Hi Rob! Congrats for the great tutorial. I have a little tip for the dull colors: if you convert the RGB profile from sRGB IEC61966-2.1 to Adobe RGB then it will brighten the image and gives more saturation. After that you can convert to CMYK and then the image will remain more contrasting and saturated. I always do this method and CMYK photos will have more 'life' in the final result.
If I provide my artwork in RGB including my non-image artwork, when the printer converts the RGB files to CMYK using their color-calibrated profiles for their press, they will have the full spectrum of RGB gamut to use to approximate color reproduction. This is UNDOUBTEDLY going to produce OPTIMIZED printed colors because the printer profiles are designed to work specifically with their presses. If I convert my artwork to CMYK and work in the CMYK colorspace, It's still an RGB color space on the screen. It is now converting the CMYK back to RGB to display it. But there's no gamut loss in that direction. However, when I send CMYK Artwork to the printer and my images use a different color profile than the printer uses, the printer has to convert my version of CMYK with it's limited gamut to their version of CMYK with a potentially different gamut thereby ensuring that more color loss will happen. I'm providing smaller gamut CMKY documents that then get converted to optimized CMYK which has the potential to limit even more gamut. It will NEVER produce improved gamut. or color reproduction. The only time that it is reasonable to convert your ProRGB or SRGB or RGB images to CMYK is if you have the predefined optimized press profiles provided by the printer. This should be done as the final production step thereby optimizing your gamut with only one compatible color conversion. However, if I produce my artwork in the same color space, sRGB for example, then provide the much higher gamut file to the printer, THEY WILL OPTIMIZE THE sRGB colors to output the best quality color reproduction based on their press profiles. It may not look like the screen, but it will produce better color output with higher gamut. To prove this is true, simply take a sheet of photos that you compile from your iPhone in ProRGB colorspace and submit them directly to the printer to reproduce the colors. They will take the high gamut files and apply the corrections to convert to CMYK based on their presses. next, take the same file and convert it to Generic CMYK Color Space and send it to the printer as well. The printer will then convert it to their color profiles, output the plates and generate the prints. The RGB files will produce better quality color reproduction because the conversion happens once using the highest available gamut. The CMYK files will provide lower gamut sources and still have some color loss when converting to press optimized CMYK. It's double-lossy color repoduction. Printers that like CMYK artwork like it not because it produces better quality prints but rather because then they aren't responsible when your prints suck. They can blame your color conversions. You provided us with the color separations, we just used what you gave us. And this doesn't even account for the problems you face if the printer used is a 5-8 color printer. Converting from limited gamut CMYK to 8 colors provides NO BENEFIT IN GAMUT when converting up. However, RGB - > 8 color process will still not produce the full RGB Gamut, but it will produce a shit-ton more colors than CMYK Generic Profile to 8-color printer optimized profiles.
The discussion of a "calibrated screen" around 7:00 is hilarious. A "calibrated screen" is not simply a product you buy. It is an action that any graphic professional should perform with a colorimeter. You can calibrate a MacBook and a 300 pound laptop display as well.
Hi Rob, great tutorial video! I got a question though, shall I edit the photo in RGB then convert to CMYK? Or convert to CMYK and then edit? Thanks again!
Thank you so much for this wonderful video. as self taught artist, printing my artwork is pain. but thank you for your video, I will try this CMYK format. :)
Thank you I needed the convert as I'm doing a an ad for a magazine one of the option was CMYK and the other a PDF, hedging my bets as its for a friend and I wanted to make sure the had a usable image.
That's 4 colour process. Could you go into special additional inks (spot colours). Sometimes you can break the rules if the colour is isolated to perhaps a logo or text. Are there tricks you can do with additional inks to spice up your existing gamut?
Thanks, Rob, very helpful! May I ask you if it would be the same to convert the whole InDesign file with images in RGB colour directly to PDF with FOGRA39 profile? It’d save a huge amount of time. Let me know. Many thanks!
I have a question. I don't understand why we don't just print a CMYK sample and then visually adjust the colors and lighting of the monitor after it? And you have a match...
Thank you for that great tutorial 🙏 I was wondering what do you think about the idea of adding color correction filters to compensate the color changes after converting our image to CMYK? Is that a proper workflow or should I just leave it as it is without trying to match the colors back?
when my design firstly design in CMYK mode but when i saved it lastly in jpg mode colours are changes something like washed out and not good why is that happening any solutions for that?
Is there any difference between preferring to use the "Image > Adjustments > CMYK color" option instead using the "Edit > Convert to Profile" option? I mean..... will the image get a better colorization/will I be doing a more professional job when I use the "Color to Profile" option instead the "Adjustments" option? Thanks!
Hello mate, i appreciate how you explain this tutorial. Actually i work in a pre press industry and still confuse how to convert cmyk to pantone in photoshop via channels jst for specific color cmyk. Can you help please. Thanks
You can boost saturation with good results, but one must realize that at a certain point, those extra saturated colors may get cut right back to keep within specific ink limits. It really depends on what inks you’re printing with and the media you’re printing on. For example, a CMYK profile may specify no more than 300% total ink coverage. That means none of the 4 inks are allowed to add up to more than 300% in total coverage at any one area. So, in theory, one could have 100% Yellow, 100% Magenta, and 100% Cyan (muddy brown), but no extra ink (from black). Why is that an issue? Because, using more ink will not produce better results, is wasteful, and will take longer to dry if cold-set. For newspaper jobs on newsprint 30# stock, ink limits are usually 240%-260%. So, you have less ink to work with, mainly because the paper is cheap, thin with bleed-through, and must dry quickly. Graphics artists and prepress for newspapers can’t saturate too much without Photoshop cutting back the ink during CMYK conversion due to lower ink limits. Hope that gives you an idea of what happens and why.
Hey just found your channel very informative i started selling stickers and would love the colours to pop more what could i do to make them better would material make a bigger difference
Do you know of any android apps that will convert RGB into CMYK? From my research only Procreate has that option but it's Apple only. Im at my witts end 🙂 Photoshop app doesn't have it either. Unless Im missing something.... thank you so much for your time and for so clearly explaining the process (albeit on a PC which I don't have 😩) thank you! 🙏🙂
I have a bit of a very specific issue here besides CMYK conversion. And that is fonts. I have some work lines up that I ordered a small run of, but I found the font is looking very fuzzy. It is also rather small which I guess does not help here. I totally get why that is my fault because I guess I had it either printed on the wrong type of stock OR with the wrong type of printing process. The font is white on black background. The font itself is a serif one (Bodoni). The base material (Orafol 3164) is white. I think the color layering is too thick and it runs into the white space underneath. How can I fix that? Do I need 5 color print (CMYK plus White) or is there anything I can do otherwise? Sure, I could make the font bold but that will not affect the thin portions of the font, so that option is out. Any pointers would be appreciated.
Thank you for this video! Can a printer ADD an additional color or two with the CMYK to increase the output gamut? I know that's an extra cost for additional plating, ink and so on. If that's possible, are there "typical" colors recommended to boost the output, or does that depend solely on colors you are trying to achieve? I'm pretty new to this. I'm in the process of creating a book. I'm a textile designer and work with very vibrant colors, in general, and is why I'm researching this.
I am new to computers, graphics and specially photoshop, see i managed to create my artwork on word obviously as RGB and i need it to print as vibrant as it looks, I'm failing miserably at converting and adjusting the tones . so i understood the converting and the why, now how do i modify the artwork colors to print as vibrant as if it were RGB, can the colors be changed under CMYK so that it prints like RGB? should i just get a professional?
Depends on your printer, different printers are different colors result. In this case, you must calibrate your monitor to the same color on your printer. Sometimes the manufacturer creates a specific color profile included in CD(Compact Disk) or Uploads it on their website for a specific printer. If you not enough time and tired yep just get a professional. Why printer manufacturers can't create the same color for all printers? It's hard It's like, humans are born with different forms, shapes, and sizes even though their parent is the same person.
I work in accessibility. I was wondering if this affects the color contrast ratio. If two colors have a certain contrast in rgb will it change once they are converted to cmyk?
Hey quick question bud, I have an original artwork which Ive colour corrected etc in RGB, Im sending it to be printinted on a canvas, would the same methodology apply? Im sure its a yes, but just to be sure, thanks.
Thank you for the tips Rob! I have a question and wondering if you know the solution to this: What's the best way to convert an RGB image to CMYK to be put in (and used for print) in Adobe Illustrator? I tried converting the image to CMYK first in Photoshop, and then embedded/linking the image in Illustrator file (CMYK mode) and the colours look horrible - the final print colours were dull too? :( Is there a specific order I can follow to get the colours to look right? Thank you in advance!
روب مور اشكرك كسر جدا استمتعت با الفديو الرئع هزا استفت منهو كسير انا ابلغ من العمر 70 عام وانا مسرور من هزا الفديو لقد حصلت عليا باالصدفه انا شكرا جدا لك
Thanks for this! For the best printing quality, I should start my editing with a CMYK illustrator file or a RGB illustrator file then convert it to CMYK? If I started with RGB then convert it to CMYK for print, will there be any cons? Thanks.
Do you have any idea how to change the colour profile using photoshop for the IPad?! I’ve searched everywhere to find out how to do it and I can’t find any info 😩
Ooo, this is a good question. I’ve just had a look in Photoshop on the iPad and done abit of googling as well. At the moment (oddly) it looks like you can only work in RGB. Fingers crossed they make it a feature soon to change your colour profile in Photoshop for iPad 😊
Wouldn’t you just be better off keeping all artwork as RGB, then on PDF export create the CMYK there. That way your original file is flexible for unlimited output options and it’s not locked into a particular printers specific CMYK output
I've also heard that you should save a copy of the original RGB because when you convert an image from RGB to CMYK in Photoshop, un-doing that change will not put the image back to your original RGB but something close. I've heard this from a few people.
Hi Rob!
Congrats for the great tutorial. I have a little tip for the dull colors: if you convert the RGB profile from sRGB IEC61966-2.1 to Adobe RGB then it will brighten the image and gives more saturation. After that you can convert to CMYK and then the image will remain more contrasting and saturated. I always do this method and CMYK photos will have more 'life' in the final result.
3:30 to skip intro/ info. It is however well explained and useful.
If I provide my artwork in RGB including my non-image artwork, when the printer converts the RGB files to CMYK using their color-calibrated profiles for their press, they will have the full spectrum of RGB gamut to use to approximate color reproduction. This is UNDOUBTEDLY going to produce OPTIMIZED printed colors because the printer profiles are designed to work specifically with their presses.
If I convert my artwork to CMYK and work in the CMYK colorspace, It's still an RGB color space on the screen. It is now converting the CMYK back to RGB to display it. But there's no gamut loss in that direction.
However, when I send CMYK Artwork to the printer and my images use a different color profile than the printer uses, the printer has to convert my version of CMYK with it's limited gamut to their version of CMYK with a potentially different gamut thereby ensuring that more color loss will happen. I'm providing smaller gamut CMKY documents that then get converted to optimized CMYK which has the potential to limit even more gamut. It will NEVER produce improved gamut. or color reproduction.
The only time that it is reasonable to convert your ProRGB or SRGB or RGB images to CMYK is if you have the predefined optimized press profiles provided by the printer. This should be done as the final production step thereby optimizing your gamut with only one compatible color conversion.
However, if I produce my artwork in the same color space, sRGB for example, then provide the much higher gamut file to the printer, THEY WILL OPTIMIZE THE sRGB colors to output the best quality color reproduction based on their press profiles. It may not look like the screen, but it will produce better color output with higher gamut.
To prove this is true, simply take a sheet of photos that you compile from your iPhone in ProRGB colorspace and submit them directly to the printer to reproduce the colors. They will take the high gamut files and apply the corrections to convert to CMYK based on their presses.
next, take the same file and convert it to Generic CMYK Color Space and send it to the printer as well. The printer will then convert it to their color profiles, output the plates and generate the prints.
The RGB files will produce better quality color reproduction because the conversion happens once using the highest available gamut. The CMYK files will provide lower gamut sources and still have some color loss when converting to press optimized CMYK. It's double-lossy color repoduction.
Printers that like CMYK artwork like it not because it produces better quality prints but rather because then they aren't responsible when your prints suck. They can blame your color conversions. You provided us with the color separations, we just used what you gave us.
And this doesn't even account for the problems you face if the printer used is a 5-8 color printer. Converting from limited gamut CMYK to 8 colors provides NO BENEFIT IN GAMUT when converting up. However, RGB - > 8 color process will still not produce the full RGB Gamut, but it will produce a shit-ton more colors than CMYK Generic Profile to 8-color printer optimized profiles.
awesome
Brilliant video great explanation
How the literal f**k do you not have any more subscribers. Precise, communicative, thank you!
I have an HP Latex printer and always print in Adobe 1998 RGB using ONYX. Colors come out amazing. Never had a problem. I design in RGB too.
The discussion of a "calibrated screen" around 7:00 is hilarious. A "calibrated screen" is not simply a product you buy. It is an action that any graphic professional should perform with a colorimeter. You can calibrate a MacBook and a 300 pound laptop display as well.
The fogra39 tip potentially saved an important project for me, so thank you very much.
Welcome to TH-cam!
You r gonna be great soon!!
Very Usuful and very well explained. I hope to see more of this soon.
Great video 👍 what profile should I use for Amazon kdp? They don’t mention colour profiles.
Great video again Rob, keep it up 👍🏻🤓
great video. thanks for the "jump to the tutorial" heads up ! very useful!
Thank you for sharing this video. Its really important video. 👍
Hi Rob, great tutorial video!
I got a question though, shall I edit the photo in RGB then convert to CMYK? Or convert to CMYK and then edit?
Thanks again!
I always love clear and intelligent tutorials - and this is certainly one of them! I am subscribing to your channel. :)
Yeah, Mate Awesome Videos, Even in 2024
Thanks a lot for the video Rob, helped a ton!
love your video, reallly enjoy it , hmm is there any way so that i can make my artwork become real black ...
Hi Rob: I am new to printing via a commercial printer. This video was very detailed and provided a great explanation of CMYK. Cheers, Keith
I LOVE YOU.
What profile do you suggest for DTF printing?
Great video - really helpful! Thanks 😁
That is awesome man, thank's for that, i appreciate this!
Thank you so much for this wonderful video. as self taught artist, printing my artwork is pain. but thank you for your video, I will try this CMYK format. :)
What is the best way to regain the rgb saturation if you have to switch to CMYK for printing?
Hi Rob - thanks for your video that was super simple and helpful!
Thank you! Hugely helpful tutorial
Great video! I’m playing the drinking version next time though.
Thank you I needed the convert as I'm doing a an ad for a magazine one of the option was CMYK and the other a PDF, hedging my bets as its for a friend and I wanted to make sure the had a usable image.
That's 4 colour process. Could you go into special additional inks (spot colours). Sometimes you can break the rules if the colour is isolated to perhaps a logo or text.
Are there tricks you can do with additional inks to spice up your existing gamut?
Just seeing this page, your contents are great
Thanks, Rob, very helpful! May I ask you if it would be the same to convert the whole InDesign file with images in RGB colour directly to PDF with FOGRA39 profile? It’d save a huge amount of time. Let me know. Many thanks!
Loved this! So easy to watch and learn from
I have a question. I don't understand why we don't just print a CMYK sample and then visually adjust the colors and lighting of the monitor after it? And you have a match...
Great job! Easy to understand and very informative!
Thank you for that great tutorial 🙏 I was wondering what do you think about the idea of adding color correction filters to compensate the color changes after converting our image to CMYK?
Is that a proper workflow or should I just leave it as it is without trying to match the colors back?
Great video!
Great help brother saved my day and future..
Hi .... how can I get the picture that you are using in this video, can you give me a link for downloading thanks
when my design firstly design in CMYK mode but when i saved it lastly in jpg mode colours are changes something like washed out and not good why is that happening any solutions for that?
Do you save the graphic as a jpg or tiff before processing photoshop. Do you save as jpg or tiff after converting to cmyk
And if photoshop just doesn't allow me to press any of these wonderful options?
Clear and succinct - this has helped me with a design issue i have had. Thanks!
Thanks for thé video (y)
Thank you Rob!
Thank you for this video! I didn't know you could convert by profile.
Is there any difference between preferring to use the "Image > Adjustments > CMYK color" option instead using the "Edit > Convert to Profile" option? I mean..... will the image get a better colorization/will I be doing a more professional job when I use the "Color to Profile" option instead the "Adjustments" option? Thanks!
This was incredibly helpful, thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you 👍
What is the best way to fix what we call as printers "Register Black"?
please can you explain how to convert jpg to rgb ? thank you
My blue looks purple after converting. Is it just my screen which is showing it purple or would my print come out purple-ish too?
Thanks for this! So informative 💛
Perfect Thanks!
if i save same image as rgb and cmyk then print ?
will there be any diffrent in quality ??
Thanks it helps
Awesome!!!! Thank You you for your clear and easy to understand how to convert files. You were a big help.
Thank you. Very informative. It would be great if you explained this using GIMP, please.
Hello mate, i appreciate how you explain this tutorial. Actually i work in a pre press industry and still confuse how to convert cmyk to pantone in photoshop via channels jst for specific color cmyk. Can you help please. Thanks
Thank you so much! This was so helpful
What about after making a flyer, do I have to group all my layer masks before the conversion?
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Thank you you're a life saver!
What if we saturate the colors after converting to cmyk
So would it make sense to “over saturate “ the colors be compensate for the color loss after converting to CMYK ?
that my question?
You can boost saturation with good results, but one must realize that at a certain point, those extra saturated colors may get cut right back to keep within specific ink limits. It really depends on what inks you’re printing with and the media you’re printing on. For example, a CMYK profile may specify no more than 300% total ink coverage. That means none of the 4 inks are allowed to add up to more than 300% in total coverage at any one area. So, in theory, one could have 100% Yellow, 100% Magenta, and 100% Cyan (muddy brown), but no extra ink (from black). Why is that an issue? Because, using more ink will not produce better results, is wasteful, and will take longer to dry if cold-set.
For newspaper jobs on newsprint 30# stock, ink limits are usually 240%-260%. So, you have less ink to work with, mainly because the paper is cheap, thin with bleed-through, and must dry quickly. Graphics artists and prepress for newspapers can’t saturate too much without Photoshop cutting back the ink during CMYK conversion due to lower ink limits.
Hope that gives you an idea of what happens and why.
@Michael Jones I've also heard there are different thresholds for coated versus uncoated (glossy versus matte). I think.
Hey just found your channel very informative i started selling stickers and would love the colours to pop more what could i do to make them better would material make a bigger difference
thank u man! appreciated
Do you know of any android apps that will convert RGB into CMYK? From my research only Procreate has that option but it's Apple only. Im at my witts end 🙂 Photoshop app doesn't have it either. Unless Im missing something.... thank you so much for your time and for so clearly explaining the process (albeit on a PC which I don't have 😩) thank you! 🙏🙂
hey did ya find an app that can convert it for android?
Then do I export as and untick covert to rgb?
Thank you sooo much 🙂
I have a bit of a very specific issue here besides CMYK conversion.
And that is fonts. I have some work lines up that I ordered a small run of, but I found the font is looking very fuzzy. It is also rather small which I guess does not help here. I totally get why that is my fault because I guess I had it either printed on the wrong type of stock OR with the wrong type of printing process. The font is white on black background. The font itself is a serif one (Bodoni). The base material (Orafol 3164) is white. I think the color layering is too thick and it runs into the white space underneath. How can I fix that? Do I need 5 color print (CMYK plus White) or is there anything I can do otherwise? Sure, I could make the font bold but that will not affect the thin portions of the font, so that option is out. Any pointers would be appreciated.
That was brilliant tutorial. I love the way how you train people. You should do 1:1 sessions.
thanks tNice tutorials really helped
Very helpful, thank you!
thanks borther
Really useful, thanks very much
Perfect!
Thank you for this video! Can a printer ADD an additional color or two with the CMYK to increase the output gamut? I know that's an extra cost for additional plating, ink and so on. If that's possible, are there "typical" colors recommended to boost the output, or does that depend solely on colors you are trying to achieve? I'm pretty new to this. I'm in the process of creating a book. I'm a textile designer and work with very vibrant colors, in general, and is why I'm researching this.
Thank you sir
I am new to computers, graphics and specially photoshop, see i managed to create my artwork on word obviously as RGB and i need it to print as vibrant as it looks, I'm failing miserably at converting and adjusting the tones . so i understood the converting and the why, now how do i modify the artwork colors to print as vibrant as if it were RGB, can the colors be changed under CMYK so that it prints like RGB? should i just get a professional?
Depends on your printer, different printers are different colors result.
In this case, you must calibrate your monitor to the same color on your printer. Sometimes the manufacturer creates a specific color profile included in CD(Compact Disk) or Uploads it on their website for a specific printer.
If you not enough time and tired yep just get a professional.
Why printer manufacturers can't create the same color for all printers? It's hard
It's like, humans are born with different forms, shapes, and sizes even though their parent is the same person.
I work in accessibility. I was wondering if this affects the color contrast ratio. If two colors have a certain contrast in rgb will it change once they are converted to cmyk?
What about KDP book cover printing? I don't know what color profile they use and I have a dark book cover I need to print.
I tryed this all dozens of times. it says CMYK in the picture. It changes the color but exported it still is in RGB. WTF. It so annoying.
Rob you're far too engaging for just 341 subscribers. Keep on it because you are going to go far.
Hey quick question bud, I have an original artwork which Ive colour corrected etc in RGB, Im sending it to be printinted on a canvas, would the same methodology apply? Im sure its a yes, but just to be sure, thanks.
when I export, it still converts it back to RGB... anyone have any tips on this?
I have a png file is that in RGB and can I put it into CMYK. I'm making a boardgame for Panda Manufacturing and they need CMYK. Thank you!
How to change DPI to 500 and resize image to 16" x 20" ?
Thank you!
Thank you for the tips Rob! I have a question and wondering if you know the solution to this: What's the best way to convert an RGB image to CMYK to be put in (and used for print) in Adobe Illustrator? I tried converting the image to CMYK first in Photoshop, and then embedded/linking the image in Illustrator file (CMYK mode) and the colours look horrible - the final print colours were dull too? :( Is there a specific order I can follow to get the colours to look right? Thank you in advance!
How do you do it in photoshop I pad
روب مور اشكرك كسر جدا استمتعت با الفديو الرئع هزا استفت منهو كسير انا ابلغ من العمر 70 عام وانا مسرور من هزا الفديو لقد حصلت عليا باالصدفه انا شكرا جدا لك
version?
Can PNG format convert to CMYK?
Thanks for this! For the best printing quality, I should start my editing with a CMYK illustrator file or a RGB illustrator file then convert it to CMYK? If I started with RGB then convert it to CMYK for print, will there be any cons? Thanks.
Plz help me,,
Wch color mode is best for photo print,, RGB color or CMYK color,,
@@abhisharma8461 CYMK
@@christinas926 thnx
I take 2 screenshots from the 2 ways to transform it to CMYK and actually it looks way better the "non profesional" way to do it, strange.
Do you have any idea how to change the colour profile using photoshop for the IPad?! I’ve searched everywhere to find out how to do it and I can’t find any info 😩
Ooo, this is a good question. I’ve just had a look in Photoshop on the iPad and done abit of googling as well. At the moment (oddly) it looks like you can only work in RGB. Fingers crossed they make it a feature soon to change your colour profile in Photoshop for iPad 😊
the fact that you didnt even mention the conversion options when using edit>convert to profile was disappointing
Wouldn’t you just be better off keeping all artwork as RGB, then on PDF export create the CMYK there. That way your original file is flexible for unlimited output options and it’s not locked into a particular printers specific CMYK output
I've also heard that you should save a copy of the original RGB because when you convert an image from RGB to CMYK in Photoshop, un-doing that change will not put the image back to your original RGB but something close. I've heard this from a few people.
urgh, Ive got client with all different set of printer, explaining things is hard.