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chascan42
Participating Frequently
December 30, 2016
Answered

How do you print CMYK separations in black?

  • December 30, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 3797 views

I have a color JPEG photograph that I separated into CMYK channels. I have an Epson Photo R2880 Printer (8 color cartridges). I am using Photoshop CC that I just installed. (2017.0.1 Release).

When I print, I select Separations in the Color Handling dropdown of the Color Management panel, with "Normal Printing".

This causes the printer to print out a page for each channel. (4 pages, as expected.)

However, each separation page has what appears to be a sepia or brown cast along with the black. What I expected was just a solid (grayscale) black image, with no color.

As an experiment, I saved the JPEG photo file as a Photoshop format file, re-ran the separations, and printed the separations from that file. I got the same color results. I also saved a single channel to a file and converted it to grayscale. When I printed it, it also had a color cast to it.

Is there some setting I am missing, or is there another issue here, of which I am unaware.

The essence of my question is how do I force Photoshop to print each separated channel in black only?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer gener7

    In that case, set your Epson to "Black and White" and see how that works.

    3 replies

    A
    ASDRUBAL_VALENTE6383
    Participant
    October 8, 2024

    I had the same problem, even when printing black and white images on my epson 9900, the black always came out in a sepia tone. I never could solve the problem, I wrote to Epson (terrible service) they did not solve the problem, I used different rip types and I could not solve it either. I think what happens is that the inks get old and get damaged (in my case I think it was the photoblack ink). I recommend that you change the black inks and debug the printer a little so that the new ink starts to come out. Don't waste money and time calling technicians because they won't fix the problem. I hope this information is helpful. Regards

      Theresa J
      Community Expert
      Theresa JCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 31, 2016

      I did a quick google search and came up with this youtube video that I think does what you are asking. Basically you print to a Postscript file, convert to PDF which creates a page for each channel. Then you convert each of those to a bitmap tiff in Photoshop.

      Print Color Separation Halftones WITHOUT RIP Software - YouTube

        gener7
        Community Expert
        gener7Community Expert
        Community Expert
        December 31, 2016

        I would guess you could go into your printer settings and select "Black and White" to keep your color cartridges from simulating black.

        I am by no means a print professional, but aren't color separations for commercial offset type presses that use separate CMYK plates for printing?

        Do Epson (Inkjet printers) print nice half tone films for color separation? - Quora

        "Inkjet printers are wholly unsuitable for colour-separation purposes, no matter how ‘high end’ the printer or the substrate material may be.

        Take your computer files to an “output company” for the colour-sep plate output."

        C
        chascan42Author
        Participating Frequently
        December 31, 2016

        Yes, color separations are used for commercial offset type presses.

        They are also used for small manual lithography presses, which is what I have. I want to manually print color photographs I have taken, using manual color print processes.

        Hence, the need to produce color separations and to burn each individual color plate.

        gener7
        Community Expert
        gener7Community ExpertCorrect answer
        Community Expert
        December 31, 2016

        In that case, set your Epson to "Black and White" and see how that works.

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