Need help! My CMYK colours have shifted.

[jonnylcbs]

I am creating a poster and I set up a project in CMYK because I want to print it, here is the image. (Normal colours)

I then created a new canvas with the same settings as the original, the same dimensions, resolution and CMYK format and I transferred my poster into the new canvas (Drag and drop). The problem is the colours have shifted into a dull shade, I don't understand what's happening or how to fix it. Can someone please help. I will post another image of what the poster looks like with the wrong colours. 

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

Check the ICC colour profile assigned to the new CMYK doc vs. the original.

What are your colour management policies set to in Colour Settings (Off, preserve, convert)?

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

/* I am creating a poster and I set up a project in CMYK because I want to print it */

Depending on the print method and workflow, you may be better off with an RGB original.

[mglush]

Hi Jonny,

First, what version of Photoshop are you using? Are upi pm a Mac or Windows machine? Can you show us a screen capture of your Photoshop window -- especially the title bar with the Document Title tab for both the original and new versions? If both files are CMYK and the settings are the same, there should be no shilft. If you set your first version up in RGB and your second in CMYK--that would account for the shift in colors. In the second image you posted, I can see the desaturation especially in the blues which is very typical of CMYK. Something to remember -- the CMYK color space is much smaller than RGB (less colors to work with) 

And when you mentioned that you set up the document in CMYK, 

Second, why are you copying and pasting the image into a new document if all the settings and parameters are the same? You could instead just choose "Save As: to create a new document and then make whatever changes you need to do. In this method, your colors should not shift.

But, if the first document is in RGB and second in CMYK, then the color shift is part of the color space issue. You can try to pump up the color in the CMYK version, but there will be a difference because you are working with significantly less colors.

One more question--what format are you saving your file to send to print? Or, if I could ask, what is your process to prepare your image to send to the printer? And, what type of printing process are you using?

Let us know? We might be able to provide some additional suggestions to help the color!

Michelle

[NB, colourmanagement · Accepted solution]

Hi

The first thing to consider before any of this is what CMYK colour profile you should be using, there is no universal CMYK, the printing method dictates this. The CMYK profile provides ink recipes specific to print type and paper stock.

Your printer should be able to tell you what CMYK ICC profile to use.

If you have that info right and your file is usingthe right CMYK colourspace, then its OK to move on.

If your first image composite is actually CMYK, then, the second, I would imagine, must be using a different CMYK profile? 

Look at bottom left of each document window, theres a little box that can be set to display the document profile. Are they both the same?

I am presuming it’s a flattened image?

Can you explain why you are pasting into another document, why not just duplicate the original if you need 2 copies?

I hope this helps

neil barstow, colourmanagement.net

[please do not use the reply button on a message in the thread, only use the one at the top of the page, to maintain chronological order]

[jonnylcbs]

Okay, so the first thing I should say is I'm a newbie..and a bit of an idiot as it would seem. The reason I dragged my poster into a new document was that I needed the new document to have a different canvas size. I now know that you can just edit the canvas size on the document you're working on but I didn't at the time. To make things worse I was doing this late at night and I was tired so I didn't notice the colour shift at first. So I have already overwritten my original PSD, and I don't think I can revert the file.

I am almost certain my original document was created in CMYK because one of the first things I did was to make my background a Rich Black (60, 60, 60, 100) I am planning on using a company called VistaPrint to print my poster. So I would assume the problem is with the colour settings or the colour profile. Although I have no idea what these setting were on the original document. All I know is the new document is an "Untagged CMYK".

Here are my Colour Settings, I haven't set anything in here because I really don't know what I'm doing with these settings.

I also updated my Photoshop halfway through designing this poster, I don't know if that was a bad idea but I noticed I didn't have a new selection feature and that was because my auto-update was turned off. I wanted to use this feature so I saved my documents and updated Photoshop, I believe I'm using the latest version. 

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

The very first thing you need to do is ask VistaPrint what CMYK profile to use. Don't do anything more until you get an answer.

Once you get the profile, assign it to your document. The colors will shift at this point. Rework what you can, reimport elements if possible. Or for that matter, go back to scratch.

You cannot work with untagged CMYK. It's a disaster waiting to happen. You have absolutely no control over how the final result will look.

One more thing: all CMYK profiles have ink limits. This reflects the actual print process (press/paper/ink) that the profile characterizes. If you work in CMYK throughout, don't exceed this limit. That will lead to ink smearing and drying problems.

The ink limit is built into the profile, so if you work in RGB and convert to the CMYK profile you're safe.

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

It needs to be said: CMYK is not for beginners. You really need to know what you're doing.