Printing black and white photos

HW
Posted By
Hal_Willens
Mar 2, 2004
Views
1265
Replies
11
Status
Closed
When I print black and white photos on my Epson 1280 printer with Elements 2, I use the color setting. But I get a greenish cast to the picture. Any suggestions to getting a true black and white photo with good midtones?
Hal
Pentium 4
Windows XP

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Jodi_Frye
Mar 2, 2004
Brent posted this great link…just wanted to pass it on…

<http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints4.html>
BB
brent_bertram
Mar 2, 2004
HAL,
The crux of Norman Koren’s "old" method ( see Jodi’s link in previous post ) for black & white prints was to use the "color controls" mode of the epson driver, and adjust the sliders to get the desired result, then save those settings as custom settings. I used to do that, until I purchased Monaco EZcolor and started creating my own media profiles.

The color controls method is much cheaper <G>, but the results may be better with a decent media profile. If you got the $$$, I recommend Ezcolor for advanced amateurs.

🙂

Brent
RM
RoseanneE_Minasian
Jul 18, 2004
I scanned a black and white photo and printed it on Epson Glossy and Epson Matte paper. The original print is not truly black and white but has sort of a muted black and white look. My printer is an Epson Photo 750. The glossy print is more like a very faint sepia print and the matte print is black and white. Other then the fact they are different papers why would the color be so different and how could I print glossy prints with a true black and white finish?
CW
Colin_Walls
Jul 18, 2004
You are handling the images as if they were colour, so colour management comes into effect. Getting an exact match between a scanned original, what you see on the screen and the final print can be quite an art. You should peruse this forum, the manuals and take a look here: <http://www.computer-darkroom.com/home.htm>

You can certainly force a true black and white image. You can desaturate you image in PS [there are about 3 ways of doing this]. Or you could convert to a greyscale. Or you could simply use the printer settings to tell it not to use colour. The best thing though is to understand the process, hence the initial advice.
BB
brent_bertram
Jul 18, 2004
Here’s a link to Norman Koren’s Article on black & white printing. It will give you some insight into the problem and perhaps suggest solutions to you.

<http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints4.html>

🙂

Brent
LH
Lawrence_Hudetz
Jul 18, 2004
Without looking at the original, I cannot grasp the meaning of " The original print is not truly black and white but has sort of a muted black and white look." Black and white "looks" from analog printing is all over the map! Sepia toning is still considered a B&W image, and certainly, the variety of subtle and not so subtle colorations possible with silver halide emulsions leave a lot of room for variety.

The only "true" B&W images I have ever seen are those done on an offset press with truly neutral inks, and there are some third party ink systems to do the same thing with inkjets. In both cases, I found the presentation boring. Ansel Adams prints are all toned in selenium, and show it.

That being said, what I am getting from RoseanneE is variations in the coloration from the paper/ink combinations, and, unless I miss my guess, you are seeing color shifts across the density range of the image that is different with each paper. That is common with 4 to 6 color inkjets. Getting rid of it is quite a chore, requiring careful, tight custom profiles for your printer.

If truly neutral B&W is your goal, investigate inks for this purpose from Lyson, MIS, or Cone Editions.

There are good profiles to accomplish the task from Ilford as well, of course, for Ilford papers. I have been printing on an Epson 9600 on Ilford Pearl with shockingly good results!

The newer printers also offer better profiles. The recent Canons all do a great B&W on Canon paper.
RM
RoseanneE_Minasian
Jul 20, 2004
Colin Walls, Brent Bertram, and Lawrence Huddetz. Thank you for all your suggestions and web site addresses. As for treating the photo as a color image I did scan it using the 10 bit grayscale setting. I didn’t change the printer to grayscale printing so that may have made the difference. Thanks again.
BO
Burton_Ogden
Jul 21, 2004
Roseanne,

I didn’t change the printer to grayscale printing so that may have made the difference.

Printing with just black inks does guarantee no color casts in your print, but it also decreases the detail quality of your image. I personally don’t like to print B/W images using my printer’s no-color-inks mode. But if you are determined to eliminate a color cast, using only black inks will do the trick. At a price.

— Burton —
DG
Dana_Gartenlaub
Jul 22, 2004
If you really want to have a true black and white image, which means one of the tones from warm to cool that the darkroom gives you, you need to profile your monitor and printer. Color management will let you print a neutral black, warm black, cool black, or sepia. Or any variation you choose.

But you have to set up your system first.

For the Cliff Notes version of color management, look here <http://www.digitaldarkroomdoctor.com>.
MM
Mac_McDougald
Jul 22, 2004
Speaking for all the forum participants, thanks so much for the "help".

M
DG
Dana_Gartenlaub
Jul 22, 2004
Why, do you live in Worcester?

I’m sure that there are services similar to this one in all cities. Or you can buy a software/hardware package to do the profiling yourself.

If you wnat the print to match the screen, look into something like Monaco, Pyramid, Spyder, or other profiling software. Or waste all your time doing test prints.

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