February 14, 2005

CMYK - printing in color

Wonderful introduction to color printing. Here is CMYK (for Those Who Do RGB) From the introduction: bq. Since web geeks think in pixels and RGB, it’s a daunting new world to head into unequipped. Over the years across quite a few print jobs by now, I’ve had to learn by trial and error. As someone used to thinking in RGB, I’ve looked high and low for a good resource to turn to for help in converting that knowledge to CMYK. This may not be that resource, but I figure I’ve amassed at least the beginnings of a how-to on the subject. Consider it non-authoritative, but hopefully useful. Most of the knowledge contained within applies to Photoshop, mainly because I’ve had the most trouble with it. Check it out if you do any printing. Posted by DaveH at February 14, 2005 5:09 PM
Comments

A very good introduction to color. One assumption it makes will not always hold true. Many newer presses can print 6 to 8 colors in one pass. Thus you could do 4 color process and 4 spot colors with very little extra expense.

The biggest issue to understand with various color models is gamut. Draw a large circle. This represents all the possible visible colors. Next draw a square with all corners touching the circle. This represents all the colors you can produce with spot color inks. Next draw a trinangle with all corners touching the circle. this represents all of the colors you can produce with cmyk. Draw another circle about thre quarters the size of the first touching the first circle at one point. This is the RGB color gamut.

This is a simplified graphic and the actual color maps have much more irregular shapes but it highlights the point that there are colors you can produce using one model and not with others.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at February 15, 2005 5:29 AM
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