Printing monochrome using Roark's Eboni-6 inkset from Lightroom

I have been using Paul Roark's Eboni-6 inkset in my Epson 2100/2200 printer and printing from Bowhaus Open Printmaker using profiles made by myself in IJC. It is a pain to have to transfer a file from Lightroom to a TIFF or PSD file and then go through another package to get the print - I am also finding that Bowhaus cannot handle big TIFF files from my Sony A900. Surprisingly I found that a print sent straight from Lightroom to the printer (via the Epson driver) worked reasonably well and even better when 'linearised' using an ICC profile created from Create-ICC-RGB.exe from the Quadtone RIP website.

Here are some examples of graphed Lab readings from the pre- and post- ICC versions of a 21 step wedge printed using Lightroom. I used a Spyder3print spectrophotometer to measure the patches.  The inks I have mixed myself are as follows:

K 100% Eboni black
LK 18% Eboni
C 30% Eboni
M 18% Eboni
LC 9% Eboni
LM 6% Eboni
Y 2% Eboni

These inks can be mixed yourself with a bottle of Eboni from MIS or they can be purchased ready mixed. A pint bottle of Eboni will last a long time and is extremely cost-effective. Note that this inkset only works on matte papers.

I use an ink base using the following mixture (based on the open source formula used by Paul Roark):

Glycerol 225ml
Purified water 500ml
Kodak Photoflo 80ml

Example 1 - Papermill Direct Soft Textured Art paper (similar to Innova Soft textured Natural White):

Lab (luminance) values are shown on the y-axis and expected black density on the x-axis.

Example 2 - Papermill Matte Photo (similar to Epson Enhanced Matte):

In both cases the blue curved line represents the straight print from Lightroom with a Gamma of 2.2 set in the Epson printer driver. The pink line represents the same after an ICC profile has been created using Roy Harrington's Create-ICC-RGB program. I have superimposed a black straight line from paper white to DMax so the ideal can be seen. In both cases the ICC version is much closer to a linear black to white print than the non-ICC version.  Other papers work as well. For instance, Papermill Direct Smooth Cotton High White is almost perfect without the ICC profile apart from slightly blocked up shadows which the ICC profile fixes.

All that is required to create the profiles is a text file of lab values which are simply dragged onto the icon of the Create-ICC-RGB.exe file. The programme then creates the profile which can be installed into the Windows system by right clicking it (on Windows XP systems). In Lightroom's printing module the profile is selected before printing and the same Gamma 2.2 setting left in the printer driver.

More studio lighting shots

A couple more studio lighting shots using a different setup with a hairlight to the back and camera right.

Taken with Sony A900, Tamron 90mm lens and processed in Lightroom 3 Beta.

Experimenting with studio lighting

I recently acquired a set of studio strobes - the Elinchrom D-Lite 4 kit. This contains two 400Ws heads, 2 stands, and 2 softboxes. I also added a snoot and grid, and a white translucent umbrella, plus some reflectors and background materials.

It is amazing what a difference it can make to a portrait. I have been mainly using window lighting for portraits, which has its own charm and look. But the control allowed by studio strobes is something else entirely. It's also great not to have to rely on the English weather to take photos.

Some of my first samples (all processed in Lightroom 3 Beta and taken with a Sony A900 and Minolta 70-210mm ' Beercan' lens).

This is one light with translucent umbrella at 45 degrees (to camera left) and a reflector on the right:

A softbox high and in front of the model, a reflector under the models face and a hairlight behind the model and to the right of the camera:

Some examples with Rembrandt lighting (a softbox high and to 45 degrees of the model on the camera's left and a reflector on the other side of the camera):

Finally the same setup, but with a softbox placed behind the model to camera right to highlight the other side of the face:

Monochrome inkjet printing: The carbon on cotton principle

Printing monochrome images with inkjet printers has always been problematic. Mainly this is because mixing colour inks commonly found in inkjet printers rarely produces neutral monotone images. Prints made with colour ink often have ugly colour casts that are hard to get rid of or that exhibit severe metamerism (i.e. they look different under different lighting conditions). Also as colour inks fade at different rates these prints often exhibit unacceptable shifts in tone over time. The human eye is very susceptible to subtle changes in near neutral print tones.

However, recent developments in inkjet printing technology have begun to overcome some of the problems. For example, Epson's Advanced Black and White (ABW) system allows several different shades of grey inks to be used to produce nice black and white prints with varying tones. Prior to this a dedicated band of printers converted their Epson printers to accept monochrome inksets based on highly stable carbon pigments and printed on fine art papers that were supposed to be of archival quality. Carbon pigments are known to outlast most colour pigments by a wide margin.

Problems still remain with systems such as the Epson ABW system though. It has been shown that the Epson driver incorporates coloured inks to varying degrees in the ABW prints. For example, yellow, which is notorious for fading can clearly be seen in enlarged print scans (see, for example, http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/R1800-Lightfastness.pdf). Thus we don't really know how long these prints will look acceptable. A further problem is that longevity ratings for printer and paper combinations (such as those published by Wilhelm Imaging Research) are based on a 35% fade test which is a hangover from the days of traditional colour photography. In other words lightfastness ratings are based on a fade margin that many black and white darkroom workers would find unacceptable. According to Jon Cone (originator of the Piezography monochrome inksets) the human eye can perceive a 5% deterioration in density and therefore this is the figure he uses in his lightfastness tests. A good discussion of this can be found in a post by Jon Cone here.

Paul Roark (who designs monochromatic inksets for MIS Associates and has been a long time pioneer of monochrome inkjet printing techniques) argues that the best way to be sure we have the best archivally stable black and white inkjet prints is to use the 'carbon on cotton' principle. He has designed an inkset that is based purely on several dilutions of carbon pigment (known as Eboni-6) and he prints mainly on cotton based rag papers (which are known to museums to be the most stable and durable paper media that exist). These papers such as Arches Hot Press are reknowned for their archival stability.

So how does one go about it? I recently mixed my own carbon-based inkset for my old Epson 2100 printer based on Paul Roark's formulae. It was surprisingly easy to do and the chemistry required is readily available. I ordered a large bottle of the Eboni black ink from the USA which will last a long time and is used to create the various shades of grey ink. These were injected into a set of refillable cartridges (from Marrutt in the UK).  By using a black and white RIP such as Bowhaus Inkjet Control or the inexpensive Quadtone RIP it is fairly straightforward to profile various papers to produce nice images (although a densitometer or spectrophotometer is recommended, but you can use a scanner). It is also incredibly cheap to mix your own inks.

Useful links:
http://www.paulroark.com/
http://www.inkjetmall.com/
http://www.inksupply.com/
http://www.marrutt.com/ (UK)
http://www.bowhaus.com/
http://www.quadtonerip.com/

Digital black and white group
Piezography group

The 'Beercan' and the Sony A900

After reading a lot about the old line of Minolta autofocus lenses I decided to pick up a 'Beercan'. This is a 70-210mm f4 lens that was introduced in 1985. It has a great reputation as being a solid, sharp lens with nice bokeh. They are pretty cheap too. I gave it a try this afternoon in low light and high ISO on the Sony A900. I am pretty impressed with it (and the camera so far). The lens is big and heavy (hence the nickname, I presume).

This shot is with the A900 set at ISO 1600 with the beercan at f4.5 and 75mm. Shot cRAW with no noise reduction, just Lightroom for the conversion:

Bigger versions are here.

Some shots with the Sony A900 and 50mm f1.4 lens

First shots with the 50m lens and a Cokin close up filter. All cRAW files edited in Lightroom 2.5.

Sony Alpha A900

I have succumbed and decided to sell my Mamiya 7ii and lenses to fund this 24 megapixel monster of a DSLR. It has just arrived and the battery is now charging.

I have 2 lenses on the way: 28mm and 50mm Sony primes. This is the camera with an old Minolta 35-70mm F4 zoom that I had lying around.