Participant

Question

Black isn't black, its blue.

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
November 17, 2018
3 replies
4077 views

I just buyed Photoshop, im learning to use it, but i don't know why, black is not black, its dark blue...

How do i fix this?

This topic has been closed for replies.

D Fosse

Community Expert

I agree with Lukas - this must be a non-standard/corrupt/defective CMYK profile - so the question is which one is it.

The blue rim in the color picker screenshot could also be caused by a bad monitor profile - but the numbers are strange.

The numbers add up to 312% TAC, which is an odd number. Most other standard CMYK profiles like Web Coated SWOP or ISO Coated are 300%, while Mike's GRACoL is a 330% profile.

And of course the obvious point: don't work in CMYK in the first place. Even when appropriate, CMYK is not for beginners.

occulus.nigra

Inspiring

D F:

"...don't work in CMYK in the first place. Even when appropriate, CMYK is not for beginners."

Would you suggest this even for AI? IOW, whether AI or PS... work in RGB and then, convert to the relevant CMYK profile at the last stage before outputting for print?

This makes sense to some degree (a very, very large degree) as RGB (not sRGB) has a far wider gamut. All of which encompasses the CMYK colour space.

But, what if you know the final output will be CMYK and only CMYK? Then? Personally I feel that if we follow the RGB workflow route, it makes sense because then, if the CMYK profile changes, there is no problem in subsequent CMYK conversions...

Cheers....

ON

Lukas Engqvist

Community Expert

occulus.nigra wrote
Would you suggest this even for AI?

Producing press-ready material in Ai is not for beginners either. You need to know what you're doing.

You need to know the correct CMYK profile, the one corresponding to the actual process - the press, the paper, the ink used. Without knowing that first, the whole question is moot. Just look above, where Mike refers to GRACoL 2006, whereas the Photoshop default is US Web Coated SWOP - neither of which have any relevance in Europe, where ISO Coated of FOGRA is used. And that's just for coated paper stock.

The problem is that you can't have CMYK to CMYK conversions. That will turn K-only black into 4 color black. To do that, you need so-called Device Link profiles, which is really an expert job.

In Ai you probably need K-only, overprinting blacks, so you may need to work in CMYK from the start. If that's not a consideration - which it isn't for photographs - it's much safer to keep your masters in RGB and convert as needed.

What D Fosse says is good, working in Adobe Illustrator is trickier because of black. You dont get the separation panel in RGB, so you may need to assume what ICC profile you need and adopt a CMYK safe workflow (look at the CMYK values for the blue black) you don’t want that. Normally in technical illustrations pure K lines and bright colours trump the total colour fidelity.

C

Clara1993Author

Participant

I pressed D and this is the "black" i got

Lukas Engqvist

Community Expert

In the Lab a is 9 and b is 1 which is blue Now you are working in a CMYK document so what is your CMYK colour profile? Look in edit colour settings. (Why are you working in CMYK? It is normal practice to work in RGB even if you are working for Print and convert only to CMYK in the layout application)

If you create an RGB document is black black? I suspect you have a strange CMYK ICC profile.

Lukas Engqvist

Community Expert

If you press "D" and paint do you get black? (D is default which gives black on white). I am not seeing values and so it is difficult to say what colour you are getting but it should be fully possible to get black in photoshop. If you double click a swatch you also get to see the values could you send a screen shot of your colour picker values that give you this blue?

josephlavine

Community Expert

My question is why are you working in CMYK? You might have a perfect reason, and if so that is okay, but you'll want to take time to understand the relationship between the different color modes such as RGB and CMYK. Your settings indicate that you would NOT have a true black.

I suggest working in RGB given that you are a beginner.

Understanding Photoshop color modes

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