Pagemaker’s on screen previews stink. As for printing…what are you printing to? If it’s not a postscript printer you should stick to RGB. CMYK is for postscript output.
Bob
Just wanna take this opportunity to ask : what’s the main difference between CMYK colors and RGB colors?
Are there any advantages to using a CMYK color scheme?
How are you printing?
Bob
Diane,
You MUST have PM’s colour management on and correctly set up (as close as possible to the set-up within Photoshop) to get anything like a decent preview. Additionally, unless you are printing to a PostScript printer, the final print will also pretty much match the preview in you see in PM.
This is because non-PostScript drivers cannot handle CMYK at all and so PM will send the same RGB as you are seeing on screen.
Xeon,
Are there any advantages to using a CMYK color scheme?<<
If printing to a CMYK device, then Yes. Not only is there an advantage but it is often a necessity since CMYK printing is synonymous with separation printing, and if you haven’t got a 4 channel image you won’t get 4 separations out of it unless the PostScript RIP is capable and correctly set-up to do the translation from RGB to CMYK.
I am needing to send the pictures to a commercial printer to color separate. It would have to be CMYK then, right? Also, I use a ViewSonic flat screen monitor so I don’t know how to set up the color management. Can anyone walk me through it?
In addition, I tried working with a photo directly in Photoshop and it totally changed color when I changed it to CMYK. My editor said that all photos have to be CMYK. Please help! Thanks, Diane
Diane,
If you ask about PM’s colour management settings over in the PM forum, they will point you to a FAQ that describes what to do.
directly in Photoshop and it totally changed color when I changed it to
CMYK.<<
CMYK does not support many of the saturated colours that RGB does. Many RGB colours just cannot be reproduced by process inks. Generally speaking, images will look less saturated in CMYK and many blues become darker/ more purple.
What do you have set for your RGB and CMYK colour spaces in Photoshop?
I don’t know how to set the colour spaces in Photoshop. How do I do it?
And what you said before is exactly what is happening…the photos are turning purple. So, what can be done to correct it? I am told that I have to use cmyk. How can I make the photos look good when I covert to cmyk?
I see beautiful color in newspapers in photos. So, what do they do that I am not doing? Thanks, Diane
Diane,
I don’t know how to set the colour spaces in Photoshop. How do I do it?<<
Edit>Colour Settings
I see beautiful color in newspapers in photos. <<
You can reproduce images in CMYK just fine – but you won’t find any deeply saturated colour in them if printed with standard process inks. Some very expensive print jobs may use the Hexachrome ink system that uses 6 inks rather than 4 (the additional two inks being orange and green) to extend the gamut (or spectrum if you prefer) that can be reproduced.
If, in Photoshop, you select View>Gamut warning (CTRL+SHIFT+Y) when working in RGB it will send all the out-of-gamut colours to grey, and you will be able to see which colour lie outside the gamut of the CMYK colour space you have selected as your CMYK working space. Usually, dropping the image saturation a little will bring most of those colours back inside the CMYK gamut.
Okay, I looked at the color settings in the edit screen. Can you give me an idea how to change them (what settings I might need)? Thanks, Diane (P.S. Could you explain a bit more about the View>Gamut warning? And, how do I drop the image saturation to bring the colors back inside the CMYK gamut? Thanks so much for your help!! Diane
Hi Diane,
In The "Settings" drop doan, select Custom. In thee RGB I would suggest selecting Adobe RGB(1998) for your RGB working space and US Swop Coated for your Working CMYK.
Here’s a screen shot with suggested settings:
P.S. Could you explain a bit more about the View>Gamut warning? <<
Try it! – Just press CRTL+Y whilst viewing an RGB file
how do I drop the image saturation to bring the colors back inside the
CMYK gamut? <<
Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation (CTRL+U) – just ease the Saturation slider a little to the left
I tried your suggestions. Nothing worked. What is happening is that the photos that I convert to cmyk are changing colors. Red is changing to purple and browns (roof) are turning to green. Sometimes it looks good on my end but then it looks bad from the other end. For example, I created an ad that looked great in full color from my end. I sent it to the client and they said it was all purple and I went to her computer and it was purple. The steps I take are: (1) scan or import photo (2) convert to cmyk (3) lighten photo (4) place in ad in pagemaker (5) save as postscript (6) distill it. I use Pagemaker 7.0, Photoshop 7.0 and Acrobat 4.0. I am on pc. Please help…it’s driving us crazy!! (editor and me). Thanks, Diane
By the way, might uninstalling and reinstalling Photoshop help? Thanks again, Diane
Diane,
First question. Have you run Adobe Gamma and created a good monitor profile for your machine? Until you have done so, you won’t get repeatable or reliable colour.
Re-installing Photoshop is most unlikely to have any effect whatsoever on your problem.
Question 2. Have you set up Pagemaker’s colour management?
Question 3. What file format are you saving your files in from Photoshop?
Question 4. Are you embedding the colour profile when saving the file?
Question 2. Have you set up Pagemaker’s colour management?
You’re kidding, right? PM color management was (yes, I meant to say was) so archaic, I never turned it on.
Bob
First question. Have you run Adobe Gamma and created a good monitor profile for your machine? Until you have done so, you won’t get repeatable or reliable colour.
I DON’T HAVE THE ABILITY TO RUN IT BECAUSE I HAVE A FLAT SCREEN MONITOR AND IT SAID THAT IT DOESN’T WORK FOR THAT. DO YOU KNOW IF THERE IS A WAY THAT I CAN DO THAT?
Re-installing Photoshop is most unlikely to have any effect whatsoever on your problem.
I THOUGHT REINSTALLING WOULD HELP BECAUSE IT DIDN’T SEEM TO DO THIS BEFORE.
Question 2. Have you set up Pagemaker’s colour management?
THE PROBLEM SEEMS TO STEM IN PHOTOSHOP. I WAS EMAILED A PSD FILE AND I CONVERTED IT IN PHOTOSHOP TO A PDF AND THE FILE WHICH WAS PREDOMINANTLY BROWN TURNED TO PURPLE. WHY????
Question 3. What file format are you saving your files in from Photoshop?
I AM TRYING TIFFS AND JPEGS…NEITHER WORK…SAME BAD COLOR (LOTS OF MAGENTA).
Question 4. Are you embedding the colour profile when saving the file?
HOW DO YOU DO THAT? I’M NOT SURE ABOUT THAT. I HAVE TALKED TO MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE PHOTOSHOP AND THEY SAID THAT THEY HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING OTHER THAN INSTALL IT AND HAVE NO COLOR PROBLEMS. THIS IS A MAJOR ISSUE FOR ME BECAUSE MY NEWSPAPER IS DOING ALOT OF COLOR NOW AND I HAVE TO TAKE THE PHOTOS, CONVERT THEM AND TURN THEM IN (AND DESIGN ADS). I AM SO FRUSTRATED RIGHT NOW! LOOK FORWARD TO ANY MORE FEEDBACK. I NEED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM. THANKS, DIANE
Diane,
It sounds very much like a monitor profile problem to me…..You can TRY using Adobe Gamma – it may get you closer than you are now, even though it won’t be perfect for an LCD display.
Bob,
You’re kidding, right? <<
Nope – I used to use PM’s CMS fine – obviously it’s not what Photoshop’s, InDesign’s or Ill’s is but it was quite usable….
Hi, I’m new to this forum (I came here because I am having a similar problem). What is happening with my file currently is that I took 300dpi scan and converted it to CMYK (it was my understanding that this would make it look closer to how it would print). At first i thought it was because the CMYK color setting was off, but I changed it to generic and it looked like the print I had. I then changed it, but it still printed darker than what I see on my screen.
I also calibrated my monitor (I have a G5 and an Apple Studio Monitor) so I know it’s not the screen. Here is the error that Photoshop is giving me:
Some PostScript specific print settings (emulsion, interpolation, calibration, encoding) will be ignored since you are printing to a non-PostScript printer
I don’t know anything about color profiles and I’m not as fresh on Photoshop as I used to be (I usually use Illustrator and have no problems printing those CMYK files). My printer is an HP DeskJet 932C and (other than today) does an amazing job printing usually.
Any help anyone has would be greatly appreciated!! I’ll check back or you can e-mail me at .
THANKS!!!!
Non-PostScript printer drivers cannot send CMYK data. Consequently the application has to convert back to RGB on the fly. The printer firmware then converts that RGB back into CcMmYK for the print heads. This double conversion usually results in degraded colour fidelity.
When printing to non PostScript printers you should send RGB data NOT CMYK data. CMYK is for professional printing from separations.
Thanks so much! I was confused because I have a friend that’s a graphic designer and she had told me a while back to always use CMYK for print, but I guess she didn’t realize that my printer wasn’t professional. It’s strange though, because i usually don’t notice a difference when I print my CMYK Illustrator files.
Anyway, thanks a lot for your help! Not even my art teachers at my college could answer my question (says a lot for my school, huh?)
