It is very rare that a computer monitor will display accurately the color chosen in your layout or in Photoshop. Professionals spend several thousand dollars, time and effort to 'tweak' their systems so that visually the monitor will display as close to possible the printed page. Keep in mind that the two processes are totally different.
Red, Green, and Blue are "additive colors". If we combine red, green and blue light you will get white light. This is the principal behind the T.V. set in your living room and the monitor you are staring at now.
Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are "subtractive colors". If we print cyan, magenta and yellow inks on white paper, they absorb the light shining on the page. Since our eyes receive no reflected light from the paper, we perceive black... in a perfect world!
In practice, printing subtractive inks may contain impurities that prevent them from absorbing light perfectly. They do a pretty good job with light colors, but when we add them all together, they produce a murky brown rather than black. In order to get decent dark colors, black ink is added in increasing proportions, as the color gets darker and darker. This is the "K" or "key" component in Cyan Magenta Yellow and blacK printing.
Additive color, or RGB mode, is optimized for display on computer monitors and peripherals, most notably scanning devices. The printing world operates in subtractive color, or CMYK mode.
One of the most common errors made by inexperienced graphic designers is submitting RGB files. As a result we must ask if they would like us to convert to CMYK before we send the files for film output. Most of the time, the color change that will occur is slight. However, every once in a while, the color range after conversion is compressed during the transition to CMYK mode resulting in a complete change in color tones. Be warned that there is absolutely no way to get that deep RGB blue using CMYK, no matter how much we want to.
Photoshop Solution:
CVC = computer video simulating coated paper
Red, Green, and Blue are "additive colors". If we combine red, green and blue light you will get white light. This is the principal behind the T.V. set in your living room and the monitor you are staring at now.Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are "subtractive colors". If we print cyan, magenta and yellow inks on white paper, they absorb the light shining on the page. Since our eyes receive no reflected light from the paper, we perceive black... in a perfect world!
In practice, printing subtractive inks may contain impurities that prevent them from absorbing light perfectly. They do a pretty good job with light colors, but when we add them all together, they produce a murky brown rather than black. In order to get decent dark colors, black ink is added in increasing proportions, as the color gets darker and darker. This is the "K" or "key" component in Cyan Magenta Yellow and blacK printing.
Additive color, or RGB mode, is optimized for display on computer monitors and peripherals, most notably scanning devices. The printing world operates in subtractive color, or CMYK mode.
- Rich black is the usage of all 4 process colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK together. 4 passes of ink building upon each other creates a deeper black than simply using one pass of black.
- Each color is expressed in a range from 0% to 100%, if you use 100% of each color that would equal 400% ink saturation which will overload the paper and cause the paper to wrinkle (like water painting) You should not exceed 300% total ink saturation.
One of the most common errors made by inexperienced graphic designers is submitting RGB files. As a result we must ask if they would like us to convert to CMYK before we send the files for film output. Most of the time, the color change that will occur is slight. However, every once in a while, the color range after conversion is compressed during the transition to CMYK mode resulting in a complete change in color tones. Be warned that there is absolutely no way to get that deep RGB blue using CMYK, no matter how much we want to.
Photoshop Solution:
Ensure images are in CMYK mode
The Pantone corporation has gone to the trouble of standardizing CMYK color and how it should appear on paper. One book they sell is called PANTONE® process guide coated SWOP.
This gives the designer the ability to see the printed results of the CMYK % values they set in their program's color setting.
Since CDman uses semi-gloss book paper we use the Coated version as opposed to uncoated when trying to decide on CMYK values.
If we refer to a Pantone SWOP book and not our monitors or anyone else's, we will get a true impression of the final color tint. Obviously no book can contain every tint possible and each offset press is slightly different, but there will be a whole lot fewer surprised people if guide books are used.
Terms in brief:
Terms in brief:
Process = CMYK (mixing 4 primary colors together)
SPOT color = Formula to obtain one 'spot' shade.
Pantone Swatch Book Suffixes:
C = coated paper
U = uncoated paper
CV = computer video
CVC = computer video simulating coated paper
CVU = computer video simulating uncoated paper
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