RGB transfer to CMYK

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
September 13, 2018
4 replies
1500 views

How to transfer RGB to CMYK?

Thank you!

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer davescm

Hi

I'll give you two answers.

1. The short answer:
To Convert to CMYK you use Edit > Convert to Profile and pick the specific CMYK profile that you want to convert to.

2. The longer answer:

If you are printing on an inkjet printer do not convert to CMYK. The print driver expects RGB data and will use the full range of inks in the printer which is likely to be a wider gamut than the CMYK profiles bundled with Photoshop. You should turn off colour management in the printer and, in Photoshop print dialogue, check "Photoshop manages colours". Make sure you set the print profile in that dialogue to the specific printer profile for your printer and paper combination. Note - this is a printer profile not a CMYK or RGB color space profile.
If you are using an external press which requires CMYK, then talk to the print company and get the specific CMYK profile from them and use Convert to Profile as above.

Dave

Marja de Klerk

Inspiring

Hi,

Converting to CMYK is no problem if you use a duplicate of the file, of course! You can use Edit > Convert to Profile like Dave said. You can also choose Image > Mode > CMYK.

Better keep your original image in RGB, for some image data may be lost and can’t be recovered if you convert the image from CMYK back to RGB.

davescm

Correct answer

Community Expert

Hi

I'll give you two answers.

1. The short answer:
To Convert to CMYK you use Edit > Convert to Profile and pick the specific CMYK profile that you want to convert to.

2. The longer answer:

If you are printing on an inkjet printer do not convert to CMYK. The print driver expects RGB data and will use the full range of inks in the printer which is likely to be a wider gamut than the CMYK profiles bundled with Photoshop. You should turn off colour management in the printer and, in Photoshop print dialogue, check "Photoshop manages colours". Make sure you set the print profile in that dialogue to the specific printer profile for your printer and paper combination. Note - this is a printer profile not a CMYK or RGB color space profile.
If you are using an external press which requires CMYK, then talk to the print company and get the specific CMYK profile from them and use Convert to Profile as above.

Dave

Derek Cross

Community Expert

Regarding commercial litho printing, assuming you're Placing your RGB image into say InDesign you (as Dave's stated) check with your printer but the recommended PDF nowadays for commercial printing is PDF/X-4.