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My CMYK blacks all looked like dark gray until I fixed my rich black formula
I kept sending files to my local print shop in Austin and wondering why my blacks looked washed out on the final product. Turns out I was just using 100% K for everything and not adding any cyan or magenta to get a true rich black. After I switched to a 60/40/40/100 mix my prints finally match what I see on screen. Has anyone else dealt with dull blacks from bad CMYK values?
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barnes.kai13d ago
Yeah "my blacks looked washed out" is exactly what happened to me too. I think a big part of it is that default 100% K is fine for text but really falls flat for any solid black area.
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the_sage13d ago
Gotta push back on that a little. Rich black with added cyan and magenta can look muddy if the printer or RIP doesn't handle it right, especially on uncoated paper. 100% K usually looks deeper and cleaner to my eye on most offset jobs, like on matte stocks where rich blacks get that weird grayish halo. Have you noticed that happening more with digital or offset?
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