Best inkjet photo papers for black & white printing

Read the B&W Inkjet Primer

We put together a "basics" guide to black & white printing. You can download the PDF here or read it on this page.

Recommended Papers for Black & White Printing

The choice of paper for black & white printing is subjective and personal.  While there are guidelines for what “looks good” with grayscales, in the end the choice depends on your likes and needs. 

Red River's line of Premium Photographic inkjet media includes a number of papers popular for black & white printing. While there are no black & white specific inkjet media on the market, some are better than others at the task.

Advanced Techinques

Not included in our primer (link above) are more advanced topics like:

Black & White ICC profiles

Information and profiles by Eric Chan, scientist for Adobe Systems. Click here

3rd party all B&W ink systems

Printing, profiling, and paper information by Clayton Jones

Paul Roark is an expert at B&W printing using 3rd party ink systems. He has a wealth of in-depth information on the topic at www.paulroark.com

Even More

Using ColorMunki to get better Black & White prints by Keith Cooper

Detailed disussion of grayscale printing by Keith Cooper part 1 and part 2

Grayscale test images - downloads and info on their use here