Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Todd Flashner <tflash@e...> 
wrote:
> on 8/26/01 2:36 AM, Martin Wesley wrote:
> 
> > It isn't something
> > that happens later. In daylight I don't see the green cast and the
> > Piezo looks just fine with a warm-neutral tone.
> > 
> > I don't see this in the MIS VM prints that Todd sent me and only 
see
> > it in the warm area of a split tone print I received in the print
> > exchange from Ron Landucci that was done with the MIS VM inks.
> 
> Martin,
> 
> I don't mean to confuse you more, but those prints I sent you were 
made
> using a Piezo/Generations ink blend, and using a workflow similar 
to that of
> Paul's current MIS VT formulation.

That's okay I'm confused anyways.<g> I know you are using a slightly 
modified Piezo inset but your prints don't have the green cast under 
tungsten that I see in others. It may be that by shifting the overall 
tone of the prints slightly cooler or warmer the effect is reduced or 
eliminated. Do you by chance have an earlier batch of ink?

> 
> I also find the Piezo inks at times look green to me under tungsten
> illumination, but not always. And this includes many of the prints 
from the
> print exchange. So, I do not think you are color blind. I think 
it's either
> a metameric thing, or a "green compared to ..." thing. But I 
haven't put
> enough attention into it to really speak with certainty. I can 
simply say
> they sometimes "feel" green to me, especially the ones on EAM. The 
tones on
> the Hahnemuhle papers strike me as cooler and more neutral.
> 
> I will be moving to the MIS inks shortly. I'll see what's funky 
about them
> soon enough. I don't expect any ink to be perfect just yet.

That pretty much matched my observations. Light source, proximity of 
other objects, paper, whether my eyes have fully adjusted to room 
light from having been outdoors, etc, all play a part. The Piezo inks 
do have a green component. I assume that this was to color correct a 
red or magenta shift back to neutral. Sometimes this is visible.

We are still in the early stages of this technology and the inks are 
not perfect. Since it is new and most of us are used to silver, I 
think we are looking at these prints in a very hypercritical manner. 
This is unavoidable but not really fair either. There are plenty of 
silver papers whose color I don't like! There are just so many it is 
easy to find ones that do work for me.

Martin