An aqueous inkjet black ink composition for use in continuous ink jet printing is provided comprising black pigment particles dispersed with a polymeric dispersant or self dispersing pigment particles without the need for a dispersant; and at least one surfactant, wherein the at least one surfactant is selected to provide the ink composition with a 10-ms dynamic surface tension of less than 54 mN/m. The invention relates to continuous ink jet printing of an aqueous pigmented ink composition recycled from a main ink supply reservoir, employing a printer with a drop ejector and a drop deflector and a non-printing drop catcher capable of returning unprinted ink to the fluid delivery system following the capture of non-printing drops. The pigmented ink jet ink compositions provide for particularly suitable fluid properties on the drop catcher face that minimize printing defects that can occur during drop deflection during the printing of high dynamic range images at high speed.