RGB or CMYK?

Discussion in 'Scrapping Pad' started by SharLamb, Feb 5, 2020.

  1. SharLamb

    SharLamb I should have been a Supreme

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    Which do you set Photoshop to? I don't quite get using one or the other (even after reading several Google responses), but I've been bothered that my colors on printed projects are not true to what I see on my screen. Browns take on a bluish tone. Black isn't pure black. etc. I just did a test. My cpu had been set to RGB. I switched it to CMYK, and there was no appreciable difference in the printed layouts. I also clicked to let the computer (adobe) control the colors. I am NOT a TECHIE, so this sort of thing is a total mystery to me.

    I'm using PSCC on an iMac with an Epson ET-2760 (tank) printer.

    TIA for any input.
     
  2. A-M

    A-M Not a lot of hustle in my hustle anymore

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    I use an Epson printer and always let Photoshop control the color not the printer. Also I have to always increase the brightness as mine always prints darker than I see on my screen. Unless you have a high tech monitor the colors printed will never completely match what is on the screen.
    I am sure my research came up with it is best to use RGB.
     
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  3. bestcee

    bestcee In love with places I've never been to

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    I keep my PSCC on RGB.
    RGB is screen output and CMYK is print output. The difference is light and whether it's additive or subtractive, but that's another topic.
    Unless you do a screen calibration, it's hard to match the colors on your screen to the print colors. I do find that letting Photoshop determine the colors instead of my printer helps get truer colors. I don't know if you've seen it, but that's here:
    https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/printing-color-management-photoshop1.html
    I don't know anything about calibrating a Mac monitor, but I bet apple has something about it? That might help if you still don't get the colors you want when Photoshop picks.
     
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  4. KimJ

    KimJ Did you check in the refrigerator?

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    The paper you print on can make a huge difference as well. I have a favorite photo paper that I use for anything important to me, but we also have a giant stack of a different type of photo paper that came free with ink packages. I use that for trivial things now and then and the colors are often wacky.
     
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  5. cfile

    cfile My bags are packed for Platform 9 3/4

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    I use RBG but I agree with Courtney @bestcee and Kim @KimJ .
     
  6. rach3975

    rach3975 Well-Known Member

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    I use RGB, but the screen calibration is probably a big part of your issue. Many computer screens come pre-tuned to display vivid colors (best for movies and video games) rather than true-to-life colors like scrappers and photographers need. I used to use a professional screen calibration tool that was fabulous (an old one I bought secondhand called a Spyder), but it's too old to be compatible with the computer I bought last year. On this computer I just worked through the built in screen calibration software, and it seems to have done a pretty good job. (If it hadn't I was planning to search out a newer secondhand calibration tool.) You can try googling to see if anything like that came preloaded on your computer. I hope you're able to resolve the problem!
     
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  7. NBK-Design

    NBK-Design Designer

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    RGB & CMYK is a huge theme and not easily to understand.
    @rach3975 just mentioned one part that every screen needs actually to be calibrated. Then it depends in what kind of color presets the files are created by the designer. RGB does have a much wider color range than cmyk. Thats why you have mostly (IF files are not gamut checked) very vivid and bright colors, almost sometimes neon. Converting from RGB to CMYK can cause really that everything looks much more dull and dirty.

    Also it depends on which App you create as a designer, your products. Illustrator, Indesign Photoshop needs to be set up with the same colorscheme.
    Problem is that all digital scrapbook products are RGB. because you can't save a png in cmyk.
    The whole theme about the colors is extremely complex and not easily to understand.

    Another part is the paper. if you place different papers side by side you will see that each paper does have a "different" white, some more grayish some more yellow. This affects your print very. Also the paper itself how it soaks up the ink is relevant.
     
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  8. BevG

    BevG If I can't remember it, it didn't happen

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    All that and lastly --- the lighting in the room (natural and man-made) can also impact the colors you see on a monitor.

    To show you the difference the screen can have: I got a huge shock when I got a new laptop. Here is a photo I took on my phone of the old laptop (left) and new laptop (right) of one of Cheryl's templates posted on Facebook. The two laptops were sitting next to each other, so they had the same light on them. I never knew the colors were teal and cream. I only knew the blue version. No wonder my printed books never matched what I saw on screen.

    IMG_20191121_170759239_MP.jpg
     
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  9. Tree City

    Tree City Get a stepladder, I'm busy

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    [​IMG]
     
  10. A-M

    A-M Not a lot of hustle in my hustle anymore

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    @NBK-Design Nicole, thank you for your post above. This morning I had a try at calibrating my monitor and it has made a difference. Now when I use the color picker in my Photshop CS6 it looks more correct as before what the color picker showed always looked lighter than I thought it should be.
     
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  11. bestcee

    bestcee In love with places I've never been to

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    :heartslub It's funny what we discover with new equipment!

    I had a similar thing happen with the yellow in a project mouse kit. One was bright almost neon, and the other was actually the Mickey color.
     
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  12. Sokee

    Sokee What we do in life echoes in eternity

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  13. cfile

    cfile My bags are packed for Platform 9 3/4

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    Thank you Nicole for the wonderful explanation re the CMYK/RGB.. I knew about callibrations and the the higher percentage on the white paper, but not totally getting the RGB?CMYK differences :)
     
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  14. BevG

    BevG If I can't remember it, it didn't happen

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  15. cfile

    cfile My bags are packed for Platform 9 3/4

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    :) Thanks Bev.. I was saying to Nicole that I appreciated her explanation as I did not get it before :) Thanks again for the clarification :)
     

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