Digital Black and White

Our specialist black and white digital photography page

We’ve lots of articles on this site covering digital black and white 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 digital Black & White 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

Reference pages and test images

• Printer Test Images
• B&W printer test image
• Printer cleaning
• Paper reviews
• Black & White from colour – 20+ conversion techniques

Videos

• Keith’s YouTube channel has a specific digital black and white playlist.

Current printer reviews (include B&W sections)

• Dye based: G550 | XP15000 | PRO-200
• Pigment ink: PRO-300 | P700 | WF8690
• Hybrid ink set:  ET-8550
• 17″ width: P900 | P5000 | PRO-1000
• 24″+ PRO-2000 | P7000 | P7500 | P20000

^ All about making this image
…from idea to print

Other article index pages

• Keith’s photo blog
• Keith’s photography videos
• 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

Digital 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.

Videos

These are videos embedded in articles/reviews.

For a full index of all videos on YouTube, there is a categorised index page here:

Index: All of Keith’s YT videos

• Video: What is the best photo printerWhat is the best photo printer? I'm often asked about printer and print quality, but unless you know what it is you actually want the printer for, then it's difficult to answer. Some of the ways I decide what's good about a printer I'm reviewing
• Hahnemuhle natural line papersVideo and notes: Hahnemuhle natural line papers. The four tested are based on bamboo, hemp, agave and sugar cane fibres. Fine Art printing colour and B&W
• Video: Fixing unwanted colour tints in black and white photo printsVideo: Fixing unwanted colour tints in black and white photo prints. How to adjust the B&W printing mode for Epson and Canon printers. Removing green/brown/magenta casts seen in prints under some lighting
• Video: making ICC printer profiles for my reviewsVideo: Making icc printer profiles for my reviews. A review of using i1Profiler and the i1iSis spectrophotometer for making printer profiles
• Video: BW print workflowVideo: An example fine art BW print workflow with the 100MP GFX100S. Making a large black and white print from a medium format image

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Articles

• Printing low megapixel images at large sizePrinting low megapixel images at large size, looking at resizing and image editing techniques that let you make larger prints than you thought possible. Getting good prints at A2 and 17" x 25" sizes
• Better photography by printing your workBetter Photography from prints. Printing your photos is a useful skill to work on. 5 steps towards getting great prints that will help you improve all of your photography
• Keith Cooper’s City Light Luminar presetsKeith's 'City Light' presets for MacPhun's Luminar photo editing software. Developed for architectural images when converting from colour to B&W. Before and after examples, and how they differ from 'straight' B&W conversions. Also using them as a luminance adjustment for colour images.
• Moving back to film photographyReturning to film? Rediscovering old film equipment offers a simpler more direct world of photography. Is it time for Keith to buy some camera batteries and rolls of film?
• The art of the big photographic landscape printWhat makes for a great looking large 'fine art' print? What differences do you need to consider when deciding to make larger prints (A2 and above). Larger prints are that work are far more than just more megapixels, sharper lenses and big printers.
• X-Rite i1iO and a B&W test imageThe X-Rite i1iO table and i1Pro2 spectrophotometer are used with a modified version of Keith's black and white test print (8 & 16 bit versions downloadable). Quick and easy check for monochrome print linearity includes chart averaging.
• Keith Cooper’s City Light Tonality PresetsKeith's 'City Light' presets for the MacPhun Tonality Pro plugin. Developed for architectural images when converting from colour to B&W. Before and after examples, and how they differ from 'straight' B&W conversions. Also using them as a luminance adjustment for colour images.
• Multiple Scans of Black and White film comparedAfter reviewing the Epson Perfection V850 film scanner, Keith Cooper looks at the same piece of film scanned in several different scanners, including drum scanning

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Reviews

• Epson SureColor P7000 printer reviewDetailed review of the Epson SureColor SC-P7000 24" width large format printer. Using the P7000 for fine art and photo printing with the LLk ink option. Review applies to the larger 44" SC-P9000 as well.
• Canon iPF8300 review and notesOngoing Canon iPF8300 review and notes about using the imagePROGRAF iPF8300 44 inch large format printer, by Keith Cooper. Notes date back to setting up the printer in November 2010
• Review – Aurora HDRMacphun Aurora HDR. Software plugin and standalone app for building high dynamic range (HDR) images from one or more photos
• Epson SureColor SC-P800 printer reviewDetailed review of the Epson SureColor P800 printer. A2 sheet paper (17" width) and roll paper support. Tested with a variety of paper types, colour and B&W
• Review update – Tonality Pro v1.2Review update - Tonality Pro 1.2 Improved functionality and performance for MacPhun's specialist image editing plugin and app for B&W photography
• Epson printer: SureColor P600 reviewDetailed Epson SureColor P600 review. The SC-P600 is an A3 plus (13" width) pigment ink printer tested with different papers for colour and black & white. It supports borderless printing, roll paper and CD/DVD printing
• Epson V850 film scanner reviewReview of the Epson Perfection V850 flatbed scanner. 6400dpi scanning for transparencies, 4800 dpi for photographs. Film and slide holders included
• Canon Pixma PRO-100 printer reviewDetailed review of the Canon Pixma PRO-100 printer. A 13" width (A3+ paper size) dye ink based printer for colour and black and white.

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Printing

• Producing better photographsWhy you probably don't need to rush out and spend money to improve your photography - it about thinking more, and taking more photos. New cameras and lenses are nice but not as essential as you might think
• Black and white print linearisation with the i1Pro 2Using the X-Rite i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer to measure black and white test print targets to create linearising curves and profile with the QTR software package
• Black and white print linearisation with i1Profiler and QTRBlack and white print linearisation using QTR icc profiles created with X-Rite i1Profiler software and the i1Pro spectrophotometer
• X-Rite i1Photo Pro 2 reviewReview of the X-Rite i1Photo Pro 2. Printer profiling as part of the 'i1Photo' package, including OBA compensation
• Is your printer OK for black and white photography?Choosing a good printer for black and white photography is nowhere as easy as it is for colour. Keith looks over some of the options, including getting better black and white out of your existing printer.
• What paper should I use?With a massive range of different papers available, how should you go about seeing which papers work best for your photos. Some of the choices you can consider when looking at paper types and brands for printing your photographs
• 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.

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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