features of ImagePrint is in the control over the output choices. Each image in the layout can have its own profile, rendering intent, and in the case of grayscale on the supported Epson printers, each image can be output with a different tint. This makes for an excellent proofing method, especially for the large format printers. The ability to proof all of the output options in one print job saves on expensive roll paper and time.

Printing

Once you have opened your image or images for printing and have the layout you want, you will need to select the correct printer profile. If you have selected a gray profile and you are using the Epson 2200/7600/9600 series of printers, you will have the ability to set the tint for your photo. This is a great feature, allowing you to have different tints from the same photo - you can try your photo with a warmer or cooler tone.

As I mentioned earlier, ImagePrint is a completely color managed system. You will set the monitor profile, printer profile and image color space all within the Color Management dialog. Again, each image in the layout can have a different profile assigned to it, something particularly useful when mixing black & white and color images on the same page.

The final step is to select Print. With this version of ImagePrint, quality and ink choices are filled in automatically based on the printer profile. In previous versions, the user needed to fill these in. Kudos to ColorByte for this update! If you are using the supported Epson printer, you also have the option to print centered. This actually works to center your output on the page, not the printer margins as with the Epson drivers.

Printing is the one trouble spot I had and kept me scratching my head for a good hour. I did my printing on the Epson 2200 with sheet paper. ImagePrint defaults to roll paper. I kept sending the print job only to have my printer flash a red light and do nothing. Finally, after some exploration (and a few choice words) I noticed the checkbox in the Print Setup dialog for Auto Cut and Sheet. If nothing is checked, ImagePrint defaults to roll paper. Once this was corrected, I was rewarded with beautiful prints.

The results

I have struggled with getting neutral black & white prints for years. Prints always had a green or magenta hue to them that I could not correct on a consistent basis. My struggles are over now. ImagePrint delivered gorgeous black & white prints with the first page. I can detect no color shift whatsoever. I was surprised at the improvement in my color prints as well. I have been very happy with color output using the Epson drivers.

ImagePrint tends to deliver slightly less saturated color images, but they have improved detail, particularly in shadow or dense areas of the image. I have now quit printing directly from Photoshop and use ImagePrint exclusively for my photo printing. Another new feature in version 5.6 is "Wide Gamut Technology". ImagePrint sets separate ink limits to each chromatic area of the image. This helps to reduce the bronzing effect that you may see with the Epson print drivers, since they set ink limits based on the entire image. Finally, there is now a shadow point adjustment slider that allows you to control the richness and detail in the shadow areas.

Recommendation

The Lite version of ImagePrint is all that most individuals with a desktop printer will ever need. The package printing (templates) option would be a nice addition to the Lite version, but the other differences - color correction, page tiling and auto-print, are all more suited to production environments. These features are enabled in the Lite version, but you will have "DEMO" overlaid on all your prints. ColorByte makes upgrading to the full-featured version easy should you decide later that there is a need for the additional features.

Technical support questions are answered quickly, and ImagePrint has an active user community on Yahoo! Groups.

Product Details:
ColorByte Software
10004 North Dale Mabry Hwy
Suite 101
Tampa, FL 33618
(813) 963-0241
(813) 963-0441 fax
Web: http://www.colorbytesoftware.com
Email: main@colorbytesoftware.com

System requirements:
Windows 2000 or XP, Macintosh OS 10.2 or later
Lite version requires Epson 1270/1280/1290 or 2000P/2100/2200 printers.

Editor's Comment: Let us know what you think! Please email the Editor to let us know your thoughts.

Jon Canfield is a full time software engineer and part time landscape and nature photographer based in the Pacific Northwest. Jon has been involved in digital imaging from its early days both as a user and in software design. He now shoots almost exclusively with digital equipment. Jon's work has been featured on MSN Photos, Kodak, and several nature photography websites. Jon is a member of NANPA, PPA and NPN. To see more of his work, visit him on the web at http://www.joncanfield.com or email him at jon@joncanfield.com