Light brown color case in black and white photos

[Dion 47]

Can anyone advice me ,I am getting alight brown cast on my b/w photo's
Your's thankfully Dion 47

[Colin Southern]

Hi Brian,

It really comes down to a couple of possibilities ...

1. The printer is being being "told" to print the cast because the cast is present in the file (in which case it's probably a monitor profiling issue), or

2. The printer is introducing the cast.

Some things to try ...

- Try a different printer (I'm assuming that you're using a print shop, and not printing them yourself?)

- Make up a black and white test card (so that you know that it doesn't contain colour info) (or someone here could do it for you) and see how that prints.

So first step is to work out where the problem lies. It might also help if you could post one of the problem images here so we can see if it has a cast or not.

[Geoff F]

We really need more details before giving any firm answers. Are you talking about images on the screen, prints or both? What method are you using to convert to B & W? If prints are being affected, what paper and ink? If just on the screen, is your monitor calibrated? Are you using the correct printer settings for your paper, or using correct printing profiles for the paper? What software are you using for editing/printing?

Any of the above can cause problems. Can you show us an example.

I have had problems printing B & W with some of the more difficult papers and had to give the printer a slight colour tweak before printing. In my case I was getting a slight magenta cast so I simply reduced the magenta ink setting by 5%. So you may have too much yellow in your printing balance if only the printer is affected.

But whatever the cause, I'm sure somebody here will have the answer!

[Ashwin]

Hi Brian,

Make up a black and white test card (so that you know that it doesn't contain colour info) (or someone here could do it for you) and see how that prints.

So first step is to work out where the problem lies. It might also help if you could post one of the problem images here so we can see if it has a cast or not.

Here is Test Card..
1 ) Upper portion 100 % White
2 ) Middle portion 50 % Gray
3 ) Last portion from Pure White To Pure Black in 12 Steps

How to test print colin will be able to guide you properly