Expert: LizaL - 8/17/2005

Question
When working in Photoshop, for print, is it correct or advisable to
work in RGB while working on your hi-res master file and then
saving a final flattened version of that file in CMYK for print? I had
an instructor for an advanced Photoshop course advise us to do
that and recently had an employer questioned this process?
I work in Photoshop CS on a Mac platform using OS 10 for final
placement within either a page layout program such as Quark or
placement in Illustrator for print.

Answer
Hi Mary,

Well, I hate to dispute the word of a fellow teacher, but I think your employer is right. I see no need to follow a workflow of RGB to CMYK when your final output needs to be CMYK, and in fact, I would think that might not make for accurate color. If you're color correcting, you need to be in your final format all the way through your editing process.

I do a fair amount of print work, and for that, I always work in CMYK from beginning to end -- and I don't flatten the file, either, when I'm finished, no matter what format I save it to. I always keep a PSD version that contains my layers. Then, depending on the format I need for print (say, TIFF), I'll merge the layers (using merge down) and do a Save As. But I always keep a PSD version.

BTW, I've found merging down (and also merging visible) to be a less-destructive way of compressing a file, as opposed to flattening. I've also read that in the case of a very large file, it's best to do things in steps, such as reducing image size, compressing, etc. Like, if you had a 36in x 24in file you were reducing to 12in x 8in, you should reduce the size gradually, instead of all at once. And I handle compressing the same way, so that's why I use merge down instead of flattening.

Anyway, I'm with your employer on this one. If your final output needs to be CMYK, I'd work in CMYK the whole way through.

Hope this helps!

Lisa