Toning

Inks composed solely of carbon pigments never give a strictly neutral tone from a colorimetry point of view. However, the tone is a subjective, given the fact that human vision is endowed with a great capacity for interpretation and adaptation. It is therefore possible to obtain prints that are visually neutral as well as warm, or even sepia.

Also, the configuration of ink affects the tone: a print made with the "Black Only" mode, so called because it uses only the undiluted black ink, is more neutral toned than the "Eb-5" mode which includes various dilutions. All our profiles are characterized by Lab measurements, and soft-proofing ICC profiles are available in the Links & resources zone, or directly here: standard profiles and Black Only profiles.

For colder tones lovers, we can provide a dedicated solution using a carbon ink doped with blue pigments, that we usually call "carbon-blue". Of course the print does not meet 100% of the Carbon on Rag criteria. However this particular configuration allows, if necessary, to meet the specific needs and expand the range of choice, especially whilst mixing it with Black Only mode. Do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

As an example, here are two completely different prints:

On the left, a cooltone print made on Hahnemühle Bright White fineart paper, with carbon-blue ink (Blue pigment doped carbon ink). On the left, a sepia brown tone print made on Hahnemühle Bamboo fineart paper with pure carbone ink