CMYK editing

What are the drawbacks of optimising an image for press conditions in CMYK rather than in RGB?—Cherrs with lemons, Rob

??

the only drawback I can think of is that you dont see the actual colors on your monitor - even if you set your work area for CMYK....and even if you have a good monitor. But the same applies for RGB too. Maybe you could be more specific?

It's harder to optimize and image through 4 channels rather then 3. If you colour correct by numbers, then RGB is much easier to do. Also, if you are working with large file sizes, RGB is smaller to work with, again because of one less channel.

if you're going to be printing out your stuff, is cmyk what you should be making stuff in?

and if you post it to the net, will other people see it the way you see it? even if you don't see it right on your monitor?

The rule is to optimize a picture in RGB mode and to separate it finally. Due to the reason that a CMYK picture uses the cyan and black channel to show details like lines, structures etc. it's impossible to enhance a picture without getting a loss in quality and a color shift.

Commands like saturation, color variations, ctrl l, ctrl m, multiplication, negativ multiplication, contrast etc. are working totally different in both modes. To give you an impression I placed 4 samples on:

http://www.pinkvision.com/help.htm

This page will be active till the end of november.

i know some printers insist on having CMYK pics...my yearbook staff submitted RGB by mistake and had to convert all the pics to CMYK to avoid getting charged.

It really depends on what its for. If you are taking it to a printshop and doing a big run cymk is what you use. Anything you design in cymk will be fine for web (rgb) all the colors of cymk are in the rgb spectrum.

Things you will find is when you want a nice true red it doesnt work out to well in a cymk because its not using a red ink like rgb, in this case you should use a "spot color" If you have a set of pantone books you can look throught it and get a color. So then when it goes to the press it will know to use that ink. That is for vector work.

anyways im just rambling on and Im a bit tired now.

Close Michaelp...

Not all CMYK colours are in the RGB colour range. And ALL printing, if its 1 copy of 1 million copies NEEDS to be in CMYK. Design for web in RGB, print in CMYK. But I optimize images in RGB because it's one less channel to work with.

Magenta = Red. True "R" is fugly as can be. Nothing beats the CMYK values of 0, 100, 100, 20 for a nice red. :D

It would be nice if someone made a sticky on the proper way files need to be prepared for print/web.

yeah, I'm liking print more now. Just went to "Peter Miller" in seattle a design book store and my mind is now having an orgy, picked up a color index book, still want the set of pantone swatches. Dont have $500 bucks yet though.

later,
Michael

I have a Spot Colour Pantone Guide. It's great, and was only $125 I think.