A method for minimizing cross-process non-uniformities in solid and heavy shadow regions of printed documents is provided. The method includes marking with a marking engine an image on an image bearing surface moving in a process direction; generating profile data of the image by sensing an optical characteristic of the image in a cross-process direction; adjusting at least one control actuator of the marking engine so as to shift the characteristic of a subsequent marked image in the cross-process direction to at least a target value; and generating a spatially varying tone reproduction curve to smooth the characteristic of the subsequent marked image towards the target value.