Dear list, with the recent talk on using CMYK grayscale with a Heavy GCR separation - I have a link which may be of interest to some of you. This is a direct link to an action of mine which I always use when performing four colour grayscale separations.
Grayscale CMYK Heavy GCR Action Photoshop 5 action performs manual GCR in the light tonal range of a Heavy GCR Custom CMYK separation, to help ensure neutrality on press. Tested with SWOP Coated Heavy GCR CMYK, although it should be suitable for other Heavy GCR inksets and stock. http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/Grayscale_CMYK_Heavy_GCR.zip This action when used in addition to the info in the post from Lee Varis on separating with Heavy GCR should help ensure neutrality on press. Usual disclaimers apply, although there are no known issues with this action or technique. Hope this helps, Stephen Marsh. ====== Lee Varis writes: If you're after "as neutral as possible" then you should simply supply grayscale files! I assume, however, that you are after "rich black" or 4-color monochrome images because these images will be placed on the same page as regular CMYK full-color images and you don't want the b+W to look weak compared to the color. In that case you should use the custom CMYK set up in Photoshop and change the GCR setting to "Heavy" � go into the Color Settings dialog and change the CMYK workspace to �Custom�. The dialog that comes up should have default settings already set up similar to your current workspace, but you might want to check to be sure. You might want to experiment with different dot gain, black limit and total ink but the most critical thing to change from your standard defaults is the GCR setting. For B+W images that you�d prefer to reproduce as neutral as possible you should change the GCR from medium or light to heavy*. ( * the �maximum� setting will generate a full range �K� but nothing in the CMK channels) You might also want to change the dot gain setting for a slightly higher one because black ink tends to gain the most on press. Once you�ve made these changes click �OK� and you�ll return to the Color Settings dialog with your new CMYK �workspace� selected for you. You�re not really done, however, until you save your new �workspace� as a profile that you can recall whenever you need it. With your new custom CMYK workspace visible in the CMYK workspace area, select the CMYK workspace menu, scroll up and select �Save CMYK� this will save your CMYK setup as a profile that you can use again. This should help maintain neutrality in CMYK B+W images and still deliver "rich black" that is has TIC than simply 100%K - it can't guarantee that the press conditions might cause unexpected shifts in gray balance but hopefully those shifts should be minimized by this approach. regards, Lee Varis [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.varis.com 888-964-0024 =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
