Color mode question RGB / CYMK

D
Posted By
Dadio
Feb 15, 2005
Views
355
Replies
3
Status
Closed
Hello

I have been using Photoshop CS with color mode set to RGB. I use Adobe 1998 colour profile and color managed workflow.

My output is to Epson 4000 printer.

Now the confusion…. Although in theory the printer is CYMK I understand that it actually prints RGB.
I was told to produce documents with color mode set to RGB for output to typical "high street" ink jet printers such as Epson as they are really RGB printers as opposed to commercial printing which uses CYMK.

I now have a copy of Illustrator which seems to suggest that I should use CYMK as "it gives a better screen to print match" (I use Gretag Macbeth Eye One for monitor and print profiling).

Can someone confirm that I should be using RGB as my working color mode and not CYMK, even though my output is to print and not intended primarly for viewing on a monitor. Obviously I need to be consistent between both applications.

Thanks

Les

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N
nomail
Feb 15, 2005
Dadio wrote:

I have been using Photoshop CS with color mode set to RGB. I use Adobe 1998 colour profile and color managed workflow.
My output is to Epson 4000 printer.

Now the confusion…. Although in theory the printer is CYMK I understand that it actually prints RGB.
I was told to produce documents with color mode set to RGB for output to typical "high street" ink jet printers such as Epson as they are really RGB printers as opposed to commercial printing which uses CYMK.

Not exactly. All printers use CMYK inks, or combinations with more than four colors based on CMYK. However, the printer DRIVER expects RGB data, and does the RGB to CMYK conversion for you. If you feed such a driver CMYK data, it will convert those data back to RGB first, and then convert it again to its own CMYK. You can imagine what this does for color accuracy…

If high street printers are used with RIP software, you may have to feed it CMYK data however. It’s not the printer, it’s the software.


Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/
D
Dadio
Feb 15, 2005
Thanks Johan

Basically it means ignore CMYK and stick to RGB as the colour mode unless I should ever need color seperations or use a rip.

Best wishes

Les

"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message
Dadio wrote:

I have been using Photoshop CS with color mode set to RGB. I use Adobe 1998 colour profile and color managed workflow.
My output is to Epson 4000 printer.

Now the confusion…. Although in theory the printer is CYMK I
understand
that it actually prints RGB.
I was told to produce documents with color mode set to RGB for output to typical "high street" ink jet printers such as Epson as they are really
RGB
printers as opposed to commercial printing which uses CYMK.

Not exactly. All printers use CMYK inks, or combinations with more than four colors based on CMYK. However, the printer DRIVER expects RGB data, and does the RGB to CMYK conversion for you. If you feed such a driver CMYK data, it will convert those data back to RGB first, and then convert it again to its own CMYK. You can imagine what this does for color accuracy…

If high street printers are used with RIP software, you may have to feed it CMYK data however. It’s not the printer, it’s the software.


Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/
H
Hecate
Feb 16, 2005
On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 14:18:28 GMT, "Dadio" wrote:

Thanks Johan

Basically it means ignore CMYK and stick to RGB as the colour mode unless I should ever need color seperations or use a rip.
Again, as Johan said, not exactly. If you are using colour management and you want to soft proof your images, the soft proof will show an approximation of the CMYK output from your printer.



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