Expert: Huma Riaz - 2/25/2004

Question
hi and thank you for the opportunity to ask graphic related questions.

OK. I have been hired by a friend to design CD covers for artists that he promotes. I have designed a couple of them in Photoshop CS (Windows XP) and have saved them in both CMYK & RGB modes as well as in Photoshop's pdf format. My problem is this: when I am working in the RGB mode, colors look bright and vibrant (which is what I need in those specifically designs) but when I convert the image to CMYK, those neon-like colors (bright greens reds and blues) look ashy dead and pale. I understand that this happens when working in CMYK. So, the question is: how do I make sure that those vibrant colors will stay that way in my design when printed? I have tried to adjust the levels, color correction, etc, to no avail.

I am really concerned that when printed, those designs will be useless as colors won't print as they look in my monitor.

I will really appreciate any tips, help that you could provide for me!

PS: I have printed samples on my HP Deskjet 970cse and they look acceptably good, but I am afraid that in a commercial printer, they'll be a mess!

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Rolando Linarhi
Los Angeles, Ca.

Answer
Hello Rolando,

This is a fact with CMYK and RGB color modes; you cannot print what you see on monitor when working in CMYK.

If you get a chance to see the printed material you must have observed that the colors you have used and can see on your monitor you will never find in printed material. If Yes! Then it called spot color printing not CMYK process colors.

Your color printer is showing you the closer result to your monitor is most probably it is also RGB color monitor.


what you can do to enhance your colors a bit, use levels or try manually increasing the saturation by saturation too(o) while staying in CMYK mode. its a very good practice if you start your work with CMYK or keep checking the color variation by changing mode. You can use ‘View > Gamut Warning' to see the after printing results on colors information.

I hope this will help you in future to make CMYK friendly files. Feel free to ask anything further


Huma Riaz
Location: Karachi-Pakistan