When printing brilliantly colored mostly red, green, or blue images, one color in CMYK color space is substantially weaker than the others. The weak color gives the image depth. If the image needs to be corrected, such as an increase in contract, the weak color is the one to adjust. One color balancing method is to blend one or more of the other color separations into the weak color. Image adjusting software can be used for this task. It is often necessary to reduce the now-blended color so that its highlight areas are the same color as the original.

Author: Dan Margulis
Source: GATF World, Nov/Dec 1999, p. 9-12