Is that what is referred to as Ghosting?

Ghosting is when the ink is stripped off of the roller usually by a large plate and the lack of ink creates a ghost image where the ink is lacking. You didn’t say what kind of press you are using, but it looks to me that your paper is hitting the plate before it hits impression.

Paul

That may be too much ink. It looks like there is ink being squeezed past the shoulder of the plate and giving that halo effect.

Brad.

Just a comment here … it’s easier to analyze printing problems with high-resolution closeups . A link to a photo-sharing site (such as Flickr or Imgur) would be helpful.

Barbara

Thanks for the replies. I am using a Heidelberg Windmill Platen. It seems this might have been a combination of a few things, I reduced the ink on the press, cleaned up the plates to ensure it was not squeezed past the shoulder (thanks dicharry) and reduced the impression and that seems to do the trick. Any tips on working out how much ink should be applied to the press. I think I am over inking it.

Start with only enough to coat your rollers as thinly as possible and work up to desired shade ,if the machine sounds like a frying pan then you are in need of mix to be altered if still too light ,you have to find the balance where you carry just enough ink to give you the coverage you need and no more . The more ink you carry the worse the job will look if you are trying to reach a colour stronger than your mix ! You are suffering from over inked form either quantity ,is running off the top of the type face , or too much roller pressure on the form inking the edge of the type which then is printing because of the heavy impression ,requires there is only ink on the type face the shoulder contcts the job if it has ink on it .

Thanks for the tips Peter, I will give that a go next time I print and from what I can see so far, it was too much ink! Rookie error!