PHOTSHOP: HEX CODE KEPT ON CHANGING

[markpambuena]

The client gave me the exact hex code that he wanted me to use,  but when I type the exact code the moment I enter or click Okay, the code swaps to a different code. 

I also tried typing manually the notations of the exact code. but still changes into a different code. I'm only months in the industry thank you so much for the answers! 

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, are you in a RGB document? 

Is "Only web colors" checked in the color picker?

[markpambuena]

It is in CMYK, what does only web colors gives to a document? 

[Lumigraphics]

Hex colors are for RGB (red-green-blue) documents, which is the color model for screen. CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black) is for print. Hex colors are for expressing what was known as a "web-safe" color palette (which is mostly meaningless today) and don't have any real relation to CMYK.

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, I would go as far to ask you why are you working in CYMK? Which CYMK profile did you chose, and why?

How would the image be printed? Will it be integrated in a Desktop Publishing app, like InDesign?

If you print on an inkjet, use RGB. If it goes to InDesign, stay in RGB, and preview (CTRL+Y) a new window for your document with the correct color profile the printer will use, the conversion to the correct CYMK profile can be done in InDesign. This will also allow a PDF/Ebook version to stay in RGB.

If you silkscreen, shouldn't you use a spot color for the color you are trying to match?

[Lumigraphics]

Hex colors are notoriously unreliable, although there is a standard web palette meant for sRGB documents to display in a web browser. Make sure your document colorspace is sRGB and only web colors.

[markpambuena]

This really helps a lot for a beginner like me thank you so much! 

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

the exact hex code

By @markpambuena

 Actually there is no such thing. It's only exact insofar as it refers to a specific color space. Usually, by general consensus, that's sRGB IEC61966-2.1, but no guarantees. For people unfamiliar with color management and who work without color management, it will usually be in monitor color space. In other words, all over the map. So you need to get this established.

Here's a completely random example. I could probably find others where the difference is even more striking:

In short: Get confirmation that the hex code actually refers to sRGB. Then put those numbers into an sRGB document.

[markpambuena]

This really helps a lot for a begginer like me thank you so much! 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

As @D Fosse explained the intended color appearance of hex- or RGB-values can only be determined if the Color Space is known. 

Otherwise it would be similar to a map without a scale.

One may be able to say that place x is nearer to place y than to place z but not what the actual disctance is. 

Without the Color Space-definition one may say that a pixel is darker, bluer, … than another pixel in the same image but not what it is supposed to look loke exactly. 

When you work with a CMYK image the issue gets worse – many CMYK Spaces are smaller than many RGB Spaces. (Even though there may be regions in a CMYK Space that some RGB Spaces do not cover.) 

So it is possible that the color is out-of gamut for the CMYK Space and therefore has to be changed immediately to even be aprocimated in the CMYK image. 

[D Fosse]

Yes. The way the original post is phrased, it certainly sounds like out-of-gamut, most likely because the numbers are moving from an RGB color space to a smaller CMYK color space.

And that reinforces the point. You need to stay in the same color space the numbers came from (and that color space needs to be identified and identifiable).