Adjusting "black" background in customer art - help?

[JoeBoomer]

Hello team,

Q: I have artwork from client that has a background color embedded into the image. They want a pure black by (0,0,0,100k). However they gave me flattened eps files. They do not have layered art.

Problem is, the background is like (40,60,40,70) or something. Obviously when I print the background comes out brownish. Anyone have any tips for adjusting he background? There is some gradient that kind of fades into background, so it's not just a simple color replacement.

Any tips?

File is CMYK Eps.

 

[redbarn]

what art program are you working in?

 

[WI]

Yikes.

100k is probably going to give you pretty bad results, too. I've had pretty good luck with 70C / 50M / 30Y / 100K on solvent inkjets in general. Ideally you want to find out what the TAC limit of your substrate is and blah blah blah, but if you don't want to open that can of worms, I don't blame you.

I gather your file is just a raster image, so you can take it in to Photoshop and monkey around with the levels / curves until you get the background to about the values that you want. The problem is that you're also going to slightly (or not so slightly) change every other color in the image with this approach. Be cautious.

Your best option is probably to call the customer back and ask for a layered file, or the original vector artwork, or whatever, so that you can pull out exactly the elements you need and fiddle with those specific numbers. They'll tell you that they don't have the files, but trust me, someone's got them.

Good luck.

 

[Bigcat_hunter]

You could just rasterize it at a high DPI and select the black using "select color range" in photoshop and change it to black.

 

[J Hill Designs]

You could just rasterize it at a high DPI and select the black using "select color range" in photoshop and change it to black.

+1

magic wand all of the black, feather it some, fill with correct black

 

[JoeBoomer]

- Working in Photoshop & Illustrator.
- File is raster image
- Talked with designer (large marketing firm) and of course they do not have layered files.

I'm kind of a jack of all trades , master of none. So my photoshop skills are really only used when I have to. I plan on jumping into Photoshop and trying to magic wand the "bad black" and delete it so that my back layer shows through.

 

[xxaxx]

you can either magic wand or select color range for ok results ... or if the main image isn't too complex, you can trace it with the pen tool and make a selection from the mask for probably the most clean result. Takes a bit longer but doesn't give you the aliasing that the others can give.

 

["Deposit Please"]

..there are many many ways to do this in photoshop, some better than others ,but the approach you take depends on the artwork at-hand. Would you like to share the pic??

 

[API]

+1 Photoshop color range and then adjust the amount you want selected using the slider. Create new layer and fill with 50,40,20,100 black. Turn the layer visibility on and off to see if you really hammered anything else in the art. If nothing looks out of place then you are good. If something is hammered throw layer away and repeat using a lesser value when selecting color range.

 

[MrSalumi]

- Talked with designer (large marketing firm) and of course they do not have layered files.

Any designer should have layered files.. Press harder for them or tell them they'll be paying $75.00/HR for you to rework it.. In my opinion, they are being lazy..

 

[JoeBoomer]

I guess this brings a different issue to light. I typically use: 0,0,0,100k for my blacks with "PROFILES OFF" in Onyx RIP. Or 40,40,40,100k if I have to choose "Profiles ON" in Onyx. I'm obviously a dumb-@55 when it comes to color management and those values are from trial and error in the past.

So should I be going for a:

50,40,20,100 or 70,50,30,100? It seems like those colors come out "brownish" when printed.

I'll be posting about my profiling knowledge (lack-there-of) later today

Equipment: HP L26500 Latex Printer, Onyx 10.2 RIP, Adobe Suite 5

 

[WI]

- Talked with designer (large marketing firm) and of course they do not have layered files.

Large marketing firm? Oh then they definitely have layered files.

 

[John Butto]

As they told you, magic wand, took your pic in Photoshop and it worked out using that method.

 

[Gino]

You can fix the black, if that's what they/you want, but I think you need to get the hot dog looking like it's not flying across the page and not a part of the whole composition more so.

You can fix the charcoals too, if you'd like, but at least the hot dog appears as if it belongs.

This was about a two minute fix.​

​

 

[Gino]

About another minute or so.... working on the coals.

​

 

[API]

Another quick fix is to switch the image from CMYK to RGB and then back to CMYK. This will create a 4 color black but uses photoshop's default values for black. Depending on your printer and profile may look like a strong black but may still look brownish. Trial and error is the best way to find out which black works best for your printer and profile. 50,40,20,100 has been what we have been using for 10-15 years and is just a habit.

 

[p3]

lol the comment above reminds me of an old spice commercial look at your man, now back at me, now switch to RGB, now back to CMYK.

anyway. This was a really really easy fix. Maybe I should offer a video on how to do this. I would have done it the same way with "select > color range" and feather it so it blends nicely.