Whats CMYK?

Dogdots

I was going thru my CS3 today and noticed that when I click on View and Proof Set Up that the Working with CMYK is checked. Is this what should be checked and what excatly is CMYK?

Dogdots/Mary

Pupator

Dogdots wrote:

I was going thru my CS3 today and noticed that when I click on View and Proof Set Up that the Working with CMYK is checked. Is this what should be checked and what excatly is CMYK?

Dogdots/Mary

4 color: cyan, magenta, yellow, black

as opposed to 3 color: red, green, blue (RGB)

Dogdots

Pupator wrote:

4 color: cyan, magenta, yellow, black

as opposed to 3 color: red, green, blue (RGB)

That makes sense--should I keep my CS3 set to that? I never set it at that. It must have downloaded with it preset.

Dogdots/Mary

jfriend

Dogdots wrote:

I was going thru my CS3 today and noticed that when I click on View and Proof Set Up that the Working with CMYK is checked. Is this what should be checked and what excatly is CMYK?

Dogdots/Mary

View/Proof Setup is for doing soft proofing. The idea behind soft proofing is that you want to see what your image will look like when it is prepared for output on some other device (something other than your current screen). The most common soft proof is to see what it will look like when printed on a specific printer and paper.

To make soft proofing do anything useful, you HAVE to have an ICC profile for the device that you are trying to simulate with the soft proof. That's what you set the Proof set up for. The ICC profile describes the color rendering capabilities of the output device (it capabilities and limitations). For printing, you need an ICC profile that is specifically designed for your printer model and the exact type of paper you are using. If you are using a paper from the same manfacturer as your printer, the ICC profile sometimes comes with your printer driver. If not, then your next best choice is to try to get the ICC profile from the paper manufacturer.

For example, when I buy Red River paper for my Epson 3800, I can get any ICC profile I need for their paper and my specific printer from the Red River web-site. Once I download the profile, I install it into Windows (right click on it and select "Install Profile" and it is then available in the soft proof setup menu in Photoshop. I pick it in that menu and now when I choose to soft proof, Photoshop will attempt to simulate how this image will look when printed on that printer/paper combination.

So, to your original question, you would only use CMYK for soft proofing if that was the profile that a specific output device was using. CMYK (there are several different flavors of CMYK) is often used in professional (non photographic) printing like magazines and product brochures. Since I doubt this is the type of printing you are trying to simulate, you would not be using CMYK. Instead, you'd be using the ICC profile for your specific printer/paper or the ICC profile for a specific online printer/paper.

colourbox

Basically, ignore CMYK unless you are preparing images for a process color/4-color job on a printing press.

BinaryFx

Dogdots wrote:

That makes sense--should I keep my CS3 set to that? I never set it at that. It must have downloaded with it preset.

Dogdots/Mary

You are correct Mary, it is a default.

Gamut warning existed before proof set-up and was linked to CMYK, so perhaps that is part of the "tradition". So if you are using gamut warning to see what colours are out of gamut, there may be a good chance that by default it is showing you the much narrower gamut of a SWOP like press condition rather than your wider gamut inkjet printer.

It is indeed a good idea to setup the proof for something closer to what you commonly work with, so that softproofing and gamut warnings are more representative of your conditions (some do work with presses, but many do not).

It will come down to the profile, custom usually perform better than "canned" or generic ones (YMMV). Then there are the softproofing settings (rendering intent, stock and or ink simulation etc). One sets up the softproof differently depending on the workflow. Then there are stable viewing conditions and of course a calibrated and profiled monitor etc.

Some links to further reading:

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/10150.html
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/softproof/softproof_1.htm


Hope this helps,

Stephen Marsh
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/

Dogdots

BinaryFx wrote:

You are correct Mary, it is a default.

Gamut warning existed before proof set-up and was linked to CMYK, so perhaps that is part of the "tradition". So if you are using gamut warning to see what colours are out of gamut, there may be a good chance that by default it is showing you the much narrower gamut of a SWOP like press condition rather than your wider gamut inkjet printer.

It is indeed a good idea to setup the proof for something closer to what you commonly work with, so that softproofing and gamut warnings are more representative of your conditions (some do work with presses, but many do not).

It will come down to the profile, custom usually perform better than "canned" or generic ones (YMMV). Then there are the softproofing settings (rendering intent, stock and or ink simulation etc). One sets up the softproof differently depending on the workflow. Then there are stable viewing conditions and of course a calibrated and profiled monitor etc.

Some links to further reading:

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/10150.html
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/softproof/softproof_1.htm


Hope this helps,

Stephen Marsh
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/

Good links. I found them very interesting. I had never heard of soft proofing before. Shows how inexperienced I am

So the settings are to have your printer, paper, etc all talking the same so your photo turns out to look like what you see on your printer---right?

I don't use my printer to print my photos. I send all mine out. Which brings me to the question......should I just leave it as is or do I need to find out what it should be set at thru the place I use for my printing? I have a icky feeling about doing that.

I have found that my photos turn out good were I go. I always print in 4x6's to check color, etc. before I go any bigger. I haven't quite convinced myself which is cheaper----printing my own 4x6's or pay the 19 cents and let them do it.

I do dream of a nice photo printer that I can just run off my photos at home in the comfort of my jammies but after the expense of ink and printer along with all the knowledge I need to become a good printer....well I have left it to the printer guy to do it.

Maybe someone knows the cost effectiveness of printing at home vs printing at a printers.

Dogdots/Mary

jfriend

Dogdots wrote:

Good links. I found them very interesting. I had never heard of soft proofing before. Shows how inexperienced I am

So the settings are to have your printer, paper, etc all talking the same so your photo turns out to look like what you see on your printer---right?

I don't use my printer to print my photos. I send all mine out. Which brings me to the question......should I just leave it as is or do I need to find out what it should be set at thru the place I use for my printing? I have a icky feeling about doing that.

I have found that my photos turn out good were I go. I always print in 4x6's to check color, etc. before I go any bigger. I haven't quite convinced myself which is cheaper----printing my own 4x6's or pay the 19 cents and let them do it.

I do dream of a nice photo printer that I can just run off my photos at home in the comfort of my jammies but after the expense of ink and printer along with all the knowledge I need to become a good printer....well I have left it to the printer guy to do it.

Maybe someone knows the cost effectiveness of printing at home vs printing at a printers.

Dogdots/Mary

Nobody should print at home because they think it's cheaper than a good lab. It will not be cheaper at home. They often use roll paper, large capacity ink tanks, buy everything in large volumes (at discounts) and get a lot more use out of their printers than you ever will. Some of the reasons to print at home are:

• The immediate satisfaction of instant prints without waiting to pick something up or have it shipped to you
• The ability to iterate immediately when you want to tweak things
• More control over the printing process including things border and bleed
• More control over the color management of your photos including rendering intents and potentially larger gamut.

Even folks with >$1000 home printers often have their 4x6s printed at a local lab because it's usually more cost effective that way.

For an exsiting online lab, they should have ICC profiles that you can download and use for soft proofing. Even Costco has profiles you can download. They won't change your prints at all, but they will allow you to more accurately see what your prints might look like when printed.

I find that soft proofing is most important when you have strong colors in your image that might be beyond the limits of the lab's printer. Soft proofing can show you where these areas are and what might happen to these areas when printed. For a normal print that doesn't have "out of gamut" colors, there usually isn't much difference between the soft proof and the regular screen display.

Dogdots

jfriend wrote:

Nobody should print at home because they think it's cheaper than a good lab. It will not be cheaper at home. They often use roll paper, large capacity ink tanks, buy everything in large volumes (at discounts) and get a lot more use out of their printers than you ever will. Some of the reasons to print at home are:

• The immediate satisfaction of instant prints without waiting to pick something up or have it shipped to you
• The ability to iterate immediately when you want to tweak things
• More control over the printing process including things border and bleed
• More control over the color management of your photos including rendering intents and potentially larger gamut.

Even folks with >$1000 home printers often have their 4x6s printed at a local lab because it's usually more cost effective that way.

For an exsiting online lab, they should have ICC profiles that you can download and use for soft proofing. Even Costco has profiles you can download. They won't change your prints at all, but they will allow you to more accurately see what your prints might look like when printed.

I find that soft proofing is most important when you have strong colors in your image that might be beyond the limits of the lab's printer. Soft proofing can show you where these areas are and what might happen to these areas when printed. For a normal print that doesn't have "out of gamut" colors, there usually isn't much difference between the soft proof and the regular screen display.

I understand what you say about wanting to see your photo first on your own printer to do any tweaking, etc. I have wanted to do that, but never have. I will have a photo printed and if I don't like what I see I'll change it alittle and pay another 19 cents to have it printed again.

I have my photos done at Ritz. I'm going to have to talk with them. I do know that at the big printing place in town they tell you how to set it up.

I will leave my setting as is since I don't print on my printer.

Thanks everyone for all the information. I was worried in the beginning. Not anymore

Dogdots/Mary