Toning a Black & White Print to simulate Selenium

[Robert Kalman]

I have a black and white image that I would like to render with selenium tones. I'm using an Epson SureColor P600 and printing with the ABW driver and printing on Museo Silver Rag.

Can anyone suggest a good starting point on the color wheel (horizontal & vertical) to get to selenium? I know I'll have to experiment and tweak the numbers, but it would be helpful to know where to start.

Thanks!

[The Joker]

selenium gives varying tones from just deepening blacks to very red or aubergene depending on how you use it and the paper it being used.
Use curves to add tones but I couldn't give you any explicit advice on values because only you know what you're starting with and what actual tone you want to finish with.

And normally you adjust tone in image editing tool and not your printer control panel.

Which image editing software are you using

[Robert Kalman]

selenium gives varying tones from just deepening blacks to very red or aubergene depending on how you use it and the paper it being used.
Use curves to add tones but I couldn't give you any explicit advice on values because only you know what you're starting with and what actual tone you want to finish with.

And normally you adjust tone in image editing tool and not your printer control panel.

Which image editing software are you using

Thanks, Joker.
I want to keep the image in Grayscale, that's why I want to add the tone in the printing rather than making the file RGB and toning it in Photoshop.

[koraks]

selenium gives varying tones from just deepening blacks to very red or aubergene depending on how you use it and the paper it being used.

This alone is sufficient basis for not being able to give a conclusive answer to the original question.

Robert, why not just apply the tone that you want, instead of 'toning' according to a non-existent standard?

[Ken Lee]

You can avoid the need for ABW and tone your image however you like: see this article.

This method has the further advantage of support on any printer since it's done to the image file itself, as a non-destructive adjustment layer. You can keep your original grayscale image as an "orginal".

[bob carnie]

You want to do it on the print driver.. can you isolate the shadow area only??
In RGB when I want to simulate on inkjet a selenium tone I will go into colour balance and shadow only, add a bit of colour.

[Robert Kalman]

This alone is sufficient basis for not being able to give a conclusive answer to the original question.

Robert, why not just apply the tone that you want, instead of 'toning' according to a non-existent standard?

When I was a "wet" printer, I would dilute selenium with permawash in order to achieve deeper blacks with a slight purplish tone through the mid-tones and highlights. I want to achieve this rendering using the printer's color wheel. The "cool" setting is a bit too blue...I want to tweak the setting in order to obtain purple. (And, again, I want to keep the file in grayscale rather than RGB...that's why I want to experiment using the printer's settings. I'm simply asking for a recommended starting point. Thanks!)

[Robert Kalman]

You can avoid the need for ABW and tone your image however you like: see this article.

This method has the further advantage of support on any printer since it's done to the image file itself, as a non-destructive adjustment layer. You can keep your original grayscale image as an "orginal".

Ahh...perfect! Thanks, Ken!!

[brouwerkent]

I can tell you how I achieve this with an inkjet print. I use 7 shades of BW ink....3 are cool neutral....4 are warmish. By using Quadtone Rip and the split tone feature....the prints can be tuned to look like a selenium toned silver print. You will not be able to get the split tone with ABW...but you might try QTR...

[Christopher Barrett]

From my experience, ABW mode gives far more neutral prints and better gradation than trying to do a toned black and white through the normal printing process. Using the color wheel in the ABW printer driver can give you some toning, but is limited unfortunately and you can't produce split tones or do just the shadows as fas as I'm aware. As for the toning process linked above, you do have to have an RGB image for that to work and I frankly find better control by just using an HSL layer (check 'colorize' and typically using a low saturation setting, somewhere around 5).

IMHO,
CB

Edit: I just read how Ken's process works with duotones, so I was incorrect about the RGB file. That's cool! Still, though, I think ABW will give you better results in the end.