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Thread: CMYK colour format ...help!!

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Default CMYK colour format ...help!!

    I ordered some postcards from vistaprint and the colour was very poor. They have kindly agreed to replace them but say...
    "save your design in CMYK color format prior to uploading so that the colour that you see will closely match the colour of the printed item."

    I have learnt something new today in that most picture saving modes (eg JPEG) are in RGB format (red, green, blue), but most printers are CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow).
    This explains why the colour you see on screen often differs considerably from the printed colour.

    What I don't know is how to convert my pics to CMYK format - I have trawled my computer this afternoon, but cannot find the answer.

    Thanks

    Jodie

  2. #2
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    What software do you have? I found info for photoshop that says "Open up link in Photoshop then select Image > Mode > CMYK"

  3. #3
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    Aug 2009
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    unfortuneately I don't have photoshop. I have picture it, gimp, snapfire and maybe one or two others.

    My husband found something about saving as a PNG intead of JPEG, but we're not totally sure if this is CMYK format or not - anyone know?

    Jodie
    Last edited by Jodie; 03-05-2010 at 07:07 PM.

  4. #4
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    Jodie, I don't think it's possible to achieve what you want without a purchased software like photoshop. Here's a list of the ones I know offer the facility - it might be that you have something like this without realising it. MS Publisher, for instance, which often comes packaged with MS Office on new pc's.

    Micrososft Publisher 2000
    Microsoft Publisher 2003-2007
    Photoshop
    Corel Draw 9
    Adobe Illustrator
    Quark Express
    Adobe Pagemaker 6.5

    The following programmes won't do it (including Picture It, I'm afraid)

    Adobe Photoshop LE
    Adobe PhotoDeluxe
    Microsoft Word
    Microsoft Excel Microsoft Powerpoint
    Microsoft Works
    Microsoft PhotoDraw
    Picture It Publishing
    Di x

  5. #5
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    No, saving in a different format won't help. You need to actually alter the colour format.

    Try this - CMYK Separation Plugin for The GIMP

    Alternatively, you can download a trial version of photoshop elements here: edit photos, photo editing program | Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (not sure how much functionality you get).

    Or you could pm me and if it's just a couple of files, I'll do it for you

  6. #6
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    Thanks - I'll have a look at that tomorrow

    Jodie

  7. #7
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    Jodie, I posted a very long reply some hours ago but it was moderated for some reason. No matter, George has been far more helpful
    Di x

  8. #8
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    Morning Di - the only post I can see in the queue is basically the same as the one that did go up...? I think the system may have decided that your list of packages was flagged as suspect, sorry.

  9. #9
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    s'alright, Peter. When I wrote at 2 a.m. my post hadn't yet appeared. I know about the system, so no worries.
    Di x

  10. #10
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    I've been thinking about this, and there's something I don't understand. That said, I rarely have to deal with colourspace translation or printing - all of the stuff I do at the moment is video-related.

    Most devices around use sRGB as their colourspace; it is *very* well defined (although doesn't have the gamut in some areas that full CMYK has). For lower level requirements, sRGB is fine for printers - and again, well understood. Are Vistprint really saying they have to have a full colour separation done prior to you sending them the image? Surely that's outside the normal requirements for their products? I did try and find some technical info on their pages, but haven't seen anything relevant yet.

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