However it's a different story when you're providing a print service to others. I think that's Ian's problem, isn't it? I've had it myself several times recently - people want neutral prints of their images. I was loathe to use ABW, and in any case it was too cool on my printer. I was also loathe to print using a colour profile, given the general lack of acceptance of that approach amongst the serious B&W crowd. I didn't have the time to start playing with the toning inks, so I blended curves instead.
---In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, <sanking@...> wrote :
Why not just accept the beauty of warm black? Througout the history of photograhy phtographic prints have rarely been neutral black in tone, in fact that is something more associated with photographs reproduced in books than with original work. Silver prints were nearly always toned for permanence, and the toning often shifted the silver image even more away from neutral. For examp, sepia, brown toning, selenium, gold toning all changed the actual color of silver gelaitn prints. And people love the warm brown color of platinum/palladium prints, and the unique color os gold toned salted paper and albumen prints, and so on and so on.