![]() (You should, however, feel bad if you have not yet investigated whether using RGB images would be a more efficient workflow.)īy the way, I want to be clear that I’m talking about pixel-based images in this article, not vector images. Suffice it to say that CMYK is not bad, and you shouldn’t feel bad if your workflow brings CMYK images into InDesign. There are other situations where converting to CMYK in Photoshop is preferable, such as when you need to make little tweaks to just the black channel in a photograph. ![]() So the best practice is usually to convert screen shots in Photoshop first. You could get InDesign to use a Max-K profile, but there’s no way to tell InDesign to convert photographic images with one kind of profile and screenshots with another. Screen captures tend to work best when converted to CMYK in Photoshop using a “max-K” generation–that is, a custom GCR curve with GCR set to Maximum, which replaces as much cyan, magenta, and yellow with black ink as possible. I recommend RGB workflows to almost everyone, but they do have their limitations.įor example, in Liz’s book project (the one that was causing problems), most of the images were computer screen captures. But I’m here to tell you that both models have their pros and cons, and there is no “right answer.” I love RGB workflows as much as anyone–the ability to place an RGB image into InDesign and have it perform the high-quality conversion to CMYK (exactly the same as Photoshop!) when I print or export is miraculous and a huge time-saver. Often, creative professionals fall into either a CMYK or RGB camp, each arguing with the other than their color model is the One True Answer. So here are some lessons learned, and advice I can offer. But by slowly unraveling the issues, we gain a better understanding of InDesign and Photoshop, and we can learn how attack the next unique situation more efficiently. Like an airplane disaster, there is virtually never just one problem in these prepress mysteries–it’s almost always a combination of factors, of misunderstandings, of hidden settings and incorrect assumptions. The numbers inside the CMYK image were changing dramatically–for example, a 80-percent black would change into 50-percent black with a bunch of cyan, yellow, and magenta thrown in. The genesis of this article was a problem posed to me by a production editor at a major book publisher (let’s call her Liz) who couldn’t figure out a mystery involving a book she was preparing for print: While some CMYK images from Photoshop were showing up in the final PDF files correctly, others–the majority, in fact–were changing. ![]() Unless you understand the pitfalls, they’ll cause you untold grief sooner or later. If you are going to use CMYK images from Photoshop in your InDesign documents, there are some things you need to know.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |