Patent ID: 8485629

Claim:
A printing apparatus which prints an image by scanning a printing head relative to a printing medium, the printing head discharging color inks of a plurality of colors containing pigment color materials and a colorless ink, the apparatus comprising: a color conversion unit configured to convert image data to be printed into ink color data regarding the respective colors of the color inks and the colorless ink; and a printing unit configured to print an image based on the ink color data in a first printing mode in which discharge of the colorless ink to a predetermined area starts before completion of printing with the color inks to the predetermined area, or a second printing mode in which discharge of the colorless ink to the predetermined area starts after completion of printing with the color inks to the predetermined area, wherein said color conversion unit converts the image data into ink color data in the first printing mode and ink color data in the second printing mode to set a discharge amount of the colorless ink in the first printing mode for a dark portion where lightness indicated by the image data becomes smaller than a predetermined value, to be smaller than a discharge amount of the colorless ink set for the dark portion in the second printing mode.