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: Using a black and white test imageKeith looks at print quality testing using a black and white test image. Test B&W printing and new papers on your printer. The test image is available for download (10m 20s)
• Video: Which printer is best? – it dependsKeith is often asked which photo printer is best. The answer is always 'it depends'. Not always what people want to hear. Some reasons for this and a guide to what Keith looks at in printers and why you need to know what matters to you (10m 18s)
• Video: Why prints come out wrong and what to doKeith looks at the top reasons photo prints don't come out right, along with the steps needed to fix your print problems. Based on years of sorting out print problems for photographers (22m 30s)
• Video: Where are the high quality A4 photo printersWhy you don't get high quality photo and fine art printers at A4 or Letter size. What features do you get with larger printers apart from the ability to make larger sizes photo prints (6m 30s)
• Video: What printer marketing doesn’t tell youWhat printer marketing doesn't say. Keith Cooper looks how much better prints you will get from a new printer and why it probably won't be significantly different from the last model (13m 20s)

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Articles

• Printer Test ImagesCollection of printer test images - colour and monochrome (black and white). Test photos for printer and monitor checking.
• Dye inks or pigment inks for photo printingWould a dye based ink printer or one using pigment inks be better for your photo printing. What prints look best on what printer ink type?
• PRO-200 Black and white printingPrinting black and white on the Canon PRO-200 A3+ dye based ink printer. Addressing the problem of colour tints under different lighting. Different types of paper and optimising the reproduction of your photos.
• Black and White printing with the P700/P900Black and white printing on the Epson SC-P700 A3+ pigment ink printer. Different types of paper and optimising the reproduction of your monochrome photos. Also covers P900 and P5300/5370
• Custom media for the PRO-300Creating custom media settings for the Canon PRO-300 printer with the MCT software. Using the free Media Configuration Tool software for the PRO300 A3+ (13")printer
• Black and white printing with the PRO-300 [and 310]Printing black and white on the Canon PRO-300 and PRO-310 A3+ pigment ink printesr. Different types of paper and optimising the reproduction of your photos.
• Keith Cooper’s paper reviewsKeith's photo paper reviews - collected data from all the papers for printing photos that we've tested over the years. Helpful if you can't get them where you live. Matt, satin, lustre and glossy. Regularly updated for new papers tested
• Digital black and white photographyExploring black and white photography and image editing. Methods of converting colour to B&W. How to get the monochrome image you want from a colour photo.

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Reviews

• MonoChromePro pigment inks for black and white printingReview of the MonoChromePro pigment ink set for black and white printing. Includes custom profile curve creation procedures for using QuadToneRIP (QTR). Making use of black and diluted black (grey) ink sets for monochrome photo printing

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Printing

• 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
• A personal health warning about paper reviewsWhy you should be wary of paper reviews. Reviews for specialist inkjet photo printing papers may contain lots of measurement data, but paper choice is about so much more than that. There are so many other aspects of your photographic workflow that need looking at too.
• Do your prints have depth?What is 'Depth'? How do you describe your photo prints? Or, more to the point, how do I actually know what you mean and how can I be sure?
• Paper review: Innova Cold Press Rough Textured Natural WhiteFine art Paper review of Innova Cold Press Rough Textured Natural White (IFA-13) tested on an Canon iPF8300
• Printing greyscale images and removing unwanted colour tintsAddressing problems with black and white printing. Some subtle changes in print colour casts with lighting changes, and removing colour tints from monochrome prints.
• Paper review Innova Decor papersPaper review of Innova heavy matte textured double sided Decor papers IFA-24 and IFA-25, tested using the Canon iPF8300.

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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