Digital BW, The Print

Martin Wesley recently suggested a simple device for producing neutral
BW prints from a set of colour inks. Perhaps derived from the referenced
article by Caponegro fils in which he apparently argued the use of
PShop levels, Martin suggested that one might begin with the blue and
red channels each set to 1.0.

This morning I fired up my Win98SE rig, profiled with Photocal and
ProfilerRGB, and driving an Epson 1160 using Jon Cone's Darngoodink. In
PShop 6.0, I opened a coloured image of ferns in the forest taken with a
Canon G1 digital camera. I used channel mixer, a couple of curves
adjustment layers, and the high pass sharpener, and only then adjusted
the gamma with layers as above. Printing on Epson Photo Paper (Yay
Costco! 28c Canadian per 8.5x11 sheet!) at about 6x8 in., I found the
print too red.  I returned to the snapshot I had made before tinting the
image in levels, and set red to 1.05 and blue to 1.12.

Now I've tried all the stunts -- Reichman's, Fraser's, and a hatful of
other helpful volunteers. None of them gave me a print anywhere near as
neutral as this one as it emerged from the gullet of the 1160. In
daylight it's just about perfect, and betrays only the slightest hint of
purple under tungsten: no more metamerism, in other words, than the
prints I toned in selenium many years ago. A fluke? Maybe. I'll let you
know. So far, pretty exciting. Thanks, Martin.
Bob Bollini

It sounds like a selenium-toned duotone print. This can be a very 
acceptable solution or alternative to a second printer. Especially if 
you like selenium-toned prints with the deep blacks and the mid-grays 
that are drop dead gorgeous. Way ta go !!!!!!

Tim










--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Robert Bollini 
<rbollini@n...> wrote:
> Martin Wesley recently suggested a simple device for producing 
neutral
> BW prints from a set of colour inks. Perhaps derived from the 
referenced
> article by Caponegro fils in which he apparently argued the use of
> PShop levels, Martin suggested that one might begin with the blue 
and
> red channels each set to 1.0.
> 
> This morning I fired up my Win98SE rig, profiled with Photocal and
> ProfilerRGB, and driving an Epson 1160 using Jon Cone's 
Darngoodink. In
> PShop 6.0, I opened a coloured image of ferns in the forest taken 
with a
> Canon G1 digital camera. I used channel mixer, a couple of curves
> adjustment layers, and the high pass sharpener, and only then 
adjusted
> the gamma with layers as above. Printing on Epson Photo Paper (Yay
> Costco! 28c Canadian per 8.5x11 sheet!) at about 6x8 in., I found 
the
> print too red.  I returned to the snapshot I had made before 
tinting the
> image in levels, and set red to 1.05 and blue to 1.12.
> 
> Now I've tried all the stunts -- Reichman's, Fraser's, and a hatful 
of
> other helpful volunteers. None of them gave me a print anywhere 
near as
> neutral as this one as it emerged from the gullet of the 1160. In
> daylight it's just about perfect, and betrays only the slightest 
hint of
> purple under tungsten: no more metamerism, in other words, than the
> prints I toned in selenium many years ago. A fluke? Maybe. I'll let 
you
> know. So far, pretty exciting. Thanks, Martin.
> Bob Bollini

Bob,

I'm glad to hear this worked out for you. Mr. Caponigro gets the 
credit. Working from what he described in his article I played with 
the red and blue levels and thought that it would at least give you a 
reasonable starting point.

I recommend his website you. The page on his current issue has two 
B&W images and there are many others as you go through his on line 
gallery.

http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/

He also talks about his methods at:

http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/faqs/printing.html

I believe the key to success here is good color calibration. Sounds 
crazy talking about color calibration to print B&W but it is actually 
even more important. In fact if you want to check your color 
calibration try to print a neutral B&W image! In printing a full 
range color print slight tonal shifts will not be noticeable but in a 
B&W will stick out like a sore thumb!

Caponigro's idea to use levels on different adjustment layers gives 
you a way to do the very delicate tonal adjustment requires. He does 
worn that you may need to do minor tweaking when changing materials.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

Martin




--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Robert Bollini 
<rbollini@n...> wrote:
> Martin Wesley recently suggested a simple device for producing 
neutral
> BW prints from a set of colour inks. Perhaps derived from the 
referenced
> article by Caponegro fils in which he apparently argued the use of
> PShop levels, Martin suggested that one might begin with the blue 
and
> red channels each set to 1.0.
> 
> This morning I fired up my Win98SE rig, profiled with Photocal and
> ProfilerRGB, and driving an Epson 1160 using Jon Cone's 
Darngoodink. In
> PShop 6.0, I opened a coloured image of ferns in the forest taken 
with a
> Canon G1 digital camera. I used channel mixer, a couple of curves
> adjustment layers, and the high pass sharpener, and only then 
adjusted
> the gamma with layers as above. Printing on Epson Photo Paper (Yay
> Costco! 28c Canadian per 8.5x11 sheet!) at about 6x8 in., I found 
the
> print too red.  I returned to the snapshot I had made before 
tinting the
> image in levels, and set red to 1.05 and blue to 1.12.
> 
> Now I've tried all the stunts -- Reichman's, Fraser's, and a hatful 
of
> other helpful volunteers. None of them gave me a print anywhere 
near as
> neutral as this one as it emerged from the gullet of the 1160. In
> daylight it's just about perfect, and betrays only the slightest 
hint of
> purple under tungsten: no more metamerism, in other words, than the
> prints I toned in selenium many years ago. A fluke? Maybe. I'll let 
you
> know. So far, pretty exciting. Thanks, Martin.
> Bob Bollini

Tim,

The only caution I would give is that, if you are using the Epson 
inks (I believe you have an Epson, correct me if I'm wrong), is that 
on the glossy or semi-glossy papers the life before fading becomes 
noticeable is only in the 3 to 5 year range and a neutral B&W image 
may show tonal shifts sooner that a color image.

If you stick to their matte papers, Heavy-weight and Archival, you 
will get a longer life but not the deep blacks.

You might want to take a look at the longevity of some of the other 
color dye ink sets for this, if you want to stay with glossy paper. 
This would just be a matter of switching cartridges so the costs are 
not as high as setting up a dedicated B&W printer.


There are also the pigmented color ink sets that could be used but 
with a higher initial cost. 

In any case this is a good place to get started and if you decide to 
get a dedicated B&W system next year or later you will still have all 
your scans and your adjusted digital files to reprint from if you 
want.

Let us know how it goes.

Martin




--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., tyork@a... wrote:
> It sounds like a selenium-toned duotone print. This can be a very 
> acceptable solution or alternative to a second printer. Especially 
if 
> you like selenium-toned prints with the deep blacks and the mid-
grays 
> that are drop dead gorgeous. Way ta go !!!!!!
> 
> Tim

(snip earlier)