4 Replies Latest reply: Aug 4, 2011 11:54 PM by c.pfaffenbichler RSS

    Help with rich black color for print project, please

    SG51 Community Member

      We are using CS5 photoshop to create a 3ft x 8 ft vinyl banner. We've never created something this large for print before.  Included layers are a black to white gradient, a black filigree graphic from DigitalJuice, and black text (that was created in Illustrator by someone else).  We set the project up using CMYK.  The printer informed us that we need to change the blacks to rich black (C50%, M40%, Y40%, K100%).

       

      How is this best done?  I can see how to change the color picker to the rich black %, but this doesn't appear to change the blacks in the project.  Is there a way to change them, or to export the project with rich blacks?

      Do we have to begin from scratch - and if so, how do we get the graphics and gradients to the rich black color settings.

      Any help will be greatly appreciated -

        • 1. Re: Help with rich black color for print project, please
          Mylenium CommunityMVP

          That doesn't make sense. Rich black printing should be as simple as the printer flipping an option in his inkjet printer driver. Of course you can manually oversaturate the colors by adjusting the ink levels in the channel palette, but it really should not be necessary. Aside from that, naturalyl you won't see any difference on screen - black is black and it is, after all, a simulation of CMYK in RGB space and especialyl if you don't use color profiling, this is essentialyl fumbling in the dark and you could do more damgae than good....

           

          Mylenium

          • 2. Re: Help with rich black color for print project, please
            c.pfaffenbichler Community Member

            Is the layered psd-file already in CMYK?

            If so the vector- and type-elements could be adjusted properly or you could simply apply a Color Overlay with the appropriate color (fx-icon in the Layers Panel).

            The gradient you may want to change properly, though – if you should have failed to create it as a Gradient Layer let this be a lesson to do so in the future as the color-stops can be easily edited that way.

            • 3. Re: Help with rich black color for print project, please
              emil emil Community Member

              In RGB mode I can't create non - rich black. For example if I set the color palette to CMYK, choose C=0%, M=0%,Y=0%, K=100%, fill the canvas with this color, and then measure the color with the eyedropper, the color reads C=70%, M=68%, Y=64, K=74%.

              This means that if your document is in CMYK mode and you have blacks that read C=0%, M=0%,Y=0%, K=100%, converting the document to RGB and then back to CMYK these blacks will become rich. Though the numbers of the rich black my vary depending on how your color management is set.

               

              Have in mind that the numbers above preserve the tonal intensity of non-rich black when converted to rich black. If you want the numbers your printer suggested they will be fine for elements like text and flat colors but for things like photo images this will intensify the blacks and will alter the tonal balance appearance which may be not what you want.

              • 4. Re: Help with rich black color for print project, please
                c.pfaffenbichler Community Member

                If pursuing this path one should consider using (if available) a stronger GCR-version of the appropriate profile if the image is basically black and white.