Digital BW, The Print

>Just tried some prints on the Epson Archival matte paper, Black ink only,
>with the VM MIS coldtone HEX inkset.

>The results are fabulous in all areas except the smooth water, where there
>is a tiny grain pattern. Beautiful tones, and nice snappy
>contrast and rich detail all over the place. For any image that does not
>have smooth areas like sky, water, or fog, this is a great
>technique. VERY sharp print.
>
>An added bonus is the blacks are deeper when using the black only ink.  I
>used the Neutral Curve from Paul Roark.  I have to say, this
>technique produces the deepest black I've ever seen from an inkjet printer
>using any third party black ink. Equal to the Epson Original
>black ink!

Ha! Vindicated at last. I guess it was worth banging on about this for
weeks on end after all...

>HOWever, this technique does NOT work on Photo Matte paper from Legion.
>The black pool of water was just that. Black. No other tones. None.
>Black only, and dripping wet when it came out of the printer. Looks like
>black ink only is not good for this paper, but great on the Epson
>paper. Haven't tried it on other papers yet.

The Legion Photo Matte does seem to accept a bit more ink than either of
the Epson Matte papers. But that can easily be adjusted by way of some kind
of curve; once you get it set up right, you'll find you can get just as
much subtlety in the almost-blacks as you can with any other paper. The
greater ink acceptance should also give it a greater tonal range.

-- Nick



NICHOLAS HARTMANN                                +1 (414) 271-4890
611 N. Broadway, Suite 509                  fax: +1 (414) 271-4892
Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA                       polyglot@...

Technical and scientific translator:  German and French -> English