I am having a hard time converting my colors to CMYK to order business cards. I have several small pictures (2 on the front, 1 on the back) on the card and created the file in Photoshop CS4. I am not sure where to go with this as the colors are really off. Unfortunately, the file is already developed and I did not do this step ahead of time. I have found some really helpful information on this site and I will contact the printer to try to get as much info from them as possible. The website I was going to use is www.gotprint.com However, if anyone has any new suggestions I would appreciate it? Ideally, if I can find somewhere to print the cards in RGB that would be the easiest thing, but I can't find anyplace yet...Thanks for your time and assistance. I really appreciate it.
See if you can get their profile, and do a "convert to profile" to their color space.
You can also proof their colors in View:Proof Setup in photoshop, for RGB tweaks prior to converting.
Chances are the printer is using a short run sheet fed press, the canned photoshop/Adobe US Coated sheetfed V2 should work quite well. If you have colors on the gamut fringe you will have some issues of getting a good match.
Try White House Custom Color (WHCC) - which a lot of people here use for photo prints. I use their press printed products often - as I design products for photographers (even for some here at NPN). You submit in RGB, and their Indigo presses convert to CMYK on the fly. Sounds less than desirable, but the process works very well for me. At least the cards are cheap, if it doesn't work for some reason. I doubt you'll find anyone who prints RGB.
Custom CMYK profiles really aren't worthwhile, due to variable press conditions. Using the standard CMYK profile in Photoshop for soft-proofing is best. You can use Kyper's luminosity masks to open up the shadows a bit - as they can block up in CMYK printing. And then pay attention to your warm colors, as the CMYK conversion tends to shift colors towards the warm side - to put it in ultra-simple terms. But, if you don't want to mess with any of that (or hire someone to do the conversion), then just submit RGB to WHCC.
Michael,
I use CMYK profiles a lot for client and my own printing. I see you're working in CS4. If you have InDesign as part of the suite, when you use the place function, images are placed as CMYK by default, then can be exported as pdf files with the CMYK profiles. The image on my monitor, my RGB files printed in Photoshop, and my delivered CMYK printed work are all identical in color. The latest work I've received back has been from PrintHarmony and Magcloud, both of which only accept CMYK / pdf files. PrintHarmony prints 1000 cards with aqueous coating both sides for $25.00. It's trade only, which means you have no crutches or customer support. If I can help more, feel free to contact me via email or my site.
I recv'd my cards back from Gotprint.com. They turned out pretty well. The reds and the blacks are slightly off, but overall I am happy with the result. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond to this thread.
Discussion
5 repliesYou can also proof their colors in View:Proof Setup in photoshop, for RGB tweaks prior to converting.
Chances are the printer is using a short run sheet fed press, the canned photoshop/Adobe US Coated sheetfed V2 should work quite well. If you have colors on the gamut fringe you will have some issues of getting a good match.
Custom CMYK profiles really aren't worthwhile, due to variable press conditions. Using the standard CMYK profile in Photoshop for soft-proofing is best. You can use Kyper's luminosity masks to open up the shadows a bit - as they can block up in CMYK printing. And then pay attention to your warm colors, as the CMYK conversion tends to shift colors towards the warm side - to put it in ultra-simple terms. But, if you don't want to mess with any of that (or hire someone to do the conversion), then just submit RGB to WHCC.
http://www.whcc.com/products/press-printed-cards-products/business-cards/
I use CMYK profiles a lot for client and my own printing. I see you're working in CS4. If you have InDesign as part of the suite, when you use the place function, images are placed as CMYK by default, then can be exported as pdf files with the CMYK profiles. The image on my monitor, my RGB files printed in Photoshop, and my delivered CMYK printed work are all identical in color. The latest work I've received back has been from PrintHarmony and Magcloud, both of which only accept CMYK / pdf files. PrintHarmony prints 1000 cards with aqueous coating both sides for $25.00. It's trade only, which means you have no crutches or customer support. If I can help more, feel free to contact me via email or my site.