B&W home printing

[Manfred M]

As we are dealing with an Epson 3880 and the way the menus work is totally proprietary to the Epson Stylus Pro printers, so it really doesn't matter what other folks who have Canon or HP printers do.

I print from Photoshop, so while I select "Print" from the menu and want to switch from colour to B&W, the first thing I do is go the menu item that says "Color Handling" and change it from "Photoshop Manages Colors" to "Printer Manages Colors". The printer profile dropdown menu is disabled when you choose this direction, so you can't select the ICC profile for the paper you are printing with. I then go "Print Settings" button and click on that.

This takes me to the Epson print manager and here I will do two things. First of all, I will go to the Color drop box and select "Advanced B&W Photo". The second thing I will do is to select one of the Epson papers that more or less matches the type of paper I am using. As these paper profiles are loaded into the printer's firmware, you do not have access to the ICC profiles from the non-Epsons papers. Profiles are far less important in B&W work than in colour work. However, thickness, drying times, etc. will still impact your print, so if things are not working properly, you might have to tweak the parameters. So you should choose a paper that is similar to the one you will be printing on; glossy, luster, matte, etc.

The 3880 has four black ink cartridges (Photo Black, Matte Black, Light Black and Light Light Black). The Photo Black and Matte Black share the same print head, so only three inks are actually used for a specific ink and you do lose a bit of ink when going from matte to photo papers, as the print head has to be purged. This is one of the reasons you need to select the appropriate paper from the Epson papers as these drive which black cartridge is used.

[george013]

Manfred,
TS didn't mention his printer yet.

George

[Manfred M]

Manfred,
TS didn't mention his printer yet.

George

Oops you're right. Ian Howard and Ian Hutchinson are both writing on this thread, and I got the two Ians mixed up. Ian Hutchinson and Grant have the 3880; we don't know what Ian Howard uses..

[george013]

Oops you're right. Ian Howard and Ian Hutchinson are both writing on this thread, and I got the two Ians mixed up. Ian Hutchinson and Grant have the 3880; we don't know what Ian Howard uses..

It still is an interesting story.

George

[Ian H]

Thanks for that tip, Ian. I have only ever used the software to control output for B&W on my Epson Pro 3880 with generally good results but after reading your post I will give the Epson Advanced B&W a try. By the way, what paper are you using for your monochrome prints?

Grant I tend to only use one paper mainly and that is PermaJet Oyster271, have printed a few B & W images on sample papers for experiments using the Advanced B & W and always been pleased with the results.

[Clactonian]

Profiles are far less important in B&W work than in colour work.

I find that interesting Manfred and certainly am not disputing your far greater experience than my own, but when using the, admittedly in all likelihood crude, soft proofing in Lightroom I notice quite a difference in the different paper profiles, even with black and white. Maybe there is a simple explanation for this of which I'm unaware. Maybe you have a view?

The 3880 has four black ink cartridges (Photo Black, Matte Black, Light Black and Light Light Black). The Photo Black and Matte Black share the same print head, so only three inks are actually used for a specific ink and you do lose a bit of ink when going from matte to photo papers, as the print head has to be purged. This is one of the reasons you need to select the appropriate paper from the Epson papers as these drive which black cartridge is used.

That's the main reason I ended up with the Canon Pro-1, it too has the Photo Black and matt Black cartridges but has a head for each so there is no need to go through the purging process. Whether that in itself leads to an additional use of ink I can't say, although I find that generally speaking it is fairly economical on ink usage.
Like most things in life I expect there are pros and cons with each system.

Just one further point occurs to me and that is that having found a paper that suits , stick with it, don't keep experimenting. It is important in my view to establish a base line from which to work. If your printing 'hardware' and general workflow are consistent then there is only one variable left and that's the image output. At least one then knows where to start looking for inconsistencies, be it processing or calibration.

[Manfred M]

Mike - in B&W work you have a very simple work flow; everything is represented as a shade of gray and the whitest white is defined by the base colour of your paper with very little ink deposited onto it and black is the biggest darkest spot of ink that your printer is capable of laying down on the paper. Let's face it, there is no out of gamut (OOG) gray, although the rendering intent is still required to instruct the software how OOG is to be rendered as a gray scale image..

The main differences are really related to the way that the ink is absorbed and how it dries, and that is very much related to the paper finish. Matt papers tend to have more bleed than glossy papers and luster papers are going to be in the middle, which is why I suggest picking a paper that has a similar finish to your paper, when selecting the "Printer Handles Colors" option. When you print in that mode, you do not have access to the icc profiles that are not in your printer's firmware; in the case of Epson, this means any papers from third party sources.

When you print colour you do have to consider a far more complex set of variables. Not only are the paper surface and base tint a factor, but also the interaction of the various coloured and monochrome inks with each other. Colours can be OOG and have to be handled and need to be mapped based on the rendering intent you have chosen (this is where soft proofing can provide some guidance). Of course the blending of the various inks and the dot sizes the printer is capable of producing do come into play as well. There are just a lot more variables in play and hence the appropriate icc profile is required to give you the right output in a colour managed work flow.

As to why I went with Epson rather than Canon. At the time I was looking to buy a printer, Epson inks were the most cost effective versus the competition. I do waste a ml or so of ink when I change paper finishes, but I will batch print the same paper finish before switching to minimize any cost impact. I also checked with people (commercial photographers) and they all recommended Epson and finally the bricks and mortar photography store I bought my 3880 from told me that Epson outsold Canon by a wide margin and had a much better reliability record.

I too generally print only with two or three different papers, but I do check out the market from time to time. I saw some stunning looking prints at an exhibition and I asked the photographer about the paper he used and was told he prints his work on Hahnemuehle papers, which is why I am trying them (and recommending them). They are not inexpensive but I find the output just looks a lot more classy that on some of the other papers I have used.

[Clactonian]

I understand your points entirely Manfred and assume therefore that LR is within the soft proofing module able to mimic the relative absorbency of the various papers' selected profiles, hence the differences seen on screen.
With regard to choice of printer that does of course come down to personal preference. I did not have the benefit of any personal recommendations but can only say that I've not been disappointed, but then I may be feeling the same way had I gone down the Epson route. What I can say with certainty is that I was disappointed with my ousted HP B9180.

[Ian H]

For those using a Canon pro 1 here is a very interesting article on B & W printing from Canon USA.

http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources..._b_and_w.shtml

[royphot]

There has been a lot of very good advice, and many have explained their system for getting good Black and White Prints, but no one has so far answered Ian Howards original plea for help.

It seems likely that his printer (unspecified) does not have an option to select Black Ink only. It will always use all its cartridges every time it prints. When printing Black, (as in text), that will be Ok, but when trying to produce Grays, colours will show up. Black and White Prints are mostly Grays, hence the problem.

He will need to make a Gray step wedge, and use that to print a number of Test Strips at various Colour Settings ( in the driver ) until he gets a neutral result.

It is quite simple to print a number of Test Strips, one at a time, onto one A4 sheet by Copy / Paste and having only the newest layer visible when clicking Print.

I have a friend who has one of this type of printer, and he can produce excellent Black and Whites by adjusting his Colour Settings to pre-determined values.

Personally, I just switch my Printer to Greyscale, and it uses its single Black, but takes considerable longer than normal to print.

[Manfred M]

but no one has so far answered Ian Howards original plea for help.

Let me disagree. Ian has not told us what printer he uses, but he has told us that he prints from Photoshop CS2. The advice from at least two people was to NOT let Photoshop manage colours, but to let the printer manage them when printing B&W.

[Polar01]

I agree with Manfred, Howard (Ianhoward) as not told us what printer he is using. So until he does we are only throwing our guesses at how to solve the problem. We need more and better information.

Cheers: Allan

[Ianhoward]

I will follow your tip here, re Test Strips. I have attempted something similar in the past, so will go your route. Thanks

[Ianhoward]

The printer I use is buried under my biographical heading! Epson 1500W. I do tick the box for greyscale only printing.

[george013]

The printer I use is buried under my biographical heading! Epson 1500W. I do tick the box for greyscale only printing.

But did you do that in the printerdriver?. You have a separate black cartdridge. Follow the steps Manfred mentioned.

George

http://esupport.epson-europe.com/Vie...DEkLrQyOYU003D

[royphot]

Now we know which printer you have, George has come up with the definitive answer. Just follow the instructions in the link so that you can print using the Black Cartridge only and you will get proper Black and White Prints without any colour cast.

I suspect that you were setting Greyscale in the PS dialogue box only. You need to set the Printer Driver to use its Black Ink, (as above ), and to set PS to allow the Printer to Manage Colour.

[jcuknz]

Is anyone able to tell me why my B&W prints have a colour cast - blueish / purpleish ? It seems more pronounced when using gloss paper.
Howard

It thinks you are a fan of Chloro-Bromide paper?
edit . or is that chloride paper? long time since I used a fume room

[Ianhoward]

Fume room is not an expression I know (it is an accurate term) - but if you mean a wet darkroom , yes, that is where I have in the past spent many happy hours - a LONG time ago!