Help / Prepare your black and white prints
Preparing your black and white print from your original colour image
Your image is originally in colour, composed of Red, Green and Blue, the first reflex is to change it directly to Black and White ("Greyscale"). However, by making this change, all the density values of the image spread over the 3 RGB layers (3x 8bits) are then reduced to a single layer (1x 8bits), and you may lose information that was present in your original image without noticing it.Without any control on your part, we do not recommend this operation, which can alter the distribution of the grey values present in your image. You will find our advice below.
- Keep your image in RGB as it is and choose our True Black & White service. The conversion to Black & White will be done automatically before printing for a very satisfactory final result.
- Or, like a colour ICC profile conversion, convert your RGB image to Black & White with an ICC profile adapted to photography such as "Gray Gamma 2.2" or one of the special Black & White PICTO ICC profiles proposed for our "True Black & White" service.
- Or leave your image in RGB, preview its final rendering in Black & White with our dedicated ICC profiles. The conversion to Black and White will be done automatically with great precision.
- The basic conversion of the colour file into Black and White ("greyscale") without any control or choice.
- Black and White conversion by ICC profiles proposed by certain software (e.g. Adobe Photoshop), unsuited to a Black and White photographic rendering: Dot gain 10%, Dot gain 15%, Dot Gain 20%, Dot Gain 25%, Dot Gain 30%, Gray Gamma 1.8, Black and White.
- The conversion functions of some software without adjustment possibilities: "RGB Colour => Grayscale", "Desaturation", "Automatic Black and White".
- Conversion by our ICC profiles dedicated to Piezography Charbon printing, they should only be used as a preview on your screen of the final rendering.
Pour aller plus loin...
Our ICC profiles for Black and White
Originally intended for colour characterisation, an ICC profile can also contain all the information necessary to reproduce grey density values by associating with it the slight tint of the paper and the rendering of the print by the different grey inks used by the printer.
Colour neutralised to become a Black and White ICC profile (Illustrative)
Simulation or conversion with a PICTO Black and White ICC profile: the density values are always distributed over 3 layers.
Like our colour ICC profiles, our Black and White ICC profiles are specially designed for our printers and they effectively neutralise the colour information in your image to allow you to prepare your future Black and White print.
The reproduction of grey scale will be improved, the density values will be more faithful in the high and low lights.
The PICTO Black and White profiles neutralise the chromatic values of your colour images while remaining in the RGB space: the information is always distributed over 3 layers.
This means that the values are not "restricted" to a single layer as in a greyscale space (e.g. Gray Gamma 2.2 profile) and that maximum compatibility with our Epson and HP printer drivers is maintained.
Don't be surprised, even after conversion by our Black and White ICC profiles your images still have 3 RGB layers for high reproduction accuracy!
Use of ICC Black and White profiles :
- Preview the final rendering of the black and white print using the "soft-proofing" method (recommended).
- - Your image remains in its colour space with its original ICC profile or that of your RGB workspace.
- - The "Proofing" function in Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom can be used to preview the final rendering.
- - The image left in colour will be automatically converted to black and white at the time of printing by the printer driver ensuring maximum accuracy.
- Conversion to black and white by an ICC profile, similar to a colour conversion by a colour profile, to convert your colour image to black and white while retaining the maximum amount of information.
- More information on previewing the rendering or converting with an ICC profile: ICC Profiles
Download
You can download the Black and White ICC profiles :- From the selected paper, by clicking on "See more" and then on the "Download ICC profile" button located in the description of each paper.
- From our "Our Papers and Media" page
- ICC profiles for Piezography Charcoal printing are only available under certain conditions of use from the page: "Preparing your Piezography Charcoal prints".