27-05-2010 CMYK color model - Wikipedia, the fr

CMYK color model

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The CMYK color model (process color, four color)

is a subtractive color model, used in color printing, and
is also used to describe the printing process itself.
CMYK refers to the four inks used in some color
printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key black. Though
it varies by print house, press operator, press
manufacturer and press run, ink is typically applied in
the order of the abbreviation.
Cyan, magenta, yellow, Layers of simulated glass
The K in CMYK stands for key since in four-color and key (black). show how semi-
printing cyan, magenta, and yellow printing plates are transparent layers of color
carefully keyed or aligned with the key of the black key combine on paper into
plate. Some sources suggest that the K in CMYK spectrum of CMY colors.
comes from the last letter in "black" and was chosen
because B already means blue.[1][2] However, this explanation, though plausible and useful as a mnemonic, is
incorrect.[3]

The CMYK model works by partially or entirely masking colors on a lighter, usually white, background. The ink
reduces the light that would otherwise be reflected. Such a model is called subtractive because inks subtract
brightness from white.

In additive color models such as RGB, white is the additive combination of all primary colored lights, while
black is the absence of light. In the CMYK model, it is the opposite: white is the natural color of the paper or
other background, while black results from a full combination of colored inks. To save money on ink, and to
produce deeper black tones, unsaturated and dark colors are produced by using black ink instead of the
combination of cyan, magenta and yellow.

Contents
1 Halftoning
1.1 Screen angle
2 Benefits of using black ink
3 Other printer color models
4 Comparison with RGB displays
5 Conversion
6 See also
7 Notes and references
8 External links

Halftoning
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27-05-2010 CMYK color model - Wikipedia, the fr
Main article: Halftone

With CMYK printing, halftoning (also called screening) allows

for less than full saturation of the primary colors; tiny dots of each
primary color are printed in a pattern small enough that human
beings perceive a solid color. Magenta printed with a 20%
halftone, for example, produces a pink color, because the eye
perceives the tiny magenta dots and the white paper between the
dots as lighter and less saturated than the color of pure magenta
ink.

Without halftoning, the three primary process colors could be

printed only as solid blocks of color, and therefore could This close-up of printed halftone rasters
produce only seven colors: the three primaries themselves, plus show that magenta on top of yellow
appears as orange/red, and cyan on top of
three complementary colors produced by layering two of the
yellow appears as green.
primariescyan and yellow produce green; cyan and magenta
produce a purplish blue; yellow and magenta produce red (these
subtractive complementary colors correspond roughly to the additive primary colors) plus layering all three of
them resulting in black. With halftoning, a full continuous range of colors can be produced.

Screen angle

To improve print quality and reduce moir patterns, the screens for each color is set at a different angle. While
the angles depend on how many colors are used and the preference of the press operator, typical CMYK
process printing uses any of the following screen angles:[4][5]

C 100 15 105
M 15 45 75
Y 0 0 90
K 45 75 15

Benefits of using black ink

The black generated by mixing cyan,
magenta and yellow primaries is
unsatisfactory, and so four-color
printing uses black ink in addition to the
subtractive primaries. Common reasons
for using black ink include:[6]

In traditional preparation of color

separations, a red keyline on the
black line art marked the outline
of solid or tint color areas. In
some cases a black keyline was
used when it served as both a
color indicator and an outline to
be printed in black. Because
usually the black plate contained
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27-05-2010 CMYK color model - Wikipedia, the fr
the keyline, the K in CMYK A color photograph of the Teton Range.
represents the keyline or black
plate also sometimes called the
key plate.

Text is typically printed in black

and includes fine detail (such as
serifs), so to reproduce text or
other finely detailed outlines using
three inks without slight blurring
would require impractically
accurate registration (i.e. all three
images would need to be aligned
extremely precisely).

A combination of 100% cyan,

magenta, and yellow inks soaks
the paper with ink, making it
slower to dry, and sometimes
impractically so. This also can
cause the ink to bleed, which
means that the ink spreads to
undesired areas.

A combination of 100% cyan,

magenta, and yellow inks often
results in a muddy dark brown
color that does not quite appear
black. Adding black ink absorbs
more light, and yields much
darker blacks.

Using black ink is less expensive

than using the corresponding The image above, separated for The same image, this time
amounts of colored inks. printing with process cyan, separated with maximum black, to
magenta, and yellow inks. minimize ink use.
When a very dark area is desirable, a
colored or gray CMY bedding is
applied first, then a full black layer is applied on top, making a rich, deep black; this is called rich black.[7] A
black made with just CMY inks is sometimes called a composite black.

The amount of black to use to replace amounts of the other ink is variable, and the choice depends on the
technology, paper and ink in use. Processes called under color removal, under color addition, and gray
component replacement are used to decide on the final mix; different CMYK recipes will be used depending on
the printing task.

Other printer color models

CMYK or process color printing is contrasted with spot color printing, in which specific colored inks are used
to produce the colors appearing on paper. Some printing presses are capable of printing with both four-color
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27-05-2010 CMYK color model - Wikipedia, the fr
process inks and additional spot color inks at the same time. High-quality printed materials, such as marketing
brochures and books, may include photographs requiring process-color printing, other graphic effects requiring
spot colors (such as metallic inks), and finishes such as varnish, which enhances the glossy appearance of the
printed piece.

CMYK process printers often have a relatively small color gamut. Processes such as Pantone's proprietary six-
color (CMYKOG) Hexachrome considerably expand the gamut. Light, saturated colors often cannot be
created with CMYK, and light colors in general may make visible the halftone pattern. Using a CcMmYK
process, with the addition of light cyan and magenta inks to CMYK, can solve these problems, and such a
process is used by many inkjet printers, including desktop models.[8]

Comparison with RGB displays

Comparisons between RGB displays and CMYK prints can be difficult, since the color reproduction
technologies and properties are so different. A computer monitor mixes shades of red, green, and blue to create
color pictures. A CMYK printer instead uses light-absorbing cyan, magenta and yellow inks, whose colors are
mixed using dithering, halftoning or some other optical technique.

Conversion
Since RGB and CMYK spaces are both device-dependent spaces, there is no simple or general conversion
formula that converts between them. Conversions are generally done through color management systems, using
color profiles that describe the spaces being converted. Nevertheless, the conversions cannot be exact,
particularly where these spaces have different gamuts.

The problem of computing a colorimetric estimate of the color that results from printing various combinations of
ink has been addressed by many scientists.[9] A general method that has emerged for the case of halftone
printing is to treat each tiny overlap of color dots as one of 8 (combinations of CMY) or of 16 (combinations of
CMYK) colors, which in this context are known as Neugebauer primaries. The resultant color would be an
area-weighted colorimetric combination of these primary colors, except that the YuleNielsen effect ("dot gain")
of scattered light between and within the areas complicates the physics and the analysis; empirical formulas for
such analysis have been developed, in terms of detailed dye combination absorption spectra and empirical
parameters.[9]

See also
Hexachrome
Spot color
CcMmYK color model
Grey component replacement
Under color removal
Under color addition
Rich black
Jacob Christoph Le Blon
SWOP CMYK standard

Notes and references

1. ^ Horvat, Les (2003). Digital Imaging: Essential Skills (http://books.google.com/books?

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27-05-2010 CMYK color model - Wikipedia, the fr
id=AF3eAEVtZekC&pg=PA74&sig=VcmKncaUZGYfAx5-ADJpnOzckxw) . Focal Press. pp. 74.
ISBN 0240519132, 9780240519135. http://books.google.com/books?
id=AF3eAEVtZekC&pg=PA74&sig=VcmKncaUZGYfAx5-ADJpnOzckxw.
2. ^ Jennings, Simon (2003). Artist's Color Manual: The Complete Guide to Working with Color
(http://books.google.com/books?
id=Yz8q9RV05uYC&pg=PA21&sig=3FAhCo2AOb4LB9xUYDclSn4xm4E#PPA21,M1) . Chronicle Books LLC.
pp. 21. ISBN 081184143X, 9780811841436. http://books.google.com/books?
id=Yz8q9RV05uYC&pg=PA21&sig=3FAhCo2AOb4LB9xUYDclSn4xm4E#PPA21,M1.
3. ^ Gatter, Mark (2004). Getting It Right in Print: Digital Pre-press for Graphic Designers
(http://books.google.com/books?
id=Pva2EkbmBYEC&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&ots=OcF8GmRhUr&sig=4jL0kGyhFXbohJ7rznXl1QHfNhQ) .
Laurence King Publishing. pp. 31. ISBN 1856694216, 9781856694216. http://books.google.com/books?
id=Pva2EkbmBYEC&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&ots=OcF8GmRhUr&sig=4jL0kGyhFXbohJ7rznXl1QHfNhQ.
4. ^ Campbell, Alastair. The Designer's Lexicon. 2000 Chronicle, San Francisco. p 192
5. ^ McCue, Claudia. Real World Print Production. 2007 Peachpit, Berkeley. p 31.
6. ^ Roger Pring (2000). WWW.Color (http://books.google.com/books?id=Uq-hLlV-
h7sC&pg=PT178&ots=LwAfZuuLEO&dq=cmyk+key+black+subtractive+model&as_brr=3&ei=mJXDRt3IA5
zApAKakaSdDQ&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=1JtOEzvEuX-5x0ajcNbsy6ETjk0) . WatsonGuptill. ISBN 0823058573.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Uq-hLlV-
h7sC&pg=PT178&ots=LwAfZuuLEO&dq=cmyk+key+black+subtractive+model&as_brr=3&ei=mJXDRt3IA5
zApAKakaSdDQ&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=1JtOEzvEuX-5x0ajcNbsy6ETjk0.
7. ^ R. S. Hodges (2003). The Guild Handbook of Scientific Illustration (http://books.google.com/books?
id=YWaOBSjevD0C&pg=PA242&ots=VL64_2tRo1&dq=cmyk+rich-
black&as_brr=3&ei=P5fDRqyZNI2EpgLQqoiQAg&sig=mJfoglSZyILH7ovoNzEnSGyZl_8) . John Wiley and
Sons. ISBN 0471360112. http://books.google.com/books?
id=YWaOBSjevD0C&pg=PA242&ots=VL64_2tRo1&dq=cmyk+rich-
black&as_brr=3&ei=P5fDRqyZNI2EpgLQqoiQAg&sig=mJfoglSZyILH7ovoNzEnSGyZl_8.
8. ^ Carla Rose (2003). Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 in 24 Hours
(http://books.google.com/books?id=odUPNtVGBzcC&pg=PA108&ots=5kRyAjH65m&dq=light-magenta+light-
cyan&sig=iOKompaCqJLxa0AMpE2jXdZLku0) . Sams Publishing. ISBN 067232430X.
http://books.google.com/books?id=odUPNtVGBzcC&pg=PA108&ots=5kRyAjH65m&dq=light-magenta+light-
cyan&sig=iOKompaCqJLxa0AMpE2jXdZLku0.
9. ^ a b Gaurav Sharma (2003). Digital Color Imaging Handbook (http://books.google.com/books?
id=AkByHKRGTsQC&pg=PA68&ots=5cQ-kPixDT&dq=intitle:color+inauthor:sharma+cmyk+halftone-
printers&sig=W2HMQj2WgTZOPc-HXPnyDr98Y58#PPA67,M1) . CRC Press. ISBN 084930900X.
http://books.google.com/books?id=AkByHKRGTsQC&pg=PA68&ots=5cQ-
kPixDT&dq=intitle:color+inauthor:sharma+cmyk+halftone-printers&sig=W2HMQj2WgTZOPc-
HXPnyDr98Y58#PPA67,M1.

External links
XCmyk (http://www.codeproject.com/KB/applications/xcmyk.aspx) CMYK to RGB Calculator with
source code
Color Space Fundamentals (http://dx.sheridan.com/advisor/cmyk_color.html) animated illustration of
RGB vs. CMYK
Color Separation Process (http://www.interactive-earth.com/visualizations/animations/color-
separations.htm) animation and activity
Color Theory Basics (http://www.prepressx.com/Images/color-theory.html) understanding how
process color images are handled in offset printing

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Categories: Color space | Printing | Printing terminology
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