Placing PS image into INDD for print output - change in color

[mindyb57988392]

I would like to follow-up on a post I read from Oct 10, 2018, which states: "I am putting a photobook together for print.The image has been saved in Photoshop as a hi-res jpeg. When I place the jpeg into Indesign the colour changes and details are lost. Then when the image is printed, again it resonates with the Indesign file." I have pretty much the same issue:  my images in PS are RBG color mode and I've placed them into INDD. When I print, the images are not the same color, not as vibrant, etc. I am wondering if the answers may have changed now in 2021, as I was not able to get the right results by saving the color profile as suggested in that thread. Any suggestions about how to save the color profile from PhotoShop to Indesign now, for Epson print output, please advise. Thank you!

[Willi Adelberger]

In Photoshop you should turn on the CMYK Proof Preview as the Gamuth of CMYK is different and smaller than the RGB gamuth. Vibrant colors can not be represented with CMYK as it is possible with RGB. It has nothing to do with InDesign, Photoshop or any other application. It is a physical limitation.

Take care that your image uses the correct color space, that is color space (RGB, CMYK or Lab) with the correct color profile.

For your output use the CMYK color profile as the printer tells you.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Further to Will's answer, the attached shows what you would expect when converting from RGB to CMYK. If you turn on View > Proof Colors in Photoshop, you can test what will happen to your glorious RGB colors. This shift is unavoidable.

Because of this, it is important to know what you will be printing to.

As an example, the 3rd image in my sample is the color gamut of a high-end inkjet printer that, because of the extra inks it has (mine has a total of 12 inks), has a much larger gamut than regular CMYK printing, so you can get much closer to the original RGB colors, but even with the best printer, you still will lose some vibrancy.

 

[rob day]

Without seeing the image it’s hard to know whether the problem is out-of-gamut color or a print driver issue (i.e., you’ve set the wrong output profile in the driver). You can check an image’s profile assignment by selecting it, and checking the Link Info panel. If the profile is listed as Document RGB, the image doesn’t have a profile embedded.

In general avoid sRGB for print output—it will clip a large percentage of the Epson print gamut. Also if you are not driving the Epson printer with a RIP, try exporting to PDF with the Output tab’s Destination profile set to Document RGB with profiles included, and see if printing from Acrobat helps.