How to fine tune color conversion between RGB and CMYK (watercolor illustration)

[kaori_xyz]

Hello,

I had scanned a watercolor illustrations with Epson perfection V600 (In TIFF, 800 dpi, 48bits color...).

I need to convert an image from RGB to CMYK. I already try :
- Image > Mode > CMYK
- Edit > Convert Profile...

The issue is that the colors are very bad between RGB and CMYK... And i don't know how to fix that !

It's my first job like children book illustrator and i'm desperate

I know that there no the same colors between RGB and CMYK but i'm sure i can have better results.

For the moment, the results are very drab and insipid.

Thanks for your help !

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Please state the specific Color Spaces instead of just saying »RGB« and »CMYK«.

Also please post the image in question or at least screenshots so people may better understand what you are trying to describe.

What are Photoshop’s Edit > Color Settings?

When using »Convert to Profile« which exact and complete settings have you tried yet? (As for Intents only »Relative Colorimetric« and »Perceptual« would seem to make sense here.)

[D Fosse]

Yep. You need to ask the printer which specific CMYK profile applies to their specific process. This isn't generic. The Photoshop default, US Web Coated (SWOP), is not used anywhere outside North and South America.

The Image > Mode command is fine if you're aware of this and know what you're doing, but if not, it's very misleading and potentially damaging.

You also need to know that color spaces don't overlap entirely, and RGB and CMYK spaces overlap the least. The non-overlapping areas are known as "out of gamut", and there's nothing you can do about that except compensate as best you can. Out of gamut colors simply cannot be reproduced in that color space.

[Trevor.Dennis]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/D+Fosse  wrote

Yep. You need to ask the printer ...............

[snip loads of clever stuff about colour spaces]

Dag, do you have a super power (like Norman's) that alerts you to threads like this?  We should sort you out with an appropriate avatar.

[D Fosse]

Trevor.Dennis  wrote

Dag, do you have a super power (like Norman's) that alerts you to threads like this?

Nothing so esoteric, Trevor. I pop in and read most of the threads here, just don't reply to them. I only reach for my keyboard when I feel I can lift the general tone of the conversation   The rest of the time I leave it to you guys...

[Test Screen Name]

Are you absolutely sure they want you deliver CMYK at all? What are their specifications in detail?

[Stephen Marsh]

I agree that we really need to see at least part of the original and ideally know which CMYK profile is the target.

However as a general rule, forget about matching the original scan, end consumers will not see or know the RGB colours, just make the CMYK as pleasing as you can. A good place to start is with curves and selective colour adjustments to help “purify” key hues (perhaps with use of channel mixer or apply image to move detail from the gray component into the primary channels if too much detail is lost when cleaning).