Photoshop Tutorial - Color Managment
Photoshop RGB and CMYK Color Space
Photoshop Color Management
Before you begin any of the Photoshop tutorials on painting or airbrushing it is important to have a cursory understanding of color theory. If your work is going to be printed, you should be working exclusively in CMYK and not in RGB. Although there may be many good reasons to work in RGB (web graphics only, smaller file size, etc.), for our porposes, CMYK (A.K.A. Subtractive Color) is a better choice.
Additive & Subtractive Color
The diagram above illustrates the difference between Additive Color (RGB) Fig. 1, and Subtractive Color (CMYK) Fig. 2. Notice that when you combine Red, Green, and Blue in the Additive Color process, the combination produces white. In the Additive Color process, white is the combination of all colors. In the Subtractive Color (CMYK) process, when you combine Yellow, Cyan, and Magenta (CMY), the combination produces black. In the Subtractive Color process, black is the combination of all colors.
Munsell color system
The evaluation of color had no generally accepted system for quantifying a specific color and its color quality before the 1900's. An American painter and art instructor named Albert H. Munsell was the first to identify three basic qualities of a specific color - its hue, saturation and tone. Albert Munsell authored two books on the subject: "A Color Notation" (1905) and the "Atlas of the Munsell Color System" (1915), and hue, tone and saturation are now commonly used everyday terms in color theory and color managment.
Color Space for Print or Web Graphics
For the Additive Color (RGB) process to work, you need a light source (sun light, computer monitor, etc.). In printing, as it is in illustration, you already start out with white (the surface of the paper, art board, a blank digital file). CMYK is the color space that is used in the 4 Color printing process and the one that you should use if your work is ultimately going to be printed. Additionally, it is helpful to have a 100% pure black channel (black ink only) because we will be using that channel exclusively for our line art. You do not want any line art to print in all four ink colors because with even the slightest error in registration, it will become too thick and lose it's sharpness.
Photoshop Color Picker
The Photoshop "Color Picker" window allows you to select a color visually (Select Foreground Color) and find that color's RGB, CMYK, and Web Pallet "Hexidecimal" color formulas. You can also manually enter CMYK percentages and RGB values and your selection will be displayed in the "Select Foreground Color" viewing box.
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On To: Monitor Calibration - Pre-Press Color Proofing
Color Management Software
Pantone Monitor Color Calibrator
Pantone Eye-One Display 2
ColorVision Spyder2 Express Color Calibrator
Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color
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