Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: SteveZ on August 25, 2007, 09:13:42 am
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What's the consensus of opinion on which "intent" to use for b&w printing? I've heard arguments in favor of "Perceptual" without black point compression. Still, others suggest using Relative Colormetric. Over the past while, I've experimented with both and having found much of a difference for monochrome printing.
Have you?
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Steve, it depends on which driver path you're using to print your images. The following info applies to Epson K3 printers ...
... if you're printing through the RGB driver with a normal color profile (as some do for their B&W images), then the primary difference between the Perceptual and Relative Colorimetric intent for B&W images will be the tone curve. This is highly profile-dependent, in that it depends on which software was used to build the profile. In general, you'll find that Perceptual leads to a slight lightening of the print, with perhaps some better shadow detail preserved.
If you're printing through the ABW driver without a dedicated ABW profile, then it doesn't matter since Color Management should be turned off for printing anyways.
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In general, you'll find that Perceptual leads to a slight lightening of the print, with perhaps some better shadow detail preserved.
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Thanks, Eric, so my next question is:
when using "Pereceptual Intent" should black point compression be checked or unchecked to preserve better shadow detail in b&w prints?
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Pick the intent based on the soft proof! Profiles don't know squat about images (only output devices).
There's no standards in building a perceptual mapping. Each package uses what it thinks produces the best results.
Always have BPC on when making conversions. It will either do nothing or help a great deal.