Quadtone Printing
Monochrome printing using four or more black and grey inks, with colour inks disabled or minimised.
Measured in
count
In depth
Using only carbon-based greys eliminates the risk of colour crossover, where a print appears warm in the highlights and cool in the shadows under different lighting. It also removes metameric failure almost entirely, so the print looks the same in daylight and tungsten — a chronic problem with early pigment monochrome.
Examples in practice
A quadtone print viewed under daylight and under tungsten shows no shift in tone, unlike a colour-built grey.