b/w print - any tips?

Hi everyone,

I am about to convert some color pics to b/w and also scan some b/w originals. How do I get the best results when printing them out (rich blacks, etc.)?

I am using PS 7.0 but also have access to CS 1, and am printing on an Epson 1270.

I know about the Channel Mixer already, does anyone have any other tips for me? Someone once mentioned that I should convert to CMYK but I cannot remember what the advantage was.

Should I at any point convert the image to greyscale, or leave as RGB/CMYK? What happens if I convert a b/w neg to color mode? Should I?

Also, when printing, should I print in color or black mode?

Any help is much appreciated, I am not too happy with the prints I've produced so far (color tints, fuzzy/weak shadows, contrast seems way off from what I see on my monitor and when adjusted I blow out highlights and no significant change in the shadows etc.)

Greetings,
Q.

The major tip I would give is to color correct your images (including b&w).

The first thing color correction would do for you is it would remove any color tint.
Second (and this will fix a lot of your problems) it will allow you to remap your black/white points into a printable range (black ~ 12, white ~240). What this means is your printer will render more details in your shadows, and will print more detail in your highlights (what was previously left to the color of the paper, ie white also known as "blown out"). That second step alone should fix most contrast/shadow/highlight problems. Also that second step should be performed using RGB values in the info palette, so you can get fairly accurate results. There are way too many reasons why what you see on your monitor is not what you get : monitor calibartion, room lighting, time of day, print settings, type of paper...etc...

There's lot of tutorials around on color correcting if you need them.

Hi guys,
Also, you could change the color mode of your drawing.

1. Save a duplicate of your original file as another name. eg: filename.psd, and filenameBW.psd
2. Use the file 'filenameBW.psd. > On the title bar, choose: Image / Mode / Grayscale.
This will reduce live colours and create a black / white version of your imagery.
Once you are in a Grayscale mode, you can select the filters, channels or other to create difference in tones. (effectivley, the grayscale is a 'monotone' ink)

TIP: Use contrast filter sparingly in Grayscale mode. At high quality print, you may find a harsh difference between the lower white values and stronger blacks.

BEST TIP: The Exposure feature in Photoshop CS is excellent for large size printing. We often print digital images over 3 metres high, when in our AD Agency guys place a duotone, or Grayscale image in Black & White. If the colour correction is off a little, the use of the Exposure Setting is great.
A few of these settings are on our web
http://www.australiasigns.com.au/signage_magazine_online.html

Another Option is Duotone, but you need to use this feature only for making plates or printing commercially in Offset, litho, flexo etc. If your experienced in digital printing, duotones are OK, but better suited to making images from coloured ink. Eg. Pantone spot.

More on Duotones, > You can use upto 4 duotones in a file. Very handy for commercial print designers. They use this option to replace CMYK with e.g. C=Pantone 285 blue, M= Pantone 485 red, Y= Pantone 116. K=K or K=293 Blue. This gives amazing CMYK colour styleprinting with different solid alllowances.

Next time you see a image of a person face in good skin tones, printed onto a solid Red, this is how we do it. Looks like 5 colour printing, really 4. saves money too.

Hope it Helps
BillyTea
http://www.australiasigns.com.au