Expert: LizaL - 4/10/2006

Question
PhotoShop 7.0 and Quark 6.1
I have used PS for about 5 years, however, there are a lot of things I still do not understand. I create ads for a newspaper and now they are using spot colors on some of the pages. I use CMYK or b&w 100% black. My problem is, if I insert a grayscale photo into a CMYK ad (because I need the black to be 100% black) and use one color for certain things - the photo is murky and the people who press it - get upset. So I create the ad in B&W, save as tif, insert into Quark and then have to insert the photo into the ad (in Quark) or just create the ad b&W and insert any words in color after the ad is in Quark. Hope this is not confusing. There has got to be a way that I can create an ad with spot color and have everything else true black so I do not have to do so many steps.  Can this be done?

Answer
Hi Joyce,

If I understand you correctly, you are doing everything right, and the way that I would do it. This is the way I created print material for years, including magazine covers. (The insides of most magazines are CMYK, for cost-effectiveness, since there's usually so much color, and also color ads to have to deal with.)

There are a couple of things here I'm not entirely clear on, though, concerning your workflow. You say you create the ad in b/w and save it as a TIFF. Do you do that in Photoshop? At that point does the ad contain any text? Or you only talking photos at that point? I guess I'm a little confused as to what you actually do in Photoshop. Also -- do you need to do your type in rich black, or is Pantone Black OK?

If you could clarify this, I'd appreciate it.

But in the meantime, my workflow for print material, and especially ads, is to edit and optimize the photo in Photoshop (and this step includes making it a grayscale, if the ad's specs call for that). Then I import the photo into my layout program (and I use InDesign CS now -- although I used Quark exclusively since it came out, and stopped a few years ago). Then I do any and all type in InDesign.

A couple of thoughts:
1. What do you do in terms of editing your photo in Photoshop? Channels and Levels are particularly good for sharpening and clarifying grayscale images.

2. Are you having a problem achieving a "true black" in Quark? Can you use Pantone Black? Or does your printer object to that as well?

Your workflow of dealing with the picture in Photoshop, then saving it and importing it into Quark is a preferred method of production. Page layout programs are designed to handle type -- and of course, Photoshop is not. Also, you can create PDFs from most page layout programs, and lots of printers now print from those. Another good reason for handling your workflow this way is so your picture(s) will be seperate from your type -- and if you're able to send the original page layout file itself to the printer, if there are any problems they can go in and easily make substitutions to photos or type.

Anyway, those are my thoughts -- I realize this might not solve your problem, but maybe it'll help to know you're doing it right, from what you've told me.

In the meantime, maybe you can clarify those things for me, and if you like, send me your Photoshop grayscale image and I'll see if I can "de-murk" it for you, or at least give you some tips on how to do this. It's always easier if I can see it for myself. My business email is: lizal@little-works.com

Thanks,

Lisa