Expert: LizaL - 2/27/2006

Question
in photoshop cs2,&in the color settig pallet(from the edit menu),what is the function of:
     1-cmyk in the working space part?
     2-cmyk in the color management part?
also i make brochure,catalog,...&i submit my work for offset printing.
                          thank you.

Answer
Setting up a custom CMYK working space lets you specify the ink colors, dot gain, separation type, and black generation of your output device (that is, the type of printer you're using). If you're submitting your work for offset printing, your printer will be able to tell you how to specifically handle these settings. If you have any question about how your color settings should be, speak with the printer before you submit anything -- in order to avoid having things printed incorrectly.

Custom CMYK working space profiles are mainly used for providing color management compatibility with documents created in early versions of Photoshop, especially those earlier than 6.0. In general, the CMYK working space profiles in your current version of Photoshop are the ones you should use.

As far as CMYK in the color management dialog box, once you know the correct CMYK settings for your output device, you can go to the Color Settings dialog box and specify that any document you open can do one of three things:

1. Preserve embedded profiles. This means that the document's original color settings will be imported and stay the same and not change to fit the working space settings you've created.

2. Convert to working CMYK. This means the document will automatically adjust its color settings to those you've set up in your working space.

3. Off. This completely turns off color management for the document you open.


I hope this helps -- but the best thing to do is talk with your printer about how they want you to set up your CMYK working space. So much of what they tell you is dependent on how your document will look when printed.

Lisa