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jillianb8996300
Participating Frequently
January 28, 2019
Question

Why are my images appearing different when exporting from Indesign to PDF?

  • January 28, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 1885 views

Hi Adobe Forum,

I am at the final stages of a coffee table photography book.

The printer has advised the following, which I have followed:

  1. Photoshop is set to Fogra 39. This is done under edit, colour settings, (CMYK should be set to Fogra 39)
  2. Save your jpegs as High res after colour corrections has been made.
  3. Indesign to be set to Fogra 39( Same steps as per photoshop.)
  4. When exporting the pdf, choose pdfx-1a
  5. In the Dialouge box that comes up, under ‘’output’’, ensure convert to destination is selected and fogra 39 under destination is selected.

Making sure the above steps have been applied, I saved into PDF and all images appear different, the once warm toned images are now cold.

Any advice please?

Thank you so much in advance.

Jilly

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 28, 2019

    Make sure the InDesign document's CMYK assignment is Fogra39—the document CMYK assignment can be different than the Color Settings' CMYK working space, and in both Photoshop and InDesign it is the document profile that matters. Color Settings is the application's color preferences for new documents, and Assign Profiles... is the active document's profile setting.

    the once warm toned images are now cold.

    It sounds like your document's assignment might be US Web Coated SWOP?

    Should be this:

    Check to make sure your placed images either have no profile assigned, or the matching Coated FOGRA39 profile. In the Link Info panel they should be listed as either Document CMYK or Coated FOGRA39

    In the Export>Output tab, make sure the Destination is set to Document CMYK, which should be Coated FOGRA39:

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 28, 2019

    Right on cue!

    Well done, Rob.

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 28, 2019

    PDF/X1-a is an archaic PDF standard that does not support color management or transparency. If you had come here before starting this project I would have advised you to find a different printer; one capable of handling a color managed RGB workflow using PDF/X-4.

    As it is, it's pretty hard to tell what's going on with your files. We've got some real color management experts floating around here that may be able to help but in the meantime, have you talked to the printer about getting some proofs?

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 28, 2019

    As it is, it's pretty hard to tell what's going on with your files.

    Hi Bob, usually when a poster complains about a cool gray balance it is a good bet the default US SWOP has been assigned—SWOP is noticeably cooler than other press profiles like FOGRA or GRACol. Here the top image has FOGRA assigned, and the bottom image is SWOP

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 28, 2019

    Nice demo of the issue.

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