Professional printer micro-spray black and white mode (Advanced Black and White / ABW) carbon black ink tonal gradient control

1. The fatal pathology of ordinary RGB inkjet printing black and white photos: color cast and metamerism

Many photographers print out their black-and-white masterpieces on expensive professional printers. They look forward to printing out their masterpieces, but they are surprised when they see them:

1. The "rainbow color cast" produced by mixing color ink with gray:

• In the traditional RGB color printing mode, in order to synthesize neutral gray, the printer driver uses three color inks, cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y), to mix and offset** to produce gray;
• The micron-level inkjet tolerance of the inkjet nozzle will cause a slight imbalance in the ratio of the three color inks;
• Result: The highlights are disgustingly reddish, the midtones are yellowish, and the shadows are greenish. There is no pure neutral gray in the entire photo!

2. Metamerism Failure:

• The photo paper looks gray under the standard 5000K viewing light in the studio;
• Once held under the yellow spotlight in the exhibition hall, the photo instantly glows with a rich reddish-brown color; when held under the sunlight outside the window, it turns into a cold blue!
• This severe color shift caused by the dramatic fluctuations in the reflectivity of colored dyes to different ambient light spectra is an amateur overturn that top art galleries have absolutely zero tolerance for.

2. Epson Advanced Black and White Mode (ABW - Advanced Black and White) Physical Revolution

In order to eradicate the physical fate of color ink synthesizing gray, Epson has developed an exclusive ABW proprietary rendering engine at the bottom of high-end giclée models (such as P700 / P900 / P9500):

1. Completely physically cut off the color ink channels (Pure Carbon Gray Channels):

• The ABW driver completely takes over the system, Cyan, magenta, and yellow color inks are strictly prohibited from participating in grayscale construction!
• Only the special "multiple pure carbon black ladder ink system" is used throughout the process:
• Photo Black/PK or Matte Black/MK: Construct a deep and extremely deep pure black skeleton with D-max exceeding 2.4;
• Light Black/LK: Responsible for smooth and deep midtones;
• Light Light Black/LLK: Responsible for the transition between highlights and bright grays as delicate as baby skin.

2. Complete elimination of metamerism:

• Pure inorganic inactive carbon mineral particles have an absolutely flat and constant absorption curve at all visible light wavelengths;
• No matter under daylight, tungsten light or fluorescent light, it presents an absolutely constant and stable noble pure black and white texture.

3. Practical operation of the four core control parameters of the ABW drive control panel

In the Photoshop print dialog, hand over color management to "Printer Managed Color" and check Advanced Black and White in the Epson printer driver panel:

1. Color Toning:

• Neutral black and white (Neutral): Absolutely pure neutral cool gray, without any cold or warm bias, suitable for modern minimalist architecture and documentary photography;
• Cool: The highlights and shadows have a faint icy blue cold silver luster, which has a sense of modern industrial technology;
• Warm: presents a warm retro warm brown tone similar to traditional darkroom silver bromide photographic paper;
• Sepia: Rich, ancient and classic chocolate color.

2. Horizontal and vertical fine-tuning color wheel (Color Tuning Grid):

• The panel provides a precise red, green and blue two-dimensional color wheel coordinate input box;
• Photographers can physically fine-tune the visual warmth and warmth of the paper under specific exhibition hall lighting by inputting micron-level coordinates (such as horizontal offset X: 0, vertical offset Y: 0).

3. Output Contrast Curve (Tone Curve):

• Provides five industrial Gamma curve conversion mappings from "Light" to "Dark/Darker/Darkest" to accurately compensate for dark levels based on the ink absorption expansion rate of photo paper cotton fibers.

4. Alignment test of pure cotton acid-free paper and black dots in dark areas

1. MK matte black vs PK photo black ink automatic switching:

• Printing on pure cotton acid-free watercolor matte paper (Rag Paper): MK matte black ink must be used (the carbon black particles are large and are tightly adsorbed on the surface of the cotton fiber of the paper, and the blackness is extremely high);
• Printing on heavy barium photo paper (Baryta): Must switch to PK Photo Black ink (microencapsulation technology, giving a crystal-clear silky sheen on a smooth coating).

2. Step Wedge Print:

• Before formal large-scale output, print a black and white gradient ruler containing a total of 21 steps from 0% to 100% on the edge of the scrap;
• Observe the 95%, 98%, and 100% color blocks at the darkest end: If the three are stuck together and cannot be separated, fine-tune the highlights in the ABW panel to brighten one level to ensure that the layers from the most extreme pure black to the most delicate grayscale are peeled off the physical paper and are as transparent as jade.

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