I am very much a novice when it comes to working with printing and colour values and I am using InDesign for the first time.
I am working on an all black and white photographic magazine, which will naturally be printed with CMYK colours. I have added black and white photos exported from Adobe Lightroom with an sRGB colour profile.
For regular objects added to ID I have made a new colour swatch for rich blacks. However I've noticed the blacks on the photos and the objects with rich black (70,50,30,100) look rather dull when "Proof Colours" is selected. Especially since I will print on matte paper, I am losing a lot of deep blacks.
FYI, I have set the appearance of black on screen as 'Accurately', as well as printing/exporting as 'Accurately'.
Any way I can achieve a richer black mag?
EDIT
Reworded my question:
I know rich blacks are possible, as long as one adds some CMY to 100% K. This is easily done when adding regular shapes in InDesign by setting a new colour swatch. These blacks are richer than the blacks I am getting in my photos. I am suspecting the photos are only using K values, and none of the CMY. Would it be possible to get these rich blacks the same way as when one adds rich blacks to any shapes added in InDesign?
Answer
photos exported from Adobe Lightroom with an sRGB colour profile.
sRGB is not CMYK.
Photos should be CMYK to see color more accurately for print production. Chances are if you were to open a photo and merely convert it to CMYK, you'll see the same "dull" blacks. (And you can then adjust the photo for the desired CMYK output.)
What is happening with Proof Colors --- InDesign is converting the sRGB to CMYK for you, based upon the application's set Color Preferences and Profiles in order to preview the colors. And this typically does result in what may appear when printed via the CMYK. Rich, vibrant, RGB Blacks on screen are often impossible to pull off in CMYK with ink.
For me, if something is to be commercially printed in CMYK, then everything in InDesign is CMYK, including any linked images. I do not allow InDesign or the PDF Generate/Distiller to auto-convert colors for me.
Also with inks, a rich black of 70C50M30Y100K is a decent rich black. You really don't want to go much higher with percentages due to ink limits. So, you may have to simply deal with the fact that ink (CMYK) is never going to appear as deep and rich as light and pixel may (monitors).
"On-screen" CMYK previews are approximations. Screens can't output CMYK color, they always output RGB color. So they "fake it" for CMYK based upon color profiles. Only a color proof from a print provider will generally give an accurate representation of the final print.
Trying to match what you see on screen with a previously print piece, especially where black is concerned, is a lesson in frustration. A printed piece can be "tweaked" on press to add or remove ink, or the ink density can be changed on the press.
You could always run a spot varnish to deepen blacks more, but that may be a budget concern - especially if it's designed to be a 1 color job.
At a certain point one has to "trust the numbers" more than your eyeballs. If you know everything is set up correctly by the numbers, then you merely have to trust that the screen preview is lacking. As posted, that's a decent rich black. I assume you got those values from somewhere because you liked that appearance. But you should also be aware that every print provider can have their own preferred rich black values due to their familiarity with their own environment and machines. So, while good numbers, they may still be adjusted by a print house.
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