It will generally look more like the CMYK version than the RGB, with or without editing. Even with edits to the CMYK, you may never get it looking like the original RGB for the “out of gamut regions”, however it may look better than doing nothing if you have the skill to make it subjectively better. If an RGB image has areas that are “out of gamut” for CMYK, by definition there is no accurate conversion – it then comes down to subjective art/craft as to what is “best”. You can make edits in RGB with a CMYK softproof, trying to minimise or make the changes “more acceptable”… Or you can convert to CMYK and make the edits in final device space (or use both approaches). The question is of course “what RGB” and “what CMYK” as these are all device dependent colour modes. Two things to keep in mind: End viewers may never see the original RGB, so they don’t know what they are missing, as long as the end result is fit for purpose then it will be on par with other similar images in the same print medium. Somebody that knows how to edit CMYK can often create a more visually compelling end result, even if this departs from the original, so when comparing a “default RGB to CMYK conversion” vs. a “hand crafted conversion”, the CMYK edited image may be considered to be “better”, particularly so if the original RGB image is predominantly “out of gamut” for the final print space.
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