Lighting Effects in CMYK mode

Hey there. This is probably a simple question. I am new to the board, but have been using photoshop for a long time, so i didn't want to post in the "New to Photoshop" section

I can never use Lighting effects while in cmyk mode... Is that just not possible? Or is there some other reason I can't use lighting effects that I dont know about. Maybe i'm just not figuring something simple out. Ok, well let me know your thoughts on the subject. (If its even worth your time!)

Ok, bye.

Just switch it to RGB mode, do the lighting effect, then switch it back to cmyk

Ok, thanks for the reply. Thats what i've been doing. I guess thats the only way. It just kind of sucks when its some huge file... takes a while to switch back and forth and all that. Oh well, tho.

I would suggest not doing that. For every conversion back to CYMK from another color space, Photoshop throws away a lot of color information. My suggestion is to begin your work in RGB mode, where all the filters are available to you. You can set your color picker to CYMK colors so you do not stray out of gamut. Then when your image is finalized, convert to CYMK.

wanna know something that's even crazier than that?!!

If you have a decent inkjet printer. (i.e. HP, EPSON $150.00 and up, etc.) Just print the darn RGB image. Chances are, you're going to get pretty close. Seriously, try it.

AND - if you're like me, and you use a RIP, the RIP will do a better RGB to CMYK conversion than photoshop will. Promise.

Now this won't work for Lighting Effects, or a few other filters, but you can get most PS filters to work with CYMK images that are normally greyed out.

In your CYMK image, select the Cyan channel, and under the Filters menu you'll find most of the greyed out filters come back to life. The secret is applying the filter to each individual channel, and then the filter effect will emerge in your composite image.

Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to lighting effects.