Printing grey in color space

I'm REALLY hoping someone can help me at least find a direction to go in. I'm creating images in Photoshop and printing to a Xerox solid ink printer. If I print in greyscale everything is fine, but if I have an image that has both color and B&W portions, the greys come out green (or brown depending on whether I print from CMYK or RGB). Is there any way to have a portion of an image in a color space and others in greyscale?
Any tips on what I might try as far as the printer? If I print CMYK the greys come out really green but all the other colors are good. If I print RGB the greys come out browner (which is a little better), but other colors get muddy.
Is there any way to get a printer to stop trying to "interpret" greys as a color when in a color mode?
Thank you very much for anyone who can help.

One solution would be to run the paper through the printer twice, once for
color and again for grayscale.
If that is not practical, my first suggestion would be to adjust your
printouts for as neutral a result as possible. This can be done either in
Photoshop, or in the printer driver itself, using the individual color
sliders that are provided in the printer settings. Sometimes it is better
to aim for an overall warm or cool appearance, rather than try to get a
perfect neutral across the entire range.
Here's a test strip and a procedure for doing this with a minimum of time
and paper:
http://curvemeister.com/downloads/TestStrip/digital_test_strip.htm
Photoshop also provides printer "transfer" curves for adjusting the output
of the individual CMY colors - this is a somewhat archaic interface,
originally intended for PostScript printers. They do provide more control
than the manufacturer's slider adjustments, so there you may find it useful
in your situation.
If you will be doing much of this sort of thing, you may find it worthwhile
to experiment with having a custom profile made for your printer. The
procedure involves printing out a test image and sending it in to be
measured, after which you receive a profile. Cathy's is a good, reasonably
priced service with a good reputation http://www.cathysprofiles.com/ . You
may want to combine the custom profile with a final manual adjustment to
get clean neutrals.

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What did Epson tech support tell you?
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OSX Print dialogue's Color Matching "Automatic" option - what's it actually doing?

I'm trying to understand OSX's colour management options clearer. It seems that the Print dialogue's default option for Color Matching is set to "Automatic". Is this as good as no colour management, because a specific profile isn't selected or is it actually using a default profile?
To stop the OSX driver from colour correcting my file and leave it to the printer manufacturer's driver you should set it to the other option (eg. eg. “Vendor Matching” (10.5) and “In Printer” (10.6) - or depends on what printer you have chosen) and then save a preset. Not everyone thinks to do this so that's why I'm interested in knowing exactly what the "Automatic" option is doing.
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I understood your note to say that when "Color Matching" is set to ColorSync: Automatic the images in the file will first be converted through the monitor profile (in my case I'm currently using the "canned" LCD Display profile), then through the printer's profile (I have a desktop Fuji Xerox DocuPrint C1110B), correct?
Correct. Let's say you're using the working RGB color space of Adobe RGB in Photoshop. At all times, that color is being translated to the monitor color space by ColorSync for the rendition that is actually displayed. The file itself remains Adobe RGB, but that's not your monitor's profile, so it needs to be continuously converted for display.
When you print the image, the first thing ColorSync does is convert the color space from Adobe RGB to your monitor profile (all with temporary data, not to the original). Now the image is in the color space you were viewing, which is where is needs to be since the idea is for the print to match the monitor color you are looking at. But the printer is not a monitor, so the monitor profile color space the data is currently in is not correct for printing. So it goes through a second conversion from the monitor color space to the printer profile's color space. That is what finally gets sent to the printer.
This is where any automatic color correction must be off. You've already told ColorSync to use the proper profiles to achieve a print that will match the monitor as closely as possible. This assumes of course you have accurate profiles for both your monitor, and the printer with the paper being used.
As a further test, I then ColorSync to the AdobeRGB(1998) profile and made a new ps file. The RGB values in the distilled PDF were still the same as the Word doc.
That's what throws people off. An RGB value isn't a specific color. It's a representation of where that RGB value falls in relation to *L*A*B. So a fully saturated red of 255,0,0 will look different in a short color space as opposed to a larger space. Here's an example (see image below). I have two different profiles overlapping each other. The red point circled in green is the most saturated red that can be attained in relation to *L*A*B in that smaller color space. The point circled in yellow is that larger space's most saturated red. In both cases (the confusing aspect), both will assign 255,0,0 to that point, but one would obviously be a richer red than the other. Think of it this way. 255,0,0 is the maximum color space that particular color space (profile) can handle within *L*A*B. It's not necessarily the maximum red we can see in the visible color spectrum.
So, your converted files look the same because ColorSync is generating the color based on your monitor profile for display. Since that's always the same, the color will look the same, regardless of the input RGB profile. At least as long as you don't use a really small RGB space as an assigned color space and squeeze it down to some noticeably dull color.
I'm a trainer for Fuji Xerox and am writing a course for our Mac users on Colour Management (in particular for our high-end production RIPs (Fiery/Creo/FreeFlow) with serious colour management being applied).
Fun! I've been doing prepress work as as in-home business for quite a few years now, but worked in a couple of different high end print shops for many years. Last thing I used on that end was a Scitex Brisque RIP. As I'm sure you know, Creo bought out Scitex. I'm sure RIPs have changed a lot since I last looked at one.
I only discovered the other day that the Mac OS has the "Color Matching" option and wondered if the OS was in any way bending the colour values before our RIPs have a chance to properly manage the colours. So far it looks like the setting is not having any impact.
It all depends on where your settings are on both the Mac and at the RIP. Too long of an explanation to go into here I think.
As a further note, I even tried setting ColorSync to the "Generic CMYK" profile and the distilled PDF still showed the correct RGB values. So, maybe the print to PDF option is ignoring the Color Matching settings or something else is at play but this setting is still a mystery to me...
ColorSync will only apply matching profiles on the fly. So something would already have to by CMYK before it would apply the Generic CMYK profile. Which no one in their right mind would ever use. It's the flattest, ugliest CMYK profile you will ever see.

I have a problem with color prints from photoshop elements 12. The pictures are too light and with strange colors. I have a Canon pixma mg615I0 printer and use mac os X yosemite. The pictures are taken with a coanon eos 550d in the color space sRGB. I hav

Hi
I have a problem with color prints from photoshop elements 12. The pictures are too light and with strange colors. I have a Canon pixma mg615I0 printer and use mac os X yosemite. The pictures are taken with a coanon eos 550d in the color space sRGB. I have followed adobes recommendations and have tried both letting the printer respektive photoshop manage the colors. But nothing works. I see that there are different opinions about which is best to do so I tried both. I have the latest printer driver installed. Can anyone help me with this?

Do the following:
Print a test page from the printer. Perhaps the print head needs cleaning via its maintenance facility.
Let the printer manage colors, not PSE
Calibrate the monitor

For P.O.D. Printing: How to Set Adobe RGB Color Space

Hello and thanks in advance,
(I'm using InDesign CS 5.5 on a Mac.)
I need to set the proper PDF export settings
For printing a book on demand, with color drawings inside on the text pages.
The onnly instructions that I have been able to find, say this:
"Submit your graphics in the Adobe RGB color space, withprofile embedded."
The Big Question: How do I do that ?
I know enough to start with
File --> Adobe PDF Presets --> Press Quality
Then I click on the "Output Menu"
and here's where I start to get lost.
for
Color Conversion ...
I think I should select "Convert to Destination"
for
Destination
I think it should be "Adobe RGB (1998)"
Now in order to embed this profile,
What should I select under:
Profile Inclusion Policy ?
And is there anything else I should be doing to get these inside color images printing nicely ?
Thanks again,
IthacaAuthor (aka ZorbaTheGeek, but the forum would not let me log in with my old screen name)

Virtually all digital printing is done via either PostScript or PDF. In the former case, the PDF is converted to PostScript viat use of Acrobat and in the latter case, the PDF is sent directly to the digital printer.
In either case, CMYK is in fact the actual destination color space. There are no real RGB printers!!! What is true is that non-PostScript / non-PDF printers (typically low end laser and inkjet printers as well as specialized inkjet and dye sublimation photo printers) do take in RGB via drivers and convert that to CMYK, but I don't believe that is what you are dealing with.
Our recommendation at Adobe for best printing results, whether for offset or digital printing, is to export PDF as PDF/X-4 with no color conversion using the default CMYK color space (SWOP CMYK) or if instructed otherwise by your print service provider, one of the other CMYK color spaces provided by Adobe or by the print service provider themselves. FWIW, most on-demand digital print devices do have settings to fully emulate SWOP CMYK printing conditions. Using PDF/X-4 in this manner allows the existing color content in your InDesign document to be properly tagged in the output PDF file and converted to CMYK at the digital printing device's RIP.
(It might also assist us if you can provide a pointer to the explicit instructions provided by your print service provider.)
- Dov

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I work at a print shop (using Windows 7 and Adobe Acrobat X) and often receive PDFs from customers that were created from PowerPoint. These PowerPoint PDFs often present a printing issue when there are black objects in the file.
On screen, there will be only one consistent shade of black but when the document is printed, it becomes evident that there are actually two different blacks in the file, one darker than the other.
I have done a lot of online research (including these forums) in an attempt to find a complete solution that will always work for these problem-files but have yet to find one.
I know that the issue stems from the fact that PowerPoint uses RGB colors and not CMYK like printers but trying to manually convert color spaces in Adobe Acrobat Pro to be uniform did not help. Whether I convert the entire document's color space to CMYK or just individual objects, I always get the two shades of black when printing. Can anyone explain why this isn't working for me?
I have used the Output Preview tool to determine that the two blacks in the documents are almost always C0-M0-Y0-K100 and C75-M68-Y67-K90. I have read that a custom Preflight fix can be created to seek out all instances of one black and convert it to the other but I did not have success when trying this method. I must be doing something wrong. After running my fix, I always get a message about how no issues are found. If someone can post a step-by-step guide on how to create a Preflight fix that will resolve this issue, I would really appreciate it.
I have uploaded three sample PDFs that I'm currently working with. Please feel free to review and troubleshoot them. My goal is to uncover a solution that I can apply to all three files to get them to print with one consistent black.
https://workspaces.acrobat.com/?w=j3nHuvLCo9XWHliKEpNX-A
Thank you all so much in advance for any insight you can offer.

So sorry about that. I have Published all three files now so they should be accessible to the public.
ColorSpace1.pdf
https://workspaces.acrobat.com/?d=W9QuI9UZSYRmGYnvoaS44w
ColorSpace2.pdf
https://workspaces.acrobat.com/?d=-AQHyT*HMSawAW-swQ9SVA
ColorSpace3.pdf
https://workspaces.acrobat.com/?d=DWuc0Dp-M8SKqnX6mTNnfw
Thank you for the reply!

Color Space Question For Printing

I have multiple newbie questions so please bear with me
Normally when working in photoshop, I tend to use the RGB color space as I need the use of filters and other effects not available in CMYK, Now when printing flyers E.g A4 Sized I tend to save the PSD in RGB (Without Flattening) and then importing it into a CMYK color space in illustrator and then exporting as a PDF, as illustrator gives me the option to create bleed as well as trim marks, I have never exported a PDF from photoshop as it always gives me the option of photoshop pdf which is kinda heavy.
My question is, is the process I use okay for printing? or do I first need to convert it into CMYK? or just export from photoshop itself? Also, the other reason I use illustrator is if i'm making a business card with two sides, since text is better exported from illustrator.
Could anyone tell me a simpler process for creating for digital print? Especially if I need to do some items in illustrator as well.

>> images are still a bit washed out with a warmish/ yellow cast to them, particularly, my black and white images
Here is a simple test to help evaluate if the monitor profile is reasonably good:
Open a RGB file in Photoshop (flatten if not already flattened).
Press M key> Drag a selection> Com+Shift+U (Desaturate).
Com+Z (to toggle back and forth).
If the unsaturated selection looks neutral you've got a reasonably fair monitor profile.
If selection has color casts (not neutral) -- you have a bad monitor profile
+++++
Here is a simple test to help evaluate if a bad monitor profile is whacking out your Photoshop color:
Monitors/Displays (control panel)> Color> highlight AppleRGB or sRGB (don't run Calibrate), quit and reboot.
If the Photoshop colors are back under control, then the problem was most surely a bad monitor profile go back into Monitors/Displays> Color and Calibrate a good profile highlight (load) sRGB, or preferably, the monitor's OEM profile as a starting point.
If you are using a puck, it is likely defective; or your monitor hardware is the culprit...search it on Google by model number

Color space-creating a book in My publisher-.when I look at the share book pre print the colors are all dulled out. I work in pro photo rgb in LR and PS -.My Pub is sRGB-.where is the problem?

Color space…creating a book in My publisher….when I look at the share book pre print the colors are all dulled out. I work in pro photo rgb in LR and PS ….My Pub is sRGB….where is the problem?

I finally got to my references. This had to do with "soft proofing" on screen in Photoshop.
So this may not help you at all. Re: Strange sRGB soft-proofing behavior So go ahead and leave that setting at Basic.
However there is a Color Management forum that you also go to and see if anyone has answers for your particular problem.
Here is the link: Color management
I hope they can help you out.
Gene

Print grey color from HP 6700 wireless using new iPad3

Thank you for your prompt reply about printing grey color on HP OJ 6700, sorry, I forgot to mention, I was trying to print using my new iPad, which is IOS5, I will also set up my laptop using Windows7 as per your suggestion! Thank you!

Hi irenew777,
In order to print in greyscale or black & white from your Apple iOS device: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, you have to find an app that supports that feature.
The ActivePrint app supports black & white printing.
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-Printing-Questions/Printing-in-Black-and-White-From-Ipad2/td-p/85...
Let me know if this helps.
Say "Thanks" by clicking the blue Kudos Star in the post that helped you.
Please mark the post that solves your problem as "Accepted Solution"; therefore, it's easier for others to find.
I am an HP employee.

Grey colored space on right and bottom of Flex application

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Reset the page zoom on pages that cause problems.
*<b>View > Zoom > Reset</b> (Ctrl+0 (zero); Cmd+0 on Mac)
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Zoom_text_of_web_pages
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Aperture, Color Space, Printing, Oh My!

Any help with these is greatly appreciated. I've read countless articles and forums, only to be left with these questions because no one can answer them.
1) In RAW only if I want to print with my B9180 and process in Aperture, does the in-camera color space settings even matter? I do use soft-proofing in Aperture for the HP papers I use. Everything I read about it says Adobe RGB in-camera should be used when making your own prints at home, but they are always referring to printing from within Photoshop, but I don't use PS, so I'm confused about this with Aperture.
2) Now, what if I shot JPGs? Will in-camera color space matter in this same scenario (Aperture, B9180 printing at home)?
3) Using Aperture in a JPG workflow, does the application see the in-camera color space I selected or does Aperture have its own color space? Or is it selected based on the soft-proofing profile I use?

Henrik,
That's an awful lot of words but none of it gets at the day to day use of the program or really provides and answer for the original poster of the thread.
Yes, of course a soft proof is a simulation. That's why it's a soft proof. It's also never going to match the output exactly. It can't.
Strip away all the science under the hood as it relates to soft-proofing in Aperture (part of Jerry's question #3) and the questions are:
What is this?
When should I use it?
How do I use it?
What? It's a way of getting a sense of how your image will look when output. It requires that you are working on a calibrated monitor and you need an output profile in order to use it. It will never match your output 100%. It cannot due to screen vs. paper, how the color on each is created, gamut and contrast of each, etc.
When? In Aperture you should work on your image with "Onscreen Proofing" turned off. Why? because you should work your images as best possible without initial regard for the output. It may end up being output for different uses in the future (screen, inkjet print, offset printed, etc.) You can use Aperture's "Onscreen Proofing" if you want get a sense of how your image will look when output. You don't have to, just like you don't have to in Photoshop. If all you are doing is outputting to an in-house inkjet printer you could just make a test print via color managed printing, see how it looks, and then adjust as needed. But if you want to get sense of what's what and whether you need to make any changes before you hit "print" then you can do the soft proof. The soft-proof would also be helpful heading off issues if you are not printing in-house (again, assuming you have a correct output profile.)
How? In Aperture to get a sense of how the output will be you need to select your output profile in View>Proofing Profile and then turn on Onscreen Proofing, View>Onscreen Proofing. Now, you can turn on and off the proofing feature to get a sense of how the image will be reproduced. If your image is not soft-proofing as you expected or want you can create a duplicate of the image file. Then alter that to bring the image as close as possible to the feel of the non-proofed image. This is similar to Photoshop where you can "Proof Setup" and the duplicate your image and/or create additional image layers to bring the image more in line with your intention or expectation.
Jerry - FWIW, I know you posted about an HP printer in another thread. See the comments here,
http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2007/02/13/insideaperturepodcast-9.html . There seem to be some HP printer based issues with regard to Onscreen proofing. This link also has a podcast with Joe Schorr, Apple's Senior Product Manager for Aperture, specifically about color management and onscreen proofing in Aperture.
Jon Roemer
site: http://www.jonroemer.com/
blog: http://jonroemer.typepad.com/jon_roemer/

Lightroom's 4 color "spaces"

I’m working on designing an advanced photography course. This course makes use of Lightroom and Photoshop in the photographic workflow.
I’m learning and researching myself as I go along, and I feel I have reached a ceiling on what I can work out from the sources at my disposal thus far.
So I am turning here for help.
I am trying to clarify how tones and colours are affected from the actual scene through to the printed page. This might seem like overkill to some. However, there is a lot of misunderstanding and confusion, not to mention heated discussions amongst photographers about these issues. I’m experimenting with metering and colour / tone targets and my calculations are only meaningful if I understand how tones and colours are affected at every stage of the workflow.
Here’s how I understand it:
There are 4 (sort of) Colour “spaces” in Develop where a real-time dynamic preview of an image is rendered
1.       The “viewing space” (ProPhotoRGB Chromaticity co-ordinates, sRGB gamma)
2.       The “computational space” (ProPhotoRGB chromaticity co-ordinates, linear gamma – “MelissaRGB”)
(Martin Evening’s Lightroom 3 book published by Adobe press - Appendix B, section on color space page 628-632)
Below that, things get a little fuzzy. According to Jeff Schewe (Real World Camera RAW for CS5, page 32) there is a sort of
3.            “Native Camera Space” and of course there is the
4.            RAW data in the file on disk.
So to generate the dynamically rendered preview, the image goes through the four “layers” as follows (from bottom to top). This is almost certainly flawed, but one has to start somewhere when trying to work things out :-)
1. The RAW file is read from disk. Colorimetric interpretation is performed using a camera profile (e.g. Adobe Standard for whatever camera it is you are using). This process puts the image data into “Native camera space” (“Plotted” onto CIE XYZ with D50 white point)
2. In “Native camera space, the scene white balance (as selected by user, guessed by Lightroom or reported by camera) as well as additional camera calibration panel matrix tweaks “informs” the colorimetric conversion into Lightroom’s “computational space” e.g. Melissa RGB. The colorimetric definition of camera RGB primaries and white is re-DEFINED. The demosaicing as well as chromatic aberration corrections are performed in “native camera space”
3. Almost all image processing calculations occur computationally in the “MelissaRGB Lightroom computational space”
4. What is displayed on the screen, however, has an sRGB tone curve applied. This represents the “viewing” space. The histogram is generated from this and the RGB colour percentage readouts are generated from this as well. In addition, some slider controls from user input are weighted back through the tone curve into the computational space below.
Could someone from Adobe kindly help me to clarify the steps? Eric are you reading this? :-)
Thanks in advance

Sandy - Thanks for the link. The spreadsheets you posted on your site is quite helpful.
Jao – I think what you said goes to the heart of what I am trying to achieve here: “Photograph a grey target at the exact same exposure with the exact same lighting but with different cameras and you'll end up with different values in the raw files” Which is why I encourage photographers to experiment with their cameras in order to understand exactly how the camera will respond in the heat of a real shoot. Set up a scene; take a picture, open in Lightroom. What is clipped and why? Use a reflective spot meter. Repeat. Use a hand held incident meter. Repeat. How much can you reliably recover? Are you happy with what your meter considers the mid-point (and what you set your exposure for on the camera) or do you need to compensate? Just how much latitude do you have between what your camera histogram shows as a blown out highlight and what Lightroom shows as a blown out highlight. This relates to tone. I could go on with more examples, but by now, I am (hopefully) making more sense.
I’m merely trying to clarify that which is already public in order to form a coherent mental picture. And by mental picture I do not mean an accurate representation of the minutiae and maths involved. Think of a subway map. It represents a bird’s eye view of a transportation system in a logical fashion, yet it bears almost no resemblance to the cartographical reality of the physical topography. I really don’t care where the tunnels go, how they were dug, how they are maintained or where they twist and turn. What I AM looking for is a logical (not physical) map. This map tells me where the different lines begin and end, and where I can change from one line to the other. The most important quality of the map as a whole is that it provides context. You can tell, at a glance, how different lines interact with each other and even how it links to other entities such as bus stations or public landmarks.
As many have rightfully pointed out, I should not have to care about the maths/secret sauce/internal calculations. And I don’t. In addition, I am a very happy Lightroom user and I am very comfortable using it. I know what a user needs to know to get his picture from A to B. There is no shortage of information on how to accomplish that.
It might help if I illustrate what I am trying to do below:
Please excuse the low resolution, the maximum height allowed for upload is 600 pixels. The picture below goes on the bottom left of the "layer" picture above.
Even though there are certainly many mistakes in my diagram, this is a helpful visualisation. I derived this diagram from publicly available information. As the subway map, this is a logical (not physical) representation that provides context in a visual form. With a little help from people like Eric I am sure I can correct and expand it. The net result is an enhanced understanding of Lightroom and ACR and where it fits into the photographic process, both in terms of tone and colour.
I am not posting the entire chart here since I am not even certain that a 4 “layered” representation is an appropriate logical representation. I posted the spine of the chart with the 4 “layers” and one part that elaborates on the colorimetric interpretation between the two bottom layers. Comments and corrections are welcomed. And I am convinced that this can be accomplished without divulging anything confidential.

Color space problems

Somewhere the colors seem to get messed up. Viewing in LR and Photoshop the skin tones look pink but when viewing in windows photo gallery on computer or typepad site the skin tones are grey. I have LR and Photoshop set to ProPhoto rgb 16 bit resolution 240, monitor calibrated with spyder 3 and exporting file setting is procolor rgb. Does anyone know what's wrong? Where are my settings getting messed up. It really is messing with my editing b/c I keep trying to put more pink in b/c I know it'll print and web view more grey than I see it in LR/cs3. Very frustrating. At this point I'm afraid to edit any photos b/c nothing is what it seems.
thx for any advice.

>and exporting file setting is procolor rgb. Does anyone know what's wrong?
Yes. You're using prophotoRGB. The other apps you mention are not color managed and thus do not understand the prophotoRGB profile. You need to use the sRGB color space and even then will you see small differences if your screen is correctly calibrated and profiled. Non-managed apps (internet explorer and such) always lie to you color wise, even if you calibrate your screen. Read this excellent (but long) article on this: http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/color-spaces-page1 If your images are meant for web viewing, ALWAYS use sRGB.
Also consider using a managed browser. Safari is one and Firefox (
using the secret setting) is another. Flash galleries will not be color managed even in those programs however.

Watermark, color space, and transparency problem

I'm having a problem with inserting a watermark image into my pdfs.
I created the watermark image in Photoshop. It is 8-bit gray with a transparent background. I saved it as a pdf (pdf 1.4 to allow transparency).
The main pdfs (to be watermarked) are created through a seperate process (they are scans of old book pages). The pdfs are produced from 8-bit gray tiff images, but I cannot determine what color space the these pdfs are.
To the problem: in Acrobat 9, when I insert the watermark above, all of the blacks on the page shift to grey, as if the opacity was shifted lower. The opacity is set to 100%, so this should not be a problem! The watermark does have a transparent background, though.
Since this seems to be a color space conflict, if I save the watermark PDF in CYMK or RGB, it does not cause the tonal shift (blacks remain true), but the watermark now has an opaque background. I need it to be transparent, as the background of the files to be watermarked are not tonally consistent (old discolored paper).
I guess these are my questions:
(1) Is there any way to determine the color space of a PDF? File->Properties does not list color space.
(2) Why does the watermark PDF, saved in CYMK or RGB, not allow a transparent background? Is this an Acrobat issue or color space?
(3) Does anyone have an idea on how to solve this? :)
Thanks a bunch.

First, I have 2 questions: 1) How do the color and watermark background look when you have Advanced > Print Production > Output Preview open? 2) What version of Acrobat are you working in?
The most common reason that people see an almost "washed out" appearance (or looking as though additional opacity is applied) is due to a bug in Acrobat 8. This was fixed in the 8.1 dot release. One way to determine if this is what you are running into is to view the file with the Output Preview dialog open. If it views correctly then, make sure you have the update installed.
I don't work with watermarks, but understanding the general concept of watermarks it seems like a reasonable guess that they would use overprinting. I'm wonder if this is what is affecting the display of them (non-transparent background) since Acrobat needs Overprint Preview ON to accurately display objects with overprint flags . As with above, turning on Output Preview will help you deduce if that's what is happening since Output Preview automatically enables Overprint Preview (which is off by default).
BTW, Preflight will let you know what color spaces are in PDF file. Run any Profile. In the results panel, drop down the "Overview" section. There you will find a color spaces section listing the color spaces of the document.

Few Questions 'bout Printing in Lab Color

I'm a little confused about how LAB color works. I have a document thats currently in CYMK color mode, and I'm having difficulty finding satisfactory colors. I was advised elsewhere to abandon CYMK. I therefore want to convert my image into to LAB color mode. I've read that converting from one color mode to another can cause layers to look funny, however I need to retain some of my layers... Do you guys typically have problems with this? In retrospect I should have STARTED in Lab... Seems that converting from CYMK to LAB wouldn't be as problematic as converting from LAB to CYMK...
The key question is this: will my printer (Epson R800) even be able to print in LAB mode? I thought yes, or at least closely... because it has much more than CYMK to work with... it has these cartridges:
#1 Blue UltraChrome Hi-Gloss Ink Cartridge T054920
#2 Cyan UltraChrome Hi-Gloss Ink Cartridge T054220
#3 Gloss Optimizer UltraChrome Hi-Gloss Cartridge T054020
#4 Magenta UltraChrome Hi-Gloss Ink Cartridge T054320
#5 Matte Black UltraChrome Hi-Gloss Ink Cartridge T054820
#6 Photo Black UltraChrome Hi-Gloss Ink Cartridge T054120
#7 Red UltraChrome Hi-Gloss Ink Cartridge T054720
#8 Yellow UltraChrome Hi-Gloss Ink Cartridge
Finally, in the print screen menu should I be
"letting photoshop manage colors" or letting "printer manage colors"? Do you guys have any other tips on how to tweak printer/photoshop settings/preferences to maximize the accuracy of my colors? Would I possibly be better off just using RGB?
I know my questions are conveyed in a slightly confusing manner, so thank you for your patience reading through them. I really appreciate any insight you guys can give me.
Thanks,
Rich

You can't actually print in Lab mode, although it can be great for certain corrective moves. You have to print in either RGB or CMYK. If you are using the Epson driver for your printer, the print is seen as if it were an RGB device, even though it uses CcMmY and black inks.
To get better color accuracy, you need both a hardware calibrated monitor - so you know that what you see is accurate - and good custom printer profiles, so that the colors are properly converted to the color space of the printer. There is a lot of information both in these Adobe forums and on the web in general about color management and the proper use of profiles, and how to go about it.

Printing grey in color space

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