In CMYK color calculation, the substitution of black ink for areas with high intensities of cyan, magenta, and yellow See also: undercolor removal

Black generation is a term which describes how the colour black is used in a set for four-colour printing. In theory, black is not required in the CMYK colour system for representing various hues of an image. In practice, however, it is used whenever contrast and detail need to be enhanced in dark areas. The term short black or skeleton black is applied if the colour is only used for this purpose (for which only a small amount of black is required). Black can also be used in colour mixes to replace equal components of the three chromatic colours cyan, magenta and yellow (Under Colour Reduction), thereby reducing the total volume of ink actually required in the print. This is known as 'long black'.

A term used to describe how the color black is used in a set for four-color printing. In theory, black is not required in the CMYK color system for representing various hues of an image. In practice, however, it is used whenever contrast and detail are to be enhanced in dark areas. The term short black or skeleton black is applied if the color is only used for this purpose, in which case only a small amount of black is required.

The representation of black using only the K component, instead of a combination of C, M, and Y.