Can Photoshop Elements convert RBG to CMYK?

[Jane47324]

I just need to know if elements can work in CMYK, or do I have to purchase another Photoshop format - if so, what is the cheapest way I can do this?

[99jon]

Sorry no. CMYK is only supported in CS6.

[Jane47324]

Not even Lightrooms?

[99jon]

No Lightroom support: sRGB, Adobe RGB and ProPhoto RGB.

[MichelBParis]

Jane47324 wrote:

I just need to know if elements can work in CMYK, or do I have to purchase another Photoshop format - if so, what is the cheapest way I can do this?

CMYK is only supported in the full Photoshop, not only CS6 but even in old versions.

If you have a friend with Photoshop, ask him/her to convert the file.

You also can download a trial version of CS and do the conversion.

Otherwise, you could use the free Scribus page layout software to produce CMYK in PDF format, but you would need to learn the software... frankly you would need to have a lot of conversions to make it worthwile.

[99jon]

There is also the Adobe Creative Cloud where you can have a month by month or annual subscription for the publishing software In Design and CS6.

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud.html

[Jane47324]

Is that cheaper, long term, than buying a Photoshop package?

I create adverts for my practice, and so will be doing this every month or so indefinately. I can produce the design with Elements, but the colours go slightly muddy once the newspaper or magazine does the conversion. I would like to produce adverts that stay bright colours. So it looks like buying a Photoshop package.

[99jon]

Not necessarily cheaper but with ACC you can use all the apps in creative suite, without any large capital outlay and they are updated by Adobe automatically when new versions are issued.

[MichelBParis]

I am not sure you'll get better results by converting yourself. Your suppliers probably do the conversion with Photoshop and they are the only ones to know the details of the profiles needed for their paper and inks types. Any conversion from RGB color space to CMYK will result in a small degree of color loss.

[Barbara_B_]

I agree with MichelB. Converting to CMYK is not nearly as straightforward as, say, going from sRGB to Adobe RGB. It requires a lot of understanding of your eventual output and some proofing tools that aren't really available in PSE to the necessary extent (elements+ can give you soft proofing, but it can't make PSE do CMYK). If this isn't somehting you'll do regularly, ask your printer what they will charge to do it for you.

[Guest]

You should check out Corel's CorelDraw Graphics Suite.  Not only is the price less than half of Photoshop, but you get two programs -- CorelDraw for vector drawing and CorelPaint for bitmap editing, both of which support CMYK.

Ken

[99jon]

Also it’s best to get your printer do a few proof prints. CMYK colors look dull when viewed on RGB monitors so the true test is on paper.