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Black & White Printing: Choose the Right Paper for Your Work

When choosing how to print your Black & White images we would recommend our B&W Printing options over our C-type or Giclée services to ensure the best results in your print. Choosing a Silver Gelatin print completely prevents the colour cast you would usually find due to colour printing processes.

At Metro Imaging, we offer a range of B&W printing options: from traditional B&W Hand Printing to Digital Silver Gelatin Prints. We’re also the only print lab in the UK to produce B&W fibre-based prints from digital files, Metro’s Steve Macleod having worked directly with Harman in producing the paper itself.

Both of our B&W Silver Gelatin and C-Type prints are produced with archival, light-sensitive papers specifically designed to be exposed with a digital enlarger. When printing a B&W image using a colour process, such as the C-Type, there will always be a colour cast of some degree, usually green or magenta – this is due to the colour dye within the print. Our HARMAN GDS B&W papers contain no colour dyes and are exposed with B&W chemistry, resulting in ‘true’ blacks with no colour cast, despite being exposed with the standard RGB colour laser on our Lambda Printer.

We offer three premier HARMAN GDS papers to fit your needs, a resin-coated finished and two fibre-based options:

– Fibre-based Baryta (Gloss): This double-weight paper has a gloss finish and slight texture, the emulsion is based upon traditional B&W silver halide technology. It has excellent D-Max, sharpness and surface finish that will give a superb continuous tone. Our FB paper is also great for pairing with Giclée Fine Art Baryta prints when printing colour and B&W images together.

– Fibre-based Baryta (Matt): This is a double-weight paper with a matt finish and smooth texture. It is a silver gelatin premium quality panchromatic photographic paper. This paper has been designed using the very latest black & white silver halide emulsion technology optimised for digital exposure and presents a neutral image tone.

– Resin-coated: This is a premium quality paper with a bright base tint, and it is a perfect paper for cooler-toned images. It has a semi-matt finish and contains fine tonal benefits of subtle highlight detail and strong blacks.

Our digital B&W papers can be printed up to 108 x 48 inches, either through our Premier Bespoke Service or Premier Self Service online.

We recommend having a look at the papers themselves before ordering. Either drop by our lab or order a Sample Pack here.

Lastly, we are proud to still offer B&W hand printing straight from the negative, using the traditional darkroom method. Our Master Printer can match and reproduce your image consistently; however, due to the technique, each one is technically unique. We offer a range of papers, fibre-based to resin-coated, in a number of finishes and tones. Our maximum Hand Print size is 20 x 24 inches.

IMAGES:
1. Digital Fibre-based Gloss Print.
2. Left to Right: Digital Fibre-based Matt Print, Digital Fibre-based Gloss Print.
3. Digital Resin-coated Print.

For more information about our services, or for help ordering, please get in touch



    We offer the following types of printing

    Partial photo of a face covered in hundres and thousands printed on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper which is available in both gloss and a semi matt finish.

    C Type Professional Photo Printing

    We have been printing the highest quality C-Type prints for decades and digital C-Types produced on our Lambda have the archival and tonal benefits of traditional photographic papers, with the advantages of digital photo printing. C-Types are a conventional photographic print from a digital file, and as such is the most suitable option when printing a colour photograph.

    Printing linking you through to our giclee printing service.

    Fine Art Giclée Printing

    We have Hahnemuhle and Canson Giclée Certified Studio staus and with over 30 years experience in photographic printing we use the most advanced inkjet technologies. Giclée is a gallery-quality inkjet print onto fine art watercolour paper. This is most suitable for art illustrations, but can also be used for colour and B&W photographs.

    This a picture take of a very large black and white ilford fibre based print of two people.

    Black & White Printing

    We have worked in collaboration with Harman Technology to develop genuine B&W silver gelatin Fibre-Based and Resin-Coated photographic prints from digital files. The Resin-Coated is suitable for most types of B&W printing, and Fibre-Based is ideal for exhibition quality.

    Picture of a Duratran. Duratrans are a real chromogenic print on translucent material and are then mounted on lightboxes.

    Duratran Printing

    We produce Duratrans at a quality level unmatched by anything else out there. Duratrans have to be lit from behind, so need to be mounted in a rear lit display, or we can produce led lightboxes, which are conventional photo frames containing the Duratran and led panel.

    Metro called it Direct to Media. Essentially this is a UV printing machine that can produce very large, up to 3m x 2m prints on any flat material less than 10cm thick. So we can print on wood, metal, slate and pretty much anything you can think of.

    Direct to Media Printing

    Direct to media printing is exactly that; we print your image directly to a substrate of your choice. Be it paper, card, aluminium, Perspex, canvas, wood, slate… Our Jetrix UV inkjet flatbed printer can print on any flat surface up to 3m x 2m, less than 10cm thick. To ensure your material is suitable, we can print test prints around A4 in size.

    This is a print on adhesive vinyl. The vinyl is on a roll and 1.2m wide, but it can printed in multiple pieces in order to cover a wall.

    Vinyl Printing

    Vinyl Phototex is chosen for its high-quality Giclée finish as well as its ease of application to wall or mounting material due to its self-adhesive properties. We can print on vinyl using our direct to media printer, in strips of 1.5m x 3m and these can be applied to the wall in the fashion of wallpaper to cover a complete wall or interior.

    Mounting and framing

    Picture Frame Hire

    Picture frame hire is a great alternative to our framing service; we offer photo frame hire on a short or long-term basis, for art or photographic projects. Our range of ready-to-go picture frames, come in a range of sizes including 20 x 16, 24×20 and 30×20 inches, and are constructed to our usual high standards.

    Picture Framing

    Whether you have photographic prints or original art, our bespoke framing service provides expertly hand framed work by our talented finishing team. We have facilities to mount and frame works tup to 10ft x 6ft.

    Photo Mounting

    Photographic mounting is a great way to present your photographs for exhibitions or the home. Surfaces such as MDF and foamex are prized for durability, MDF for rigidity, Foamboard for lightweight versatility. Reverse Perspex is ideal for vibrant colours and aluminium adds a modern twist.