Digital BW, The Print

Carolyn,

You wrote:

>...comparing your Sepia2 Toner. You
>mentioned that the one on the left is on Somerset Velvet,
>is the Sepia print also on that paper?

No.  On the left is MIS VM with the "warm" curve on Somerset Enhanced (SE).
SE tends to print warmer than most papers.  So, I used it to try to get the
normal MIS VM inkset as warm as possible.  (I don't use the uncoated
Somerset Velvet.  It is less warm than coated papers and has low contrast
and weak blacks.)

The print on the right is on Epson Archival Matte -- not a warm paper.  So,
the comparison is about the warmest one can do with the MIS VM (before the
light-induced warming, that is) to the warmth one can get from the sepia2
mix on a "standard" paper.  So, with a warmer paper, the sepia2 would even
be slightly warmer.

>Beautiful...

Thank you.  As a former silver printer whose initial goal with the
variable-tone approach was to get to a neutral or cool print, it's rather an
unexpected direction I'm taking now.  I'm next going to combine the N2
(neutral FS formula) with another sepia mix to see if I can get it all in
one inkset.

> with all the hard work you do with these inks, have you
>considered re-selling your mixes?  The Sepia would do very well for many
>photos, not just old ones. ;-)

I never really thought of myself as pursuing a career in ink sales.  I'm
just trying to get the technology to a point where I have what I want for my
photographic printing -- that includes landscapes and reproductions of old
photos.  So, I have just been publishing the formulas.

If when I have a mix that I think is at a place where it's going to stay for
a while, perhaps a company like MIS would be interested in doing the mixing.
The market is so small, however, that MIS, understandably, doesn't want to
jump on every small variation of an inkset that I come up with.  The
inventory, sales, and support become too burdensome.

For many of these formulas, perhaps sepia2 being one, it will likely be up
to the individual users to mix the toner and load the carts (or CIS).  One
of my goals with the MIS VM approach is to have a base inkset that can
easily by turned into any number of interesting final products.  The sepia2
toner only requires one ink mixing (for quads -- 2 for 6-ink printers, and
I'll describe the standard dilution ratio for the light/photo toner soon).
MIS put on its website a "tinting" section where it sells small amounts of
the archival color pigments for these types of approaches.

As I noted recently in a photo.net posting, B&W photography has always been
a medium where the individual can readily (and economically) manipulate the
materials to come up with unique approaches.  It's looking like the B&W
inkjet printing technology is going to continue this history.  I sure hope
so.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com





> The image on the left was printed on Somerset Enhanced (for more warmth)
> with MIS VM inks and the warm curve.  The image on the right was with the
> Sepia2 toner that I've previously described.  It was a split-tone so that
> the old photo could have a nice warm tone, but the cardboard "frame" could
> remain neutral, which it was.
>
> Paul
> http://www.PaulRoark.com