Correctly export PDF for offset printing via photoshop

[Blastro123]

This has been kind of frustrating and I'm hoping you guys can answer this for me. The printer hasn't been helpful in this entire process! I want to make sure it's exporting properly.
My OS: Mac OS 10.6.7 
Photoshop CS5  
Requirements: 600dpi  
CMYK
Embed all ICC profiles 
My process: Flatten image File > save as > photoshop PDF
I check off : use proof setup: working cmyk And: embed color profile: U.S. Web coated (SWOP) In PDF dialogue box after I hit save I make sure NO CONVERSION under color conversion is checked.   
My results: a flat, desaturated PDF image that doesn't match my working .psd file 
BUT! when I don't check the "embed color profile" box, I receive an image that matches the colors of the working .psd ? Sounds a bit counter intuitive to me if I don't embed the colors and it matches? Can someone explain this?  Which colors should I trust? I don't want the printer to print a flat image but then again they want the color profiles embedded. What am I missing here? 
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  Also unrelated, is there a way to save out a portion of the document without cropping and then undoing and saving out the rest? I'm tryin to split an 11inch wide image in two and cropping and undoing seems to be the slowest way to do it? There has to be an easier way.   Thanks so much guys! Look forward to your response.

[Tai_Lao]

Please clarify: Do you work in CMYK or RGB?  I understand you want to output a CMYK file but is that also your working space?  If the answer is no then you have to ALLOW the color conversion.

[Blastro123]

I'm working in CMYK.

[Tai_Lao]

OK, you're fine then.  Soft proof your image in Photoshop by using Proof Colors in the View menu > Proof Colors and selecting the embedded profile there too.

Of course, make sure your monitor is accurately calibrated.

Read this whole site:

http://www.gballard.net/psd/cmstheory.html

Monitors need to be calibrated and profiled regularly and often.

[Blastro123]

So just to understand right, I'm going with the first option.

Checking off "working CMYK" and "embed color profile: web coated"

And then "no conversion" in the PDF dialogue box. + what you said in "Proof Colors"

This should render a file that will print like my working .psd? Cause with all these options, when I preview I receive a flattened image?

I apologize if I'm not understanding this correctly.

Also any idea on my second question? Thanks, you've been a help thus far.

[Tai_Lao]

Blastro123 wrote:

So just to understand right, I'm going with the first option.

Checking off "working CMYK" and "embed color profile: web coated"

And then "no conversion" in the PDF dialogue box. + what you said in "Proof Colors"

This should render a file that will print like my working .psd? Cause with all these options, when I preview I receive a flattened image?

I apologize if I'm not understanding this correctly…

Not sure I follow you, but in any of the different ways I think I can construe what you're saying here, it sounds awfully wrong.

Your working color space is the profile that you must make sure is embedded in your file if you created the file yourself in that working color space.  Why are you "checking it off" (whatever that means)?

Look, you should ALWAYS honor the embedded profile (or your working color space if creating a file from scratch).  If the printer requires the file to be in any other, different color profile, then you HAVE TO CONVERT the file to that different profile and make sure you have that new profile embedded when you save the file.

Your Proof Colors will only temporarily simulate on your monitor what the file is going to look like when it's printed on the final printer if you choose that final printer's profile as your Proof Color.  Soft proofing (Proof Colors) does nothing to the file itself, it only temporarily modifies its appearance on your monitor to simulate the final print.  You can always toggle Proof Colors on and off at will without affecting the file itself, as by toggling you're just changing the way the display of the file looks on your monitor.

Give that web site a thorough read once again:

http://www.gballard.net/psd/cmstheory.html

____________

Wo Tai Lao Le

我太老了

[Tai_Lao]

Blastro123 wrote:

…Also any idea on my second question?…

I don't understand why you are not making a copy of the file, cropping it and saving it.

???

Maybe I'm just not following you.

[Tai_Lao]

[Deleted by poster]

[Tai_Lao]

Please note that I deleted my last post as it was confusing—and wrong.

See:

http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/acrobat/articles/acr6pppshop.html

Make sure the "Layers" box is checked