There's no need to spend money on professionals printers. Increased availability of cost-effective photographic printers and document imaging program has made it easier to produce quality visual materials in your office.

Trial lawyers have known for decades that big, visually appealing enlargements of crucial documents and photographs can bring otherwise dry facts to life for a jury, thus having a profound effect upon the outcome of a trial. Until recently, though, making big exhibits was far too expensive to be used in most cases, particularly by the small law firm on a budget. Those cost constraints have evaporated over the past year.

Traditionally, making really big exhibits required that the document first be professionally photographed with a large format studio camera under carefully lit photo lab conditions and then painstakingly wet-printed in a darkroom using very expensive materials whose initial results were uncertain. With the advent of reliable large format photographic printers, of document imaging programs like Acrobat, and of high quality digital cameras, even a solo practitioner can inexpensively make and use mega-exhibits in every appropriate case.

Until about a year ago, the major constraint was the unavailability of affordable large format color printers that could make prints at least 24 inches wide. HP's DesignJet 130 series changed that equation irrevocably. With a starting list price of $1,295, it was the first affordable printer that could produce art gallery photographs up to 24" wide by many feet long when using roll-fed paper. Prior to the introduction of the HP DesignJet 130, large format color printers were either far too expensive to purchase and operate or lacked adequate photo quality and reliable operation. Overall, I found that the HP DesignJet 130 is probably the best large format exhibit printer for a solo or small firm practitioner and am very comfortable recommending it, with certain caveats. I found that 24" high prints made with the DJ130 were quite adequate as exhibits. If you use single cut sheets, then your maximum print size with the DJ130 is limited to 36" wide. However, using the optional roll feed and a custom set up, you can make prints that are many feet wide but you are still limited to a 24" height. Making bigger prints, on the order of 44" high, requires a much more expensive printer.

Here are my experiences and suggestions after using a DesignJet 130 for nearly a year.

GETTING STARTED

• Buy and use the 24" roll-feeder. It is much more convenient and economical and seems to have fewer paper feed and misalignment problems once properly set up.
• Update the printer hardware's firmware and printer driver software from HP's web site before you start producing prints. The basic printer software included with the DesignJet 130 provides web-based printer maintenance that includes updating the printer's firmware. Doing this immediately after unpacking and setting up the printer will avoid a great deal of hassle and delay.
• Install the print head for each color and be careful when locking them in place. The locking mechanism can be fragile. Installing ink tanks is easy - they fit only one way. I recommend that you buy the DesignJet 130 locally from an HP professional products vendor and see if you can't get the dealer's support staff to set up the printer on your premises. This is a big, heavy printer and overall set up takes finesse and experience.

CHOOSING PRINT MEDIA FOR THE DESIGNJET 130

• Use HP-branded papers when printing photographs with this printer. These papers are color-matched and tested for a minimum permanence of 82 years with the DesignJet's ink set.
• Use a "super-heavy-weight" coated paper for black and white/text exhibits, the heavier the better. These will be easier to handle and be more resilient. Use the brightest, heaviest weight paper that you can find so long as its thickness does not exceed about 11.5 millimeters. Color matching is not a requirement for this purpose and HP-branded papers, while quite good and convenient, are not necessarily superior for text exhibits and line drawings such as plats and construction plans.
• HP's Premium Plus Photo Satin ships both as cut sheet paper and also as a 24" wide by 50 foot long roll (Product number Q5491A). Premium Plus Photo Satin is an exceptionally easy product to work with and produces absolutely top quality photographs. An 18" wide by 50-foot long roll is also available (Product number Q7920A), but I prefer the bigger prints that can be made with the 24" wide rolls. Photo Satin seems to be less vulnerable to damage than glossy finish papers.
• Try to use the same paper consistently for photographic prints. Otherwise, you will have to recalibrate your printer every time you change your paper types. This is not a critical concern when printing text or black and white images that have had basic colored annotations and highlighting added when you prepared your exhibits.

CALIBRATING YOUR PRINTER

• When you first use a new type of paper, be sure to first run the color calibration function from the DesignJet system maintenance menu. Doing so engages the built-in colorimeter that prints standardized color patches and then compares the standardized color with the patches printed on the new type of paper. The DJ130 then adjusts how it interprets color data from your computer's printer drive software so as to provide the most accurate color.
• You'll also want to run the align print head function regularly, particularly if you notice banding or other printing errors near the edge of a frame. This procedure also uses a test print and the built-in colorimeter.
• From time to time, you will need to clean your print heads, particularly if you notice banding or uneven color or brightness in smooth areas of a print, such as sky areas. Avoid using the heavy cleaning cycle unless absolutely necessary; it can damage a print head.

ENSURING ACCURATE COLOR RENDITION FOR EXHIBITS

• For the most accurate and easily repeatable color rendition, which may prove critical for admissibility and evidentiary purposes, you'll need to use "color management." I've had cases where the other side offered photographs whose color rendition was suspect, a serious problem because accurate image color was critical in ascertaining whether the area of the slip and fall was dry asphalt or black ice. Their photographs, which were made with traditional wet-chemical processes, could not be guaranteed as accurately showing any of the colors captured by the 35 mm negative film.
• In contrast, better digital cameras can be set to a "natural color" balance and to a color temperature "as shot." Saturation, sharpness and contrast should be set to "normal." When printing such photographs for use as evidence, avoid any temptation to enhance their color, color saturation or sharpness.
• Although color management can seem arcane, the basic process can be pretty simple.
• Firstly, periodically calibrate your monitor so that it accurately shows photographs as they will appear in the final print. I have found that software screen calibration utilities are not adequate. You need a hardware-based color calibration product. The least expensive is the Pantone Colorvision product that combines a "spider" color meter that fits on your monitor or LCD screen, and accompanying software that automatically calibrates your monitor and loads a custom ICM monitor profile directly into your video card.
• If possible, shoot your original images in RAW format if your camera has that capability. You'll be able to revert a RAW image to an "as-shot" appearance if you open the RAW file in the "Adobe Camera Raw" program that is included in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. This may be useful for evidentiary challenges.
• Next, set up Photoshop CS2 or Photoshop Elements 5 so that the software uses a "color space" or "color setting" of Adobe RGB 1998, which is optimized for best quality printing. Most digital cameras save in a highly compressed JPEG format, sRGB, which is optimized for viewing on a computer screen rather than as a final printed image.
• If your camera allows you to take photos using the Adobe RGB color settings, then do so. This is usually an option only with the highest end cameras. If your Photoshop or Elements program is set to the Adobe RGB color settings, then your software will automatically convert any photo files to the Adobe RGB color setting when you open the file. After you have made your corrections, save the file as an uncompressed TIFF with the converted Adobe RGB color settings. If you re-save a photograph in JPEG after opening the camera file on your computer, you will lose additional sharpness and color fidelity every time you save file in JPEG format. TIFF can be set to open and save as a non-compressed file that does not lose quality each time that it is saved by your computer.
• HP's default printing software settings are not optimum for reproducing the colors that you might see on your computer screen. I found, after much experimentation and hair pulling, that I obtained the best results by using Adobe Photoshop CS2 (or its "lite" cousin Photoshop Elements 5) and in the print set, enabling "color management" by the Photoshop software. Then, set the printer profile for the specific paper that you have loaded in your printer. When installed, the DesignJet 130 printer software also sets up a number of "printer profiles" that match specific types of paper to the calibrated DesignJet 130 printer. In my case, I keep my printer profile set to HP Photo Satin, maximum detail.
• Finally, set the printer "color rendering intent" to "perceptual", which most closely matches the response of the human eye. At this point, what comes out of your DesignJet130 printer should closely match what your eye sees on the computer screen and, if your camera has been setup correctly, to a relatively accurate rendition of the actual scene.

See this Month's companion article "Digital Cameras for the Law Office".

HP has some slightly less expensive 24" printers but the DesignJet 130 is the least expensive printer that I consider suitable for the demands of making both high quality text exhibits and excellent large format photographic prints.

The use of roll paper on the DesignJet series requires the purchase of an optional roll feeder and automatic paper cutoff mechanism, which usually adds about $450 to the purchase price. The roll feeder is highly recommended and can be added later if desired. Using roll papers greatly reduces your printing costs.

HP's least expensive 44" photo grade printer, the 44" version of the Z2100, starts at $5,595.