Expert: Glen Demers - 6/17/2010

Question
Good Morning!

I am using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and I am in wonder about the color printing. I have designed a leaflet including people images and the images are good enough on the screen, but when it's printed with the CMYK Printing Machine (Roland Praktika), the quality is really not as good as expected if compared in the screen. Would you mind telling me what is the best techniques for producing best qualities of images? Please help to explain to me in details if you don't mind.

Thanks very much and best wishes to you!

I am looking forward to your valuable answers!

Yours sincerely,


TOUCH-LUCK

Answer
Hi TOUCH-LUCK,

The first thing to consider is the color space you are in. All images need to be converted to the CMYK color mode for offset printing. Doing this in Photoshop gives you the most control over this color conversion, as it will likely change some colors, particularly the bright reds and greens and deep blues. More on this here: http://www.bestprintingonline.com/cmyk-color.htm

The second attribute that directly affects the quality of your images is the resolution. The images should be 300dpi at 100% size when going to an offset press. You need to start with high resolution images, increasing the resolution in Photoshop only increases the memory needed by the images without improving the quality. There is an excellent article on resolution here: http://www.bestprintingonline.com/resolution.htm

Because of the limitations of CMYK printing and the fact that monitors display RGB color that is backlit, the results off the press will never be as bright or the colors as saturated as what can be achieved onscreen. A commercial printer with calibrated proofers will be able to show you color proofs that are close in color to what is capable on press.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop 7
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

For more Photoshop tips please visit our help pages here: http://www.bestprintingonline.com/photoshop.htm