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Question

Same CMYK-color yields 3 different results

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
March 1, 2022
3 replies
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I'm trying to re-create a certain green color used in a company profile, but it seems no matter what I do I never truely get it. The color is CMYK 100 / 0 / 100 / 0 (#00b000).

I have attached a screenshot (URL here: https://prnt.sc/OoILF10zZNJD) that shows the following: mail-icon in the background (the "correct" green I want), the word "test" above which is slightly off, coming from a different .PSD-project and "sale" which is just a direct screenshot on top, taken from an inDesign-project, which is completely off.

I realize this most likely has to do with certain color-settings/profiles, but it seems no matter how much I try to mix-and-match, I never get the color right. On top of that, the color tends to go "off" when I export the image.

Any suggestions on what to try?

Windows

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NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

"The color is CMYK 100 / 0 / 100 / 0"

Unfortunately some users do not realise that, until asssociated with a CMYK ICC profile, those numbers are meaningless.

Make sure your document [image?] has an embedded ICC profile and, if copying CMYK values between documents, remember that 'CMYK 100 / 0 / 100 / 0' is equivocal, it will produce a different onscreen appearance for each different CMYK colour space you assign. SO the numbers HAVE to be accompanied by the correct ICC profile.

Of course it's also vital to use the actual CMYK ICC profile for the particular printing condition which is intended to be used.

And do view your work in Adobe applications so that the colour management ICC profile is respected.

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer:: Co-Author:Getting Colour Right
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

JuushakoAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks for the reply. I see ICC profiles mentioned alot. Is this the same as "Document Profile" (Adobe 1998 / 8 bit?) or something separate to this? I did some mistakes with having CMYK and RGB documents and wondering why they were so different, but I fixed it now to RGB, for web-publishing.

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

"I see ICC profiles mentioned a lot. Is this the same as "Document Profile" (Adobe 1998 / 8 bit?)"

The "Document profile" IS the ICC profile of that document, in your case Adobe RGB (1998)

after the / the 8 bit is labeling the file as an 8 bit (per channel) file, the alternative there would be '16 bit (per channel)'

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer:: Co-Author:Getting Colour Right
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

D Fosse

Community Expert

That color, as it appears in your attached file, is way out of gamut in any CMYK profile. It cannot be reproduced by an offset print process - unless you use special spot inks.

100-0-100-0 is what it is. That's the limit of what CMYK process inks can reproduce, in that particular CMYK color space.

EDIT: oh, get it. It's coming from CMYK and going out as RGB. In that case it's missing color profiles.

Lab numbers is a reference if you have that, but as long as you always honor color profiles and make sure they're embedded and correct, color will match.

JuushakoAuthor

Known Participant

How do I make sure of this? I tried making a PSD-file with exact same color profiles/settings and when I then drag some text into the original PSD-file, it's still off. I have attached a bunch of screenshots in my above reply to Stephen_A_Marsh. Can those be of any help to what the problem is?

D Fosse

Community Expert

First of all you need to identify all color profiles involved. If it's embedded you're fine, then that's it, but if a profile is not embedded (the file is untagged), you have to make an educated guess. Then you can assign that profile. But there has to be a profile to define the numbers as actual colors.

An embedded profile follows the file wherever it travels, and will always override your color settings. This is important.

Start with the original CMYK file. Is there an embedded CMYK profile? If not, you need to make a decision. When converting, you need to have something to convert from, and something to convert to.

"CMYK" and "RGB" don't really exist. They are just generic "umbrella" color models. What you need to know is the specific icc profile: sRGB, Adobe RGB, ISO Coated 300% (ECI), US Web Coated (SWOP), etc. There will be Photoshop defaults just because there has to be something there, but you can't rely on that.

But let's say you have a CMYK profile. Then you need to decide which RGB profile to use in the target document. Here, the safe choice is sRGB, not because it gives any guarantees, but because it's usually regarded as the least common denominator.

Here you may have a problem to begin with, because I see you have Adobe RGB as your working RGB. Now, if you get RGB files that don't have an embedded profile, that's the color space Photoshop will assume, and that's how it will display. And that will be wrong if the file was originally created in sRGB!

This is why embedding the profile is so important. It ensures correct representation all the way downstream.

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

What is the Lab colour of the CMYK file with 100c0m100y0k when evaluated with the appropriate CMYK ICC profile assigned to it?

This is the target colour.

Whether you are matching in RGB or CMYK, the Lab colour numbers will need to closely match the target colours.

The Info panel can be set to show RGB/CMYK/Lab colour numbers, which will all depend on the assigned ICC profile or the Colour Settings ICC profiles for untagged files without an embedded ICC profile.

JuushakoAuthor

Known Participant

I have attached a screenshot of the colors of the mail-icon PSD-file (the green what I want). I use eyedropper-tool to get the color. When I click "Color Libraries" it says PANTONE+ Solid Coated.

I also attached what info-panel is showing and the color settings.

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