CMYK / RGB for print catalog with PM7

SL
Posted By
Sitara Lal
May 14, 2005
Views
257
Replies
1
Status
Closed
I’m creating a photo intensive catalog in PageMaker7, proofing the pages on a color laser printer and plan to send the finished document to a commercial printer.

Initially I had put in some RGB images and the pages looked fine – both on the monitor as well as on my color laser output. However, since the images presumably needed to be in CMYK for the commercial printer, I converted the same images to CMYK mode (using PhotoShop7). However, now the color laser output shows much darker images with virtually black midtones.

Will this get corrected automatically when the commercial printer runs it or do I need to correct the images in PhotoShop? The problem is that the images look fine on the monitor, so I would not know how to ‘correct’ them!

Also, can someone please advise whether it is OK to insert Photoshop files (.PSD) in a PM7 document which will be sent to a commercial printer, or should I insert only TIFF files?

Thanks for your comments.
Related Tags
catalog cmyk print rgb

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

U
Unknown
May 18, 2005
"Sitara Lal" wrote in
news:_dqhe.16758$:

I’m creating a photo intensive catalog in PageMaker7, proofing the pages on a color laser printer and plan to send the finished document to a commercial printer.

Initially I had put in some RGB images and the pages looked fine – both on the monitor as well as on my color laser output. However, since the images presumably needed to be in CMYK for the commercial printer, I converted the same images to CMYK mode (using PhotoShop7). However, now the color laser output shows much darker images with virtually black midtones.

Will this get corrected automatically when the commercial printer runs it or do I need to correct the images in PhotoShop? The problem is that the images look fine on the monitor, so I would not know how to ‘correct’ them!

Also, can someone please advise whether it is OK to insert Photoshop files (.PSD) in a PM7 document which will be sent to a commercial printer, or should I insert only TIFF files?

Thanks for your comments.

Changing images from RGB to CMYK always changes the image because the color gamut is different. When you’re designing for print, always work with your images in CMYK instead of working in RGB and then converting, or you will have this kind of problem. So yes, you should fix your images before sending them to the printer. Looking good on the monitor means nothing. You have to check the builds by looking at the numbers. This means you’ll have to do a bit of reading. Check out Dan Margulis’ books on color correction. Sounds like your systems aren’t color calibrated. A quick and dirty technique is to print out a good CMYK image with a broad range of color, and use your monitor controls to match the print. That way, you can get a reasonably good idea of what your printed output *should* look like.

Regarding your second question, insert TIFFs, or depending on your printer’s RIP and other factors, he may have to do it for you which will slow your job down (and he’ll charge you for it too.) Send TIFFs and there will no be no need for him to fiddle with them.

Must-have mockup pack for every graphic designer 🔥🔥🔥

Easy-to-use drag-n-drop Photoshop scene creator with more than 2800 items.

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections