Digital BW, The Print

Sonia-

Briefly, metamerism happens all the time with both inkjet and wet darkroom 
prints. Its most noticeable when printing grayscale because our eyes are much 
more sensitive to shifts in hue when seen against a gray field. If you see a 
metameric shift in a grayscale print made with a given printer, ink set and paper 
combination, it is also occurring to some degree when the same combination is 
used to produce a color print. It just isn't as noticeable. Some inkjet 
combinations are more prone to metamerism than others.

If you add color to a grayscale image--perhaps by duotoning or converting to 
RGB to tone the image--the added color information in the print may help 
camouflage metamerism.

This is just one of the reasons why so many photographers tend to view a 
"neutral" grayscale print (however that is defined) as a "final frontier" issue.



Bill Kennedy
Associate Professor of Photocommunications
St. Edward's University
512/448-8680


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