low tone black
2010-10-18 by gochatunbdotca
I use an Epson 4880 and MIS inks. I stick with matte papers and MK black ink (MIS "Eboni"). I use Spyder3Print to profile the papers I use. In general I get the best results when I construct the profiles with shadow brightness (?) set all the way to 20. My problem: the very darkest tones in prints end up going into obvious, posterized black in prints. (tones below Zone III) It is *as though* the addition of Eboni Black to darken, say, the dark brown of somone's hair in shadow is excessive... as though the black that is being added is darker than expected, or too much is being added. I should add that when profiling Moab Lasal and Kayenta papers, I have to set my printer to use 20% less MIS ink, so over-inking isn't the problem. Everything except the very darkest tones (below Zone III) look good to me. Does anyone have any suggestions? The non-proportional darkening is so abrupt than I haven't been able to add a curve to the image that will solve the problem without messing up Zones III-V.