Black and White ICC Profiles

Please note this black and white profile service is only intended for recently made printers with specialist black and white printing modes (such as the Epson 2400 or x800 series printers, the HP8190, and the Canon iPF5000 and 8000) or other printers producing already very neutral prints via a RIP like ImagePrint or Quadtone (e.g the Epson 2100). It is designed to give you accurate tonal placement and indicate paper tone accurately. It is not designed for neutralisation of a non-neutral printing process.

We're now offering custom ICC profiles specifically for black and white printing. Whether you use the new Advanced Black and White mode with the Epson pigment ink printers, or something more exotic like Quadtone RIP, your black and white printing process can be profiled - and thus you can open up the world of soft-proofing your black and white prints, just like you're (hopefully) soft-proofing your colour prints already.

Having an accurate soft proof allows you to better pre-visualise your results. You can see the difference beween papers without actually printing, and can place tones in your image more precisely at the points you want between d-max (your darkest possible black) and d-min (the lightest grey you can print). You can also see how the white point of a particular paper will affect your print - to decide, for example, if your image will be better printed on a warmer fine art stock, or a bright white semi-gloss stock.

The price is just $40.

The process works like this:

  1. Download the Black and White target file

  2. Print this untagged file, with Photoshop set to No Colour Management in the Print With Preview dialogue box, at the size the file is currently set to, as per this screen shot:

    BW1



  3. Use any driver/RIP settings you like, but make sure you record these settings.

    If you're using one of the K3 Epson printers (4800, 7800, 9800), we recommend the Advanced Black and White mode set to neutral - normal.

    If you've got the Epson 3800, use 'Neutral-Dark' for the best results.


  4. Screenshots for both the Mac and PC appear below.

    On a PC: First, change this to neutral:

    BW2

    Then, change the tone control to Normal:



    Or on a Mac, first set Color Toning to Neutral:

    Mac1

    and then set Tone to Normal (or Dark if you have a 3800):

    Mac2



  5. Now have a look at the target you've produced. If it's obviously non-neutral (you can see colour in the patches) or non-linear (easily visible shadow/highlight compression) - reprint the target using diffferent settings in the driver and experiement until you get the most neutral, linear result from your printer.

  6. Send us the target print with your $40 payment, your contact details including email address, and details of your printer and the paper stock so we can give the profile a sensible name.

  7. We'll email you back the profile (usually in 24 hours or less after receipt of the target print).

  8. The profile is used in exactly the same way as a colour profile (instructions here) - that is, the profile is applied to each file as it is printed but you should always use the Perceptual rendering intent. You must use the same driver/RIP settings you used to print the target.

  9. You will want to use Advanced Soft Proofing (see instructions) on a high quality, properly calibrated monitor to get the best results.

 

Using Black and White ICC Profiles

Once you get your profile back, you should follow the instructions here to use your profile correctly.