PSD with shadow over 100K background in InDesign

Question

If you have a PSD file, with transparency, and a drop shadow, and you're placing that over a 100K background in InDesign, how do I prevent the shadow area from printing grey? On screen, the shadow looks darker than the background (which is what I want). Build-wise, the shadow looks like about C:45, M:45, Y:45, K:93.

I've toyed with just about all the variables I could think of:

with RGB and CMYK PSD files, in a CMYK InDesign document
Transparency Blend Space
Choosing PDF/X-3 and flattening a High Resolution.
Choosing a custom Flattening profile with the slider all the way the "raster" direction.
Choosing PDF/X-4 to let the RIP handle the transparency.

How do I make the shadow print darker than the background? How do I get that PSD to overprint or at least blend correctly with the background, so the shadow prints darker? This is a common problem...I see stuff printing like this, alot.

Thanks!

rob day · Accepted Answer

As others have noted a Photshop Blending Mode doesn’t get applied to InDesign objects below, you have to work with the Blend Mode set to Normal.

But, you should be able to get the effect you are looking for without multiplying. You could get the Photoshop shadow to overprint a 100% [Black] InDesign fill by working in CMYK mode and setting the drop shadow color to a rich black mix—here I'm using 70|55|55|100:

Placing the drop shadow in ID over a 100% black fill, and Separations Preview shows the shadow’s CMY values are overprinting. Here I'm sampling the shadow area:

Hiding the Black channel:

Scott Falkner · Answer

Layer blending modes are used to create the composite image you import in InDesign, but that image can only have one blending mode. The Multiply blending mode you want for the drop shadow won't apply where it overlaps objects in InDesign, so you have to treat is as a seperate image to apply a different blending mode than that applied to the main image.

In Photoshop rasterize the shadow effect so it is a new layer.

In InDesign place the image with shadow. Go to Object > Layer Options and hide the drop shadow layer. Duplicate the object with no offset (easiest way is to use Option/Alt plus any arrow key to make a duplicate then use the opposite arrow key with no modified to move the duplicate back to its original position). Go to Object > Layer Options and show only the drop shadow. Set the transparency mode to Multiply then go to Object > Arrange > Send Backward.

Now you have the image placed twice, so I would select both images and group them.

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