The spectral behavior of different black surfaces including papers and fabrics are investigated in this study. Several colored pigments are mixed with the blacks in different concentrations to prepare black surfaces with different shades while a series of black dyestuffs are applied on textile materials to increase the ranges of black objects. The principal component analysis technique is applied to determine the actual spectral size of the reflectance dataset. The technique simply extracts the principal directions of spectral data and organizes them in restricted spectral spaces. Three different spectral spaces, i.e., the reflectance spectra, the Kubelka-Munk function of reflectance as well as the inverse of reflectance factor are selected to present the samples in the restricted spaces. Based on the results, it is found that, there are no significant differences between the employed spaces and far from the employed spectral domains, black surfaces could be adequately described in a three-dimensional space. The three extracted statistical colorants are used for reconstruction of reflectance spectra of samples while the root mean square error percentage and the color difference values under the standard observing condition confirm the suitability of such virtual primaries. The work is extended to reconstruction of spectral data from colorimetric information and the adequacy of such three-dimensional space is reconfirmed. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 37, 176-185, 2012; Published online 12 August 2011 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/col.20692