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Participant
May 22, 2020
Answered

Greyscale jpegs or psd images are going much darker when dropped in on indesign.

  • May 22, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 10065 views

Hello,

 

I am working on the insides of a book that is illustrated with black and white images. The illustrator, however, forgot to supply greyscale images. When I convert her CMYK images to greyscale, there is more or less no change on photoshop. However, when I drop the new image in InDesign, it is MUCH darker. I can't leave it like this because the images will print too dark and not read well. I've tried converting JPEGs and PSDs and I have the same problem when importing on indesign.

 

The colour settings appear to be the same.

 

Indesign:

(Settings) Europe General Purpose 3

(Working Spaces) RBG - sRGB IEC61966-2.1

(Working Spaces) CMYK - Coated FOGRA39 (ISO 12647-2:2004)

(Colour management policies) RGB - Preserve Embedded Profiles

(Colour management policies) CMYK - Preserve Numbers (Ignore Linked Profiles)

(Conversion Options) Engine - Adobe (ACE)

(Conversion Options) Intent - Relative Colourimetric

'Black Point Compensation' is ticked.

 

Photoshop:

All the settings are the same as on InDesign.

(Working Spaces) Gray - Dot Gain 20%

(Working Spaces) Spot - Dot Gain 20%

 

I've attached an image of how I see the image on photoshop v. how dark it gets on indesign so you can see.

Does anyone know how I can fix this? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Juliette

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer rob day

InDesign does not have grayscale color management. It displays grayscale images as they will print on the Black CMYK plate when you have Overprint Preview turned on. With Overprint turned off grayscales are displayed as sGray (2.2 Gamma), which is useful for screen only projects.

 

If you turn on Oveprint Preview the grayscales will preview using your document’s assigned CMYK profile—Edit>Assign Profiles... Here are some related threads:

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/exporting-rgb-cmyk-and-grayscale-to-print-pdf/m-p/10990825?page=1#M179498

 

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/dot-gain-or-gray-gamma/td-p/8365606?page=1

1 reply

rob day
Community Expert
rob dayCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
May 22, 2020

InDesign does not have grayscale color management. It displays grayscale images as they will print on the Black CMYK plate when you have Overprint Preview turned on. With Overprint turned off grayscales are displayed as sGray (2.2 Gamma), which is useful for screen only projects.

 

If you turn on Oveprint Preview the grayscales will preview using your document’s assigned CMYK profile—Edit>Assign Profiles... Here are some related threads:

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/exporting-rgb-cmyk-and-grayscale-to-print-pdf/m-p/10990825?page=1#M179498

 

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/dot-gain-or-gray-gamma/td-p/8365606?page=1

Participant
May 22, 2020

Hello Rob,

 

Thank you for your help. Wow! There is a massive difference when I click overprint preview (I thought I had tried it...). 

Does this mean that I can trust the overprint preview more than when it's checked off? That is the closest resemblance to when it will be printed?

 

Thanks again for your time,

 

Juliette

rob day
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 25, 2020

Hello Rob,

 

Thanks again for your time. Our printers do use Coates Fogra 39 I believe. When I go to colour settings on photoshop, and I click load gray (on CMYK or Gray working spaces) there is no option for Black Ink Coated Fogra 39. Is this something you would download off the internet?

 

Now that I am working with the Overprint Preview checked on, the greyscale images are all muted and have lost strength in the dark colour. Could I just go and add contrast to these images on photoshop? Or would changing the progile to Black Ink Coated help?

 

Thanks


When I go to colour settings on photoshop, and I click load gray (on CMYK or Gray working spaces) there is no option for Black Ink Coated Fogra 39.

 

Choose Load Gray... from Working Spaces>Gray dropdown menu, and navigate to your profiles folder and select the Coated FOGRA39 CMYK profile.

 

By default on OSX FOGRA39 should get installed in OSX/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Profiles/Recommended

 

 

When you load a CMYK profile as the Gray working space it will get a Black Ink - prefix.

 

 

Could I just go and add contrast to these images on photoshop? Or would changing the progile to Black Ink Coated help?

 

Yes. You can either Assign the Black Ink profile, and color correct as needed, or Convert to Profile using the Black Ink profile as the destination. Convert will adjust the output numbers without changing the preview. in either case it would be wise to get a contract proof of the pages before you go to press.