Digital Black and White

Our specialist black and white digital photography page

We’ve lots of articles on this site covering black and white digital photography and other monochrome issues.

If you are just starting out with digital black and white, then this particular article may be of interest. It’s a 2020 version of the original I wrote in 2004.

The basics of Black & White digital photography

This page is the reference point for all our digital black and white photography related articles and reviews.

It covers all aspects from taking photos for black and white use, processing and editing them (converting colour to b&w) and producing black and white prints.

Articles listed here are those with significant sections dealing with aspects of black and white photography. There are also some of my older Black and White Photos in the Gallery

^ All about making this image
…from idea to print

Other article index pages

• Keith’s photo blog
• Articles and Reviews
• Prints and printing
• Photography book reviews
• Colour Management

Why Black and White

Black and white photography still inspires me.

I’m reminded of this quote from someone who’s original work, and ability to explore new techniques I admire:

– Ansel Adams
forward to his book “the Negative”, published January, 1980

Black and White Photography

The image to the right is a special black and white printer test image.

Keith Cooper has created it to test the quality of black and white printing.

This is the current version of our standard black and white printer test image, first published in 2005.

The test image incorporates a number of features designed to make it useful in testing and then improving monochrome print output.

Many features are also directly copied from the old version so as to maintain compatibility with existing test prints.

It’s quite a harsh test, but covers most areas where printers have difficulties, such as shadow detail, colour casts, and linearity.

All the various parts are explained and an A4 300ppi sized version is freely available for download. There are versions with a 51 and 21 step greyscale ramp available for creating QTR ‘correction’ profiles. There are also numerous articles that include its use.

Black and White photography articles on this site

The articles and reviews are grouped into different categories. You can look through all the articles via the categories selection at there right, or use the search box.

Articles

• A Digital only trip to ColoradoA look at some of the changes when moving from film photography to digital photography after a trip to Colorado by Keith Cooper. The same, but different and better...
• Better Digital Black and White printing on your Inkjet printerSimple technique to make linearising curves for black and white photo prints. Measuring test prints with flatbed scanner provide data for curve construction
• A 35mm black and white landscape photographer goes digitalLooking at what changed and what didn't when a film based landscape photographer decided to make the switch to an all digital workflow.

• <<
• 1
...
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8

—

Reviews

• Canon iPF5100 printer reviewDetailed review testing the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF5100 17 inch width large format printer. Sheet and roll paper, looking at colour and black and white pigment ink based printing a range of paper types.
• Epson Stylus Pro SP4900 reviewReview of the Stylus Pro SP4900 11 colour 17 inch (A2) printer from Epson. Setup and printing. Includes fitting and use of the optional Spectroproofer unit.
• Epson Stylus Photo R3000 reviewDetailed Epson Stylus Photo R3000 review. Using the SP R3000 A3+ printer for colour and black and white photo printing
• Book Review B&W printing by George DeWolfeKeith Cooper reviews B&W printing by George DeWolfe - part of the Digital masters series. A 'guide to producing exhibition quality black and white prints'
• Paper review Innova FibaPrint Warm Cotton GlossIFA-45 fine art paper review. Innova FibaPrint Warm / Exhibition Cotton Gloss 335gsm paper tested for colour and black and white printing. Includes information about linearising B&W print output
• Nik Silver Efex Pro V2 reviewReview of Nik Silver Efex Pro version 2. Plugin converts colour images to black and white, with many adjustment options and preset conversions (Now part of the DxO Nik Collection)
• Review of Nik HDR Efex Pro pluginReview of the Nik (Google/DxO) plugin for creating high dynamic range (HDR) images from multiple exposure images of the same scene. Works with aperture, Lightroom and Photoshop.
• Review of DxO FilmPack plugin V2Review of the FilmPack plugin and app (version 2) from DxO. Processes images to emulate the look (grain, tonality, colour) of a wide range of film types

• <<
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• >>

Printing

• Innova Fibaprint Super-Glazed and Semi-Glazed paper reviewTests and review of two fine art papers from Innova, Fibaprint Super-Glazed and Semi-Glazed IFA-58 and IFA-59, tested on an Epson 4880. Note : no longer available
• Epson Stylus Pro 4880 reviewReview of the Epson Stylus Pro 4880 17" A2+ Printer. Large desktop printer tested with a range of sheet and roll paper and fine-art and photo media types
• Printing Black and White digital photographyPrinting Black and White digital photography, is the second part of an interview with Keith Cooper about all aspects of digital monochrome photography
• Epson Stylus Pro 3800 reviewReview of the Epson Stylus Pro 3800 printer. Desktop printer is 17 inch print width and takes A2 sheets, photo and fine art papers.
• Paper review Permajet Fibre Base GlossTesting Permajet Fibre Base Gloss, a 'Darkroom feel' gloss or semi-gloss lightly textured paper. Tested on an Epson SP2400
• QTR and PrintFIX PRO to get better black and white printsUsing the PrintFIX Pro colorimeter with QTR to make greyscale ICC profiles to improve linearity for black and white printing.
• Why don’t my prints match my screen?Why your prints often don't match your screen very well. Some explanations, solutions and ways of dealing with the problem
• A Black and White test imageSpecial test image designed for black and white print checking. Includes explanation of use for all features of the downloadable image.

• <<
• 1
...
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• >>

News

• Epson SureColor SC-P5000 STD Printer announcedLatest information about the new SureColor P5000 17" large format printer from Epson. The replacement for the SP4900 A2 sized desktop printer.
• Keith Cooper’s talks about printmakingKeith Cooper talks about making large prints at The Photography Show 2017 - Getting great looking big prints from your work. From camera to print, the complete workflow
• New Canon papers announcedCanon USA announce three new Premium Fine Art papers — Premium Fine Art Smooth, Premium Fine Art Bright White and Premium Polished Rag. Designed to produce, rich-color reproduction, and detailed expression of gradation. Keith has a roll of the Fine Art Smooth for an upcoming paper review

Never miss a new article or review - Sign up for our Newsletter (2-4 a month max.)

Enjoyed this article?

More print related information

For information about other printers, paper reviews and profiling (colour management) see the Printing section of the main Articles and Reviews page, or use the search box at the top of any page. There are also specific index pages for any articles connected with the following topics:

• Digital Black and White
• Tutorials and 'How to' articles
• Colour Management
• Printer test images
• Why do your prints look wrong?

More of Keith's articles/reviews (Google's picks to match this page)