B&W Printing Tips Needed

S
Posted By
SamMan
Mar 15, 2005
Views
365
Replies
4
Status
Closed
I have an image that I created in which I have made most of it B&W (by adjusting the Channel Mixer in monochrome), with one small portion of a duplicated layer in color. On screen, it looks fine, but when I print, it has an almost turquoise cast to it… kind of like a blue duotone. If I make the image a grayscale, the B&W toning is closer, but it is grainy. Is there a way to get a better B&W print?

P.S. I do have my printer set up quite well, as other color images print fine. It has been several months since the last time I calibrated my monitor.

Thanks.

—
SamMan
Rip it to reply
Related Tags
print tip

How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

AR
Andy Ronmalon
Mar 15, 2005
"SamMan" wrote in message
I have an image that I created in which I have made most of it B&W (by adjusting the Channel Mixer in monochrome), with one small portion of a duplicated layer in color. On screen, it looks fine, but when I print, it has an almost turquoise cast to it… kind of like a blue duotone. If I make the image a grayscale, the B&W toning is closer, but it is grainy. Is there a way to get a better B&W print?

P.S. I do have my printer set up quite well, as other color images print fine. It has been several months since the last time I calibrated my monitor.

Thanks.

—
SamMan
Rip it to reply

Rather than adjusting the channel mixer, you might want to use desaturate and see how that looks.
BH
Bill Hilton
Mar 15, 2005
Is there a way to get a better B&W print?

What printer and paper are you using? It’s tough to get totally neutral black/white using color inks except with the best laser printers, or with a custom RIP. I can almost do it with my Epson 4000 Pro, at least with papers with very accurate profiles.

One thing you can do is print a black to white gradient and watch where the colors sneak in (typically green or light magenta in parts of the shadows with the Epson inks), then use Curves to try to correct for this and reprint until you get the gradient to print as neutral as possible, then print your image with this curve applied. But if you have a colored area in the picture you might end up throwing the colors off when you correct for the grayscale.

Bill
R
Roberto
Mar 15, 2005
Keep in mind that most inkjet jets don’t use the black in only when you print black and white even when you check the black and white option in the printer driver. The make black by mixing the colors the printer has which often times gives you a color cast. I don’t know why they won’t simply use the black ink only when you select black and white in the printer driver, it is really kind of annoying.

To get true black and white you need to get a printer that offers it. Right now the only consumer grade one that I know of is the Epson 2200 which is supposed to have a pretty good black and white mode and even includes a light gray ink option. The down side to the 2200 is it is costly and so are the inks and paper. It is slower than a corpse climbing a hill and the printer is old it has been on the market about 3 years. I would not pay $600 for 3 year old technology.
S
SamMan
Mar 16, 2005
"SamMan" wrote in message
I have an image that I created in which I have made most of it B&W (by adjusting the Channel Mixer in monochrome), with one small portion of a duplicated layer in color. On screen, it looks fine, but when I print, it has an almost turquoise cast to it… kind of like a blue duotone. If I make the image a grayscale, the B&W toning is closer, but it is grainy. Is there a way to get a better B&W print?

P.S. I do have my printer set up quite well, as other color images print fine. It has been several months since the last time I calibrated my monitor.

Thanks.

—
SamMan
Rip it to reply

Thanks for all of the tips.

—
SamMan
Rip it to reply

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections