Another colour question - Quark5.0 2

[petersjm]

Hi guys. I'm new here (and quite new to Quark, too) so please bear with me. I'm having a problem with outputting colours, for some reason. I have a file with a greyscale image in it (Quark 5.0) When I apply a CMYK 'background colour' to this image (from the palete) everything works onscreen as it should. The problem is when I print to Distiller (CMYK/600dpi). The resulting PDF all looks fine except for this one image -- it appears as a kind of dull and washed-out grey with just a hint of dark blue (the colour I selected as the background colour).

I've also tried saving as EPS and opening it in Photoshop but the image appears as the same washed-out effect.

I've deselected 'make spot' from edit/colours, and I can't think what else it could be. Would anyone happen to have a solution? I hope I've explained myself well. If not, please ask me to clarify. Your responses (and patience!) is grately appreciated Thanks.

 

[Baddoggy]

Have you saved the image as a greyscale tiff?

BD

 

[blueark]

I think I know what you're talking about. You've got a blue background with a black image on it. In reality, the black areas will be 100% black, 0% blue. The "white" areas of the original image will be 0% white, 100% blue, and mid-greys are 50% of each.

Although that may be what you think you want, it probably isn't. You really want the mid-grey to be 50% black printed over 100% blue (or close enough). In other words, you need to overprint the greyscale image over the solid blue background, but at the moment the intensity of the blue is inversely proportional to the the intensity of the black.

There are a few ways to solve this in Quark, but the easiest is simply to copy the blue color, and increase the black component to 100%. Color the greyscale image with this color instead of the default black and it should work.

 

[petersjm]

Hi BD. Yes, it's a greyscale tiff. 300dpi res, uncompressed. I read somewhere else about a 'knocked-out background colour problem' and that there was an Xtension for it, so I downloaded it -- FujiCTIF or KodakCTIF or something, can't remember it's name now; it was a free download from somewhere -- but it hasn't made a difference... Any ideas?

 

[petersjm]

Blueark, I kind of see what you're saying, but I'm a bit lost, I'm afraid. Copy the blue and do what?

I'm fine with layout in Quark (which has been my job up until now; I've never needed to colourise greyscale images and whatnot...) but once it gets all technical, my head goes all funny...

 

[blueark]

Sorry, I'm a bit tired! At the moment, you've got a greyscale tiff in a blue picture box.

1. Go to Edit > Colors...
2. Select the blue that you're using as a background color.
3. Press the "Duplicate" button
4. The Edit Color dialog appears with CMYK sliders.
5. Change the K slider to 100%
6. Give the color a name (e.g. Blue with Black)
7. Click "Ok" then "Save"
8. Now select you picture box.
9. Go to Item > Modify
10. In the "Picture" tab, change the color from "Black" to your new color ("Blue with Black")

Click OK and try creating your PDF again. Hopefully it should work!

 

[petersjm]

blueark, thanks a lot and I'm sorry if I'm tiring you out

I'll give it a try and let you know. Many thanks.

 

[petersjm]

Excellent! Blueark, I've tried your suggestion and it works perfectly! Thank you so much! Peter