Convert Photos to CMYK?

It tends to be used by folks engaged in the old-fashioned process of applying ink to paper but not for much else.

You do realize that every printer you buy uses CMYK to print whatever you send from the computer, right? Many have extra colors (6 and more inks total), usually to boost reds and blues that can't be reached with straight CMYK. But otherwise, they all have at least those four basic colors. You can't print RGB.

Using ColorSync or Graphic Converter is an extremely poor way to convert RGB to the CMYK color space. For instance, the Generic CMYK profile supplied with OS X is probably the worst CMKY profile in the world. Very flat and ugly conversions.

ColorSync also doesn't actually convert images to CMYK. You can open a file and apply a CMYK profile. But when you save the file, it's still RGB.

There's also your target device to consider. The color of any printed image is subject to the inks and paper you're using. Using the same printer, uncoated papers will always be dull compared to coated. Gloss will always be more vibrant than satin. Just as RGB is specific to your monitor profile, CMYK is specific to the output device, whether it's a cheap printer for your computer, or a 40" commercial press. You need to have profiles that are built to match the characteristics of that device, on the paper being used, in order to have any hope that the CMYK image you're viewing on your monitor will look anything like that on press, or from your desktop printer.

Stick with Photoshop. Even the basic CMYK spaces it provides, like U. S. Sheetfed Coated v2 (which you wouldn't have to use without ever having purchased Photoshop), is better than nothing. I don't have, or use Graphic Converter, so I don't know how that works as far as converting.

Sorry, but I have never heard of a CMYK image format - usually it's TIFF, jpeg, pdf, etc. I believe the CMYK refers to the color? Aside from that, you might want to look into Graphic Converter which has a multitude of editing options (as well as being able to convert to/from many formats). FWIW, there is no CMYK format listed there either. I believe your image formats are something like .psd in Photoshop? Graphic Converter will happily convert that to whatever you want.

I've never needed to convert an image to CMYK, so I can't say how well GC does it, but it does do it. I've found it to be excellent at everything else it does. Actually, I consider it to be one of the best Mac applications ever developed, which is a lot more than I'd say about any Adobe product.

Actually, I consider it to be one of the best Mac applications ever developed, which is a lot more than I'd say about any Adobe product.

I did have a registered version of Graphic Converter at one time. Played with it for a while and found it fairly useless. There wasn't anything in it I couldn't do in Photoshop.

It's a great app for how inexpensive it is, but can't hold a candle to what I can do in PS.

Hello Greg,

While it's likely the case that there are brand-spanking new versions of these that can handle RGB, newspapers usually buy really expensive equipment and keep it for a very long time. So I do, in fact, have to have CMYK files. RGB just won't do.

While you can send RGB files to a print or prepress shop, you're then at the mercy of whatever automated conversion to CMYK is built into the RIP. Though a better shop will flag RGB images in preflight and convert them at extra cost to you. Doing it ahead of the RIP allows them to have better control over the conversion.

Snow Leopard installation has a function called "Match to Profile," and that function will actually convert the file to CMYK.

There it is! I had tried ColorSync before posting above so I wasn't just saying, "It doesn't work". I had tried the first two choices in the far left drop down menu and didn't bother with the third as I figured it wouldn't do anything different. Wrong again. 😊

I'm not sure about the CMYK options that you have available in Colorsync, but I have the same options in Colorsync that I have in Photoshop and Acrobat. I'm not sure whether those profiles are gifts from Apple or Adobe, but they are available in Colorsync on my Mac.

Most of the better canned CMYK profiles are from Photoshop. Otherwise, you wouldn't have anything to pick from that anyone in printing would tell you was okay to use. ColorSync can see them, as any other ColorSync aware program can, because they are all in the global /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/ folder. Some not directly in that folder, but aliases to where they are.

It seems to be a very decent, extremely inexpensive image editor that has a lot of the basic Photoshop functions. The basic Photoshop functions are generally all I need.

For those who only need, or want basic manipulation, Graphic Converter is nice. As is Acorn and a few other simple raster editors. Photoshop Elements is also very good at less than a sixth of the price of Photoshop. It just can't work in CMYK. But as long as you're satisfied with the RGB to CMYK translations Graphic Converter or ColorSync do to get you to your final image to send out, then it doesn't matter that PSE can't do CMYK itself.

Seems like we are somewhat overloading this topic, but I was looking for an answer, found the topic, found some relevant information and posted it. Obviously this is a topic that comes up from time-to-time.

Derm

The built-in ColorSync Utility can do this. So can the third-party application GraphicConverter.

Well, thanks for that information - learned something new (again)...... and, in my ignorance, had misunderstood your question.

I don't have, or use Graphic Converter, so I don't know how that works as far as converting.

Not to be argumentative, but if you don't know how it works, how do you know it's "extremely poor?"

Missed editing that part out.

I use an online tool - http://www.rgb2cmyk.org/ - accepts up to 12 mb files.
Derm

What in the world prompted you to resurrect a 3 and half year old topic?