Printing transparency gradient in CMYK

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
April 24, 2018
5 replies
997 views

Hi

Firstly i apologise as i'm sure CMYK issues have been well and truely covered in previous forums. However i was wondering if i could get some help with my specific issue.

My CMYK problem is concerning a blue gradient which gradually reduces to complete transparency. I have found that when converting to CMYK this tends to wash out the image when the blue transparency is low.

I understand that when converting to CMYK from RGB not all colours/effects will be translated properly. However i was just wondering if there is a way for me to improve the outcome. Is there any techniques which i can use to reduce the issue?(either effecting the gradient itself or the image behind it?)

I have uploaded 2 images to show my issue. The first is how i want the cover to look like (this is in RGB) and the second is when converted to CMYK.

Thank you for your help!

Regards

Matt

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R

rickwtexas

Known Participant

I disagree with almost every comment on here... almost. Photoshop will handle this better, but there is no need to flatten. Prep the image in psd, in CMYK layers, leave it in layers and place the psd in indesign. Ditch the whole RGB part of the process, leave nothing to convert.

rob day

Community Expert

I disagree with almost every comment on here... almost. Photoshop will handle this better, but there is no need to flatten. Prep the image in psd, in CMYK layers, leave it in layers and place the psd in indesign.

There are problems building blended layers from scratch in CMYK either PS or ID. The most dangerous being the CMYK profile doesn't prevent you from exceeding the profile's total ink limit when you are in CMYK mode and the blending modes are applied, but in RGB mode the profile's total ink and black generation will be correctly handled on the conversion to CMYK. Also working in RGB mode lets you make the conversion to the correct press profile without committing to a single device dependent CMYK space.

rob day

Community Expert

Re: Printing transparency gradients in CMYK

rob day

Community Expert

This is a good example of an advantage of placing RGB and handing the conversion on export or print. When you export to PDF the layered Photoshop image gets flattened before the conversion.

rob day

Community Expert

Don't make the conversion in Photshop or if you do, flatten before converting. You can place the layered RGB file and make the conversion when you export to PDF. See my PS post:

Printing transparency gradients in CMYK