CMYK color loss solution?

[Christopher]

Hello,
I'm fairly new to Photoshop, and am using PS7; my question: IS there any solution to the colors (particularly blues) getting so drab in CMYK mode? I work on things in RGB, love the bright colors I end up using, then things look like crap, even on the monitor, in the alternate CMYK window...is this the only way to get things printed?

LOL...it DID say there were no dumb questions in here....

hopefully there's an easy fix I still hafta learn!

thanks!

[Stellor]

NO---------You want to hear more then that don't you?
Unfortunately monitors work in RGB and printers work in CMYK, due to the limits of the inks we use we can't reproduce those nice bright colors. Check the newbies and general threads, there is a lot of discussion on this subject.

Sam

[Phil_The_Rodent]

It's basically all covered in the difference between additive and subtractive colour models, and also the unrfortunate relaity of the inconsistencies of print inks. If you need brighter colours in print, the only way to go is with PMS spot colours. Fortunately, I expect almost everything you've ever seen in colour is CMYK so all you really should worry about is good monitor calibration...

[kiwicolin]

Blue is the most hard hit color. Its because CMYK has a smaller color gaumat than RGB. What I usually do is dont flatten when you convert to cmyk. Them go into key layers and play with the color balance and hue/saturation. You can get a little bit back but not all of it. The brightest blue possible in CMKY is pure Cyan.

The good news is that you do get a little bit back on press. The inks tend to be a little bit more vibrant than a monitor in CMYK. But If you are doing process printing (4 color) Sorry.. welcome to the world of designing with limitations. And they said that web pages are limiting?

[Christopher]

thanks for the info guys....at least my headache is explained now, and I see there are ways to compensate.

have a great day!

C