Producing consistent color when sending images to press

Using a color-managed workflow, you can control the appearance of colors in your document so they remain the same or similar when the document is sent out to be printed on a printing press.

To color manage your document for output on a printing press:

Set up your devices for color management

Calibrate your monitor and create a profile for it. Use Adobe Gamma (Windows), Monitor Calibrator (Mac OS) or, for more precise calibration, use third-party software and hardware. If profiles came with your printer, make sure they're installed on your computer. For important color work, it's highly recommended that you create custom profiles for each type of paper that you use with the printer.

Set up the Photoshop color management system

Choose Edit > Color Settings (Windows) or Photoshop > Color Settings (Mac OS) to specify the color management settings. You can either choose a preset from the Settings menu in the Color Settings dialog box or customize the settings. At the very least, you should choose one of the Prepress Default settings, which specifies Adobe RGB (1998) as the RGB working space. Adobe RGB (1998) is a large enough color space to encompass the colors used in printing. In general, it's not advised to use sRGB as the working space since it's smaller and may not contain important colors that can be printed.

Synchronize the color settings between Photoshop and Illustrator or InDesign

If you plan to place your Photoshop image in an Illustrator or InDesign document, make sure the color settings are synchronized using the Color Settings dialog box in each application. For more information on keeping colors consistent between Photoshop and other Adobe applications, see Keeping color consistent between Photoshop and other Adobe applications.

Edit your image in Photoshop

Depending on the color management policy you choose, you will be editing the image in either the current RGB working space or in the working space profile embedded in the document. The choice of whether to convert a document to the RGB working space or preserve its embedded profile is a personal decision. For instance, if you feel that Adobe RGB is a suitable working space for all images that you print, you might consider choosing Adobe RGB as your RGB working space, and then choose the Convert to Working Space policy and always working in Adobe RGB.

(Optional) Place your RGB or CMYK image in Adobe InDesign or Adobe Illustrator

In general, most images printed on a commercial press are not printed directly from Photoshop but from a page-layout program like Adobe InDesign or a print-savvy program like Adobe Illustrator. For more information on importing Photoshop files into Adobe InDesign or Adobe Illustrator, see Adobe InDesign Help or Adobe Illustrator Help.

(Optional) Work entirely in RGB mode

Make sure the image file is tagged with the RGB working space profile. If your printer or prepress vendor uses a color management system, he or she should be able to use your file's profile to make an accurate conversion to CMYK for producing the film and printing plates.

(Optional) Convert to CMYK

Work in RGB mode until you finish with your image editing. After editing, convert the image to CMYK mode and make any additional color and tonal adjustments. Be sure to check the highlight and shadow areas of the image. If necessary, use the Levels, Curves, or Hue/Saturation command to make tonal corrections. These image adjustments should be very minor. After making final adjustments, send the CMYK file to your print house or prepress.