jjenk

I need to convert one file (cover for a book) from RGB to CMYK. The printing company that I am using recommends this format for their printers but they do not offer this service. I have Elements 12 but cannot find a way to convert it there. 1) Does PSE12 do this? 2) If not, any suggestions? Thank you!

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Probably a wrong answer,but my gut would send me somewhere else if they can't support it.

tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

none of the elements will convert RGB to CMYK as far as I know. Are you having your prints done at a sign shop? Most of the photography printers are using sRGB. As far as a program Photoshop will. When converting from RGB to CMYK you have to be careful as the color gamut could change drastically . It would probably be best to change to a printer that uses the RGB profile.

Tomcat5133 Loc: Gladwyne PA

Photoshop CS5, CS6 CC, and as far back as I can remember has drop down window that gives you many options to RGB or CMYK etc

The way I handle it for screens I use RGB. For print CMYK CyanMagentaYellowBlack is used for all printed materials. It is hard for me to believe that Elements doesn't but I just googled it and it doesn't.

Maybe the printer can do it. It only takes a few seconds with photoshop. Good luck.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

No. The full Photoshop CS does that.

These days, any printer not doing their own CMYK conversions and color management is WAY behind the times. Let me guess, they probably also want TIFF files...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

It looks like you can do the conversion right online, if you choose.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS716US717&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=convert+to+cmyk&*

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The biggest reason the printer SHOULD do it is COLOR MANAGEMENT. Every printer (or press), paper, and ink combination needs its own unique ICC profile.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

PSE does not do that, but Photoshop sure does!!

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

CMYK is used in four-color-printing (talking plate-printing here). ICC profiles, are profiles for paper types, which is a different matter!

lngroller

no sense converting if they haven't given you a profile for their printer. just saw the above post.... still every printer lays it down different. you also need to know the paper stock etc so yes there is a different profi9le for different printers/papers

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I worked for a company that publishes yearbooks. They had several five color presses (4/C plus a spot color). The workflow was entirely electronic up to the point the offset plates were imaged digitally. Yes, they profiled their presses for each of their standard paper stocks. They also had electronic printers in the building that were profiled for standard stocks.

The graphic arts industry has been very slow to adopt modern color management methods.

EVERY digital device should have a profile. Your operating system or post-production software has a profile for raw output from your camera. Your operating system also contains "working space" or "connection space" profiles that it can use internally. It stores profiles for your monitor, the standard color spaces sRGB and Adobe RGB (1998) and Generic RGB, and probably several flavors of CMYK. All the lab profiles and paper profiles you wish to use should be stored in your OS as well.

CMYK presents a really sticky challenge: Because printed publications often contain Pantone color simulations, line art, and photographs from various sources, all combined into one PDF or page layout document, it is entirely possible that a single page contains elements with several different profiles. When that is the case, it is best that the printing company do the separations from source files, so their software can use all embedded profiles to make the conversions to CMYK.

We saw a big improvement in color quality and consistency when we switched from CMYK image submissions from customers to RGB submissions from customers. We also went to JPEGs from TIFFs at the same time, and saved about 90% of the server space and network bandwidth we had been using... with no side effects, artifacts, or any of the usual things people irrationally fear about JPEG output. Our pre-press RIPs did all the RGB to CMYK conversions on the fly, and sent the output straight to the platemaker or the electronic press.

jim quist Loc: Missouri

maybe you can upload it here and someone will convert it for you in photoshop.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

OP you can download a free trial of PS and convert your photo

cochese

I am printer, both high quality 6 color sheet fed and newspaper. We require all of our customers to provide CMYK color files, not that we can't deal with or convert RGB to CMYK, but we do not want the responsibility inherent with converting. Too many possible issues with color gamut. That said you can convert it in PS, but be careful if you have little experience in this field, conversions can be tricky and some of the colors in your photo may not be able to be produced on a CMYK press. I tell my customers all the time that the problem with digital to analog (CMYK printing) is that their monitor can produce 16 million color shades, a printing press can only produce about 16 thousand. This is the reason why when you buy a good photo printer it will have 6 or 8 different colors.

JaiGieEse Loc: Foxworth, MS

This pretty much matches my experience in the commercial printing business, The industry has gone through massive changes since I moved on back in 2010. Four-color plate-type offset presses were pretty much the norm back then. Not so much now. Xerox and others have developed digital presses now that are, as my supervisor once put it, basically large, complex laser printers. No plates, sometimes powder or solid dyes instead of ink. Each system carries its own proprietary RIP and color profiles. The days of print shops demanding CYMK submissions are over for the most part. Most professional photo labs ask for high-resolution RGB jpegs these days.

For that reason, I, once a dedicated CMYK practitioner, now rely on sRGB or ProPhoto RGB. But I must say that a print shop which doesn't offer to convert your files to fit their profiles, etc., is prolly not one which really cares about the satisfaction of its customers. Changing the color model from CMYK to RGB can produce noticeable color shifts. The shop where I worked ALWAYS insisted on providing the customer with either a printed or pdf proof and getting approval of same before completing the job.

To the OP, I would have to suggest that if the shop you're asking about refuses to do conversions and still insists on CMYK, then you may need to find another shop. Sounds to me as if that shop is behind the curve and is stubbornly clinging to the past. Not too unusual, actually. Many older shops which have substantial investments in old-style offset systems are hesitant to upgrade to newer, digital non-plate systems. We are talking big bucks and some fairly hefty re-training of personnel here. But any shop which doesn't advance won't be in business much longer.