Gray balance

In printing technology , one speaks of gray balance when achromatic image areas are not supposed to tip over into colorful image areas.

When printing, each tone value can be reproduced using certain proportions of cyan, magenta and yellow. Often there are changes in the proportions. If all three colors change in the same direction, the viewer does not find this to be very disturbing. It is different when the colors change unevenly or even in opposite directions.

It is therefore important to keep the color proportions in the required balance. The human eye is particularly sensitive to changes in gray field elements. These areas consist of a set of tonal values ​​for cyan, magenta and yellow that result in an achromatic color when printed together . The dark gray or black formed from CMY becomes too color-tinged with color fluctuations.

The goal is a neutral gray and deep black instead of a dark brown. In order not to disturb the gray balance in offset printing, for example, the tonal values ​​of yellow in medium to dark grays are 2 to 6 percent below those of magenta , with the values ​​for cyan being 7 to 8 percent higher. In lighter grays, the differences in tone value are smaller.

Calculation option based on magenta = 100%: cyan 134.7826%, yellow 95.6522%