CompuServe Messages

Robert << How do I provide them with a CMYK file ? In Photoshop ( I have 2.5 ) open the TIF , go into the mode menu and check CMYK color. The image will be converted to CMYK. Save the image as a PSD file. Now you can open the TIF again and see if there are any differences between the images. The usual difference is that the colors will be slightly washed out in the PSD. You can correct the PSD with brightness and contrast, hue and saturation and color balence from the image/adjust menu. Correction is a whole set of skills in itself and requires knowledge of color to be really good at. Computer Artist Magazine has a series of articles by Dan Margalus on color correction thats really excellent. But you can learn a lot by experimenting. For advanced users you can open the channels window in the window menu and see the seperations of the cyan magenta yellow and black channels. Manipulating seperate channels is complex however. When you give the printer the PSD file you are providing CMYK information which gives you the greatest control over the output. But you could still have unpredictable results so heres a good way to get calibrated. 1) Do the above process resulting in a CMYK PSD file with an image which has a wide range of colors from the whole hue spectrum, dulls and vivids and lights and darks. Its a good idea to include color bars on the edge of the image. 2) Have it printed. 3) take it home and compare it to the image of the same file on your monitor. 4)Go into File/ preferences/monitor setup. In the dialogue box go into calibrate. In the calibrate box you can change things (read the docs carefully ) until the image on your monitor looks as close as you can get to the print. Dont forget that room light ( tungsten versus incandecent ) and other things can affect the look of the print. When you get as close as possible save the settings. You will have to have different monitor settings for different types of printing devices. Now you are calibrated with the particular printing device and should get predictable results. Some printing devices such as color copiers are difficult to keep adjusted so if the printer dosnt keep it steady you should find another service bureau. I think the best prints are Iris prints but they are expensive ($40 for 11×17 ) Dye sublimation prints are cheaper and are good quality. Its worth the trouble to get consistant. A knowledge of RGB and CMYK color spaces and color theory in general really helps. Ed