cmyk preview (gray tint)

[RobbieS]

I have searched the internet up and down before posting this, but I am still at a complete loss. Any help would be truly/greatly appreciated.
I am using a macbook pro 4,1. (If that is significant to know)

I have created a flyer in photoshop using RGB mode. But now it has to go to print, and the printer needs it in CMYK. I went to image>mode>cmyk and saved it as a jpeg and tiff format. I also adjust the selective color under the adjustments option However, when I see it previewed on the desktops screen, it has a "gray/washed out tint" to it. When I use leopards preview to view it, it appears the same way, washed out, as well as with safari browser. However, when I view the jpegs and tiff files in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, the colors appear to be normal. When I use the mail application to email it to another email address of mine, the colors appear to be normal on the same screen. Is there a problem with the application Preview which causes it to appear this way? Or do I need to start from scratch working in cmyk mode?
When I do start a blank document, lets just say a black background, save it to my desktop and view it with the quick preview (pressing the spacebar) or through the preview application, the now black color appears a grayish. This leads me to believe its the preview app, but maybe I am wrong.

I have no formal teaching with photoshop, but I have read a lot about cmyk and rgb, and I can not get a definitive answer to this problem.
I am just afraid that when I do send it to the printer, and pay for it, that the results will come back with this gray overlay to it.
thanks for any and all help.

 

[Daringescape]

try saving the file as a PDF and viewing it in both preview and acrobat. If it looks good, send the pdf to the printer. You should be getting a proof from the printer that you will sign off on and they will use to match color as well.

 

[RobbieS]

I took your advice and saved it in PDF format. When I view it in Preview, it has the gray tint to it, but when I view it in adobe reader its fine.
Very confusing to me.

 

[SwiftLives]

It sounds like the colors you used to build the initial document are outside of the CMYK gamut. For example, with CMYK, you won't get royal blue or bright green like you do with RGB. Upon converting, Photoshop will automatically adjust the hue of the colors so that they are printable in the CMYK colorspace.

Secondly, different programs will display files differently. Photoshop will generally be the most accurate, since it reads the attached color profile. Preview, Acrobat Reader, and Mail don't read the color profile, and have been known for distorting colors (although they're fine when you reopen the file in Photoshop).

Your best bet is to build the file in RBG using colors within the CMYK gamut. In the Color Picker (double click on the foreground color square in the toolbar) next to the cancel button, you'll see a warning triangle if a color is outside of the CMYK gamut. Click on that and it will adjust it for you.

But keep in mind, you can't print bright blues or greens in CMYK.

 

[g.hangebrauck]

Check with your printer his density specs.

First, chheck with your printer what his density specs are. Is he running 300 density for a sheetfed printer? Or, prhaps 280 density for a web press.

Once you have that info, Go to your color settings in photoshop & determine which cmyk setting to use.

Depending on your document, ie as the previous answer described, you may have some gamut mapping that is clipping, the out of gamut colors, rather than rendering them to ( appear the same ).

Also, check your color settings for different rendering intents. One way to convert a file may show you better results than another.

You may also use convert to profile to view how your appearance changes by checking the box that allows you to display the conversion before you actually convert the file. Once you decide which looks best, do not convert this way if you want to preserve your layers.

Any more questions, just write back. I convert files all the time. I am an expert in this area.

All the best,

G.

 

[khidir]

When converting to CMYK, under 'Intent', use Perceptual, instead of Relative Colorimetric. When saved, and viewed with "Preview", you will not get the gray tint.

Hope this helps.