A digital color printing method and system is described which automatically detects when a neutral grey object is commanded to be printed, and changes the composition of the neutral color depending on the previous value of the neutral grey object and on the presence or absence of non-black colorants in the background color at the position on the page at which the neutral object is commanded to be printed. A single-color neutral object which is commanded to be printed at a position in which there is a previously rendered color background which contains non-black colorants may automatically have its neutral color changed from a single-color neutral to a process neutral containing at least one non-black colorant such as cyan, magenta, or yellow, said process neutral chosen to have equivalent visual density and neutrality as the previous single-color neutral value. Conversely, a process neutral grey object which is commanded to be printed at a position in which the background does not contain non-black colorants may automatically have the neutral color changed from process neutral to single-color neutral, said single-color neutral chosen to have the equivalent visual density as the process neutral. For many printing systems the resulting prints exhibit fewer visual defects. Neutral objects printed on top of a color field are printed as process neutral and thereby may exhibit a greater gloss and show fewer problems caused by the misregistration of separations or other printer defects, such as white fringes around the neutral objects. Conversely, neutral objects not on a color background are printed as single-color neutral objects and therefore do not exhibit objectionable process neutral problems such as color fringing, excessive colorant, and excessive gloss contrast with the background.
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