Impressions - Digital Decorator 2020 - 17

Garment Choice Matters
This last and final tip isn't about artwork
for DTG but is every bit as important. It
involves the garment you choose to print
on. DTG is best when printed on 100% cotton,
not blends. If you want the print to look as
good as possible, use ring-spun cotton and
find a garment with the tightest-possible
weave. This will result in a nice, smooth,
clean print.

RGB to CMYK and do a better job of color matching because
of it.
Another thing I always do is create everything using the
Adobe RGB (1998) color profi le. If you're printing DTG now
and you fi nd the blacks are just not rich blacks and the colors are
not as punchy or as vibrant as you want, change the color profi le
and see if that helps. It's been my experience that the machine's
manufacturers will tell you to use sRGB, the smallest of the
RGB spaces. While I'm sure they have their reasons for this, I
have my reasons for using the Adobe RGB. Just try it and see
what you think. It won't break anything and you can always go
back, but I think you'll like it too.

MISTAKE 5: Not optimizing the files
Once you have the raster file created with the proper size, resolution,
color mode, etc. and you're ready to print, always Optimize your
files. I've written about this in step-by-step articles for Impressions
in the past but to recap here, it's my six steps that will always make
your prints better.
Here are the steps in Photoshop:
Have an RGB file open at the proper size and resolution.
1. Go to Image Menu > Adjustments > Selective color. Change
A Supplement to i m p r e s s i o n s

the "Colors" pop-down menu to "Neutrals" and change all the
values to between 3 and 8 in each box.
2. Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and move the
Saturation slider to the right. It typically can be moved to anywhere within the 0-45 range.
3. Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and add a 5
in the Contrast box. Click on "Use Legacy" check box.
4. Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. While holding down the
Option/Alt key, move the black triangle on the left side of the
Input Levels to the right until you see black pixels. Then, move
the white triangle on the right side to the left until you see white
pixels. This compresses the color range and sets a black-andwhite point in the image.
5. Go to Image > Mode > Lab Color. Open the Channels palette
and click on the Lightness channel to select it.
6. With the Lightness channel selected, go to Filter > Sharpen
> Unsharp Mask. Move the amount slider to the right. We
can really crank up the sharpness because we are only on the
luminosity of the image, not the color so there's no risk of contaminating the color in the image. Once done, go to Image >
Mode > RGB to complete. 
Dane Clement is president of Great Dane Graphics as well as vice president of
Creative for GroupeSTAHL. He has been speaking and writing for the decorated-apparel industry since 1987. He has authored several artwork training books
for various garment-decoration methods. For more information or to comment
on this article, email Dane at dane@greatdanegraphics.com.

Spring 2020 * 17

Impressions - Digital Decorator 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - Digital Decorator 2020