Skip to main content
M
Mezamashi2010
Participant
January 17, 2021
Question

black and white image get dark in Indesign and when I export in pdf

  • January 17, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 1537 views

Hi, I have an Indesign document with black and white images. The images have an ICC profile made like this: CMJN Fogra39 and then grey level, registered in TIF. In photoshop, images are perfect. Convert in JPEG for web, images are still nice online.

But in Indesign, all images looks very dark. When I export the Indesign document in PDF for printing, and when I look at the PDF, images come back lighter. But I need as well a PDF document for web, and when I read the PDF online, images are back very dark. I've tryed many different PDF settings, but images still stay dark. What should I do ? Thanks !

2 replies

T
Tanguy5CA5
Participant
March 1, 2025

hey did you find the solution ^^

Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
Community Manager
March 3, 2025

Hi @Tanguy5CA5,

 

As @c.pfaffenbichler mentioned, check if your images are true grayscale TIFFs and not CMYK with only black ink. 

A few things you can try: In Photoshop, make sure your images are in Grayscale mode (Image > Mode > Grayscale) and save them as TIFFs with the profile embedded. In InDesign, check that the Working Gray profile matches the one from Photoshop (Edit > Color Settings). When exporting PDFs, use PDF/X-4 with No Color Conversion for print and Interactive PDF with sRGB for web. Also, try opening the PDF in Adobe Acrobat, as some viewers handle grayscale differently.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you need more details or if you're seeing something different. Moreover, please provide more details about your scenario. Looking forward to your update! 

 

^

Abhishek

    T
    Tanguy5CA5
    Participant
    March 11, 2025

    hey Abhishek

     

    many thanks for your help. Unfortunately, I tried all, and it doesn't work... The strange fact is my pics are darker directly in the indesign file, not only in the export

    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    c.pfaffenbichlerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 17, 2021

    To clarify: Are the images placed in the indd grayscale tiffs or CMYK tiffs with content only in the black channel? 

    M
    Mezamashi2010Author
    Participant
    January 18, 2021

    Hi, I'm not sure to understand well your question, (english is not my language), but images are CMYK grayscale. (photoshop : convert in profil CMYK FOGRA 39 and then grayscale, register as tiff, and then import in Indd). I don't know what is the difference with grayscale tiff...Thanks for your help !

    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    c.pfaffenbichlerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 18, 2021

    Could you please post a screenshot of one image open in Photoshop with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Channels, Options Bar, …) visible and teh Status Bar set to »Document Profile«? 

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices