Unable to achieve a flats seamless grey with CMYK

[manishbjain]

I have a print job with grey color that needs to be even and patch less. I tried to print that using C 10 M 11 Y 10 K 25 after referring the CMYK Pantone guide and got that printed using 175 LPI. But that did not work . I dont see a seamless even grey and it shows patches (Pic Attached but might not give a complete idea) . My Printer then printed the same paper using another job with K 30 alone. While it was still not that great as I expect my grey to be but atleast better than the former one. I Cannot use pantone grey for this one as the budget of the project does not permit me. What should I do ?

 

[gordo]

Offset? Flexo? Or? Why don’t the microphotos have color?

 

[manishbjain]

gordo - Sorry , I forgot to mention. It is offset printed and the substrate is Art Paper. I took the micro photograph by placing my phone over a 25X Microscope . This is what I could get from my phone.

 

[gordo]

gordo - Sorry , I forgot to mention. It is offset printed and the substrate is Art Paper. I took the micro photograph by placing my phone over a 25X Microscope . This is what I could get from my phone.

The reason I asked is because the dots are black and grey. But if they're color...
1 - Does the paper have a texture? The grey area looks like it has striations which could be caused by a paper texture.
2 - If the paper has no texture then the striations could be on the printing plates. That can be caused by a laser problem when the plates were exposed.
3 - If you're referring to the shift in color in the grey that can be caused by many press factors.
4 - Your CMYK recipe C 10 M 11 Y 10 K 25 uses too much of the chromatic colors. That can affect color stability. Try a recipe like C 0 M 5 Y 2 K 47 - it should give you the same final color but with greater press stability as it minimizes use of the chromatic colors.

 

[manishbjain]

The reason I asked is because the dots are black and grey. But if they're color...
1 - Does the paper have a texture? The grey area looks like it has striations which could be caused by a paper texture.
2 - If the paper has no texture then the striations could be on the printing plates. That can be caused by a laser problem when the plates were exposed.
3 - If you're referring to the shift in color in the grey that can be caused by many press factors.
4 - Your CMYK recipe C 10 M 11 Y 10 K 25 uses too much of the chromatic colors. That can affect color stability. Try a recipe like C 0 M 5 Y 2 K 47 - it should give you the same final color but with greater press stability as it minimizes use of the chromatic colors.

No , The Paper doesnt have any texture. I do not actually understand what you mean by the shift in the color change . The thing is I am not getting a flat seamless colour that looks even through out. However, Let me try and check if the recipe you have recommended works.

 

[gordo]

No , The Paper doesnt have any texture. I do not actually understand what you mean by the shift in the color change . The thing is I am not getting a flat seamless colour that looks even through out. However, Let me try and check if the recipe you have recommended works.

Check point #2 since there’s no paper texture.
The grey patch in the pic you posted has a color shift from top to bottom so I thought that might be the issue. If point #2 is the issue then the different cmyk recipe won’t help.

 

[manishbjain]

Check point #2 since there’s no paper texture.
The grey patch in the pic you posted has a color shift from top to bottom so I thought that might be the issue. If point #2 is the issue then the different cmyk recipe won’t help.

No I do not think the striations is the problem. Its basically the unevenness in the color that I am talking about.I do not know how to convey that in the exact terms. I want an even color patch like what we usually get using a 100 percent screen of any color , say a pantone or any process color. If you could see the cmyk microphoto, the dots are smudged unlike the dots in the single color K. Could that be a reason for that ?

 

[danremaley]

Another thought-
compare several sheets, notice any ‘doubling’ or distortion of any of the dots?
i had a similar problem with a 2-color screen job - it was dot shape - changing the tonality.

 

[manishbjain]

Another thought-
compare several sheets, notice any ‘doubling’ or distortion of any of the dots?
i had a similar problem with a 2-color screen job - it was dot shape - changing the tonality.

Thankyou danremaley - Let me check that too.

 

[Dario]

I'm not a pressman but my pressman uses to say printing a seamless large area of halftoned color is way difficult so he always asks me to convert it to a spot color one.
So I can assume is a press matter.