RGB or CMYK colour formatting for iPhoto Albums printing.

The iPhoto team aren't here. This forum is for Users to talk to other Users. Apple don't promise to read anything posted here.

iPhoto simply doesn't support CMYK.

Regards

TD

CMYK is for certain types of printers that Apple doesn't use nor does it work well with most ink jet printers. That's why they require the RGB color profile which is the default for most digital cameras.

OT

Yes, well, it's all explained in the Terms of Use you agreed to when you signed up.

You're absolutely correct. I was referring to notes make a number of years ago in regards to iPhoto 5 and that RGB was recommended for both books and prints.

I was confusing CMYK with Grayscale with Dot Gain 20% profile when stating iPhoto didn't support it which it didn't fully support until iPhoto 9.

In fact I just ran a test with iPhoto 6, 7 and 8 with a CMYK AND GrayScale files with the following results:

iPhoto 6 (06): wouldn't import CMYK but did GrayScale. The grayscale file would only display as a black thumbnail and negative full image. If the DotGain 20% profile was stipped from it the iamge would dispaly normally.

iPhoto 7 (08): wouldn't import CMYK but did GrayScale. The grayscale file would only display as a black thumbnail and negative full image. If the DotGain 20% profile was stipped from it the iamge would dispaly normally.

iPhoto 8 (09): neither file would import which is surprising:

iPhoto 9.2.3 (11): both imported and viewed normally.

iPhoto 9.4 (11): both imported and viewed normally.

In Oct, 2007 I got an email from Apple support with the following:

Also as iphoto makes a pdf of the book and then uploads it to keep the size down, it doesn't matter if the pics are RGB or CMYK as a pdf is a closed file. But since it is going through prinergy it has an RGB checker so this most be switched off. It is how the software in prinergy handle's it that causes the washed out affect as it takes the Red Green Blue colours and tries to convert to Cyan Magenta Yellow Black. Now the colour spectrum in printing between rgb and cmyk is quite different looking at a colour wheel will show you. The best way i can describe it is if you have a pantone book which has spot on one side and process on the other you can see a colour difference. Or if you use quark open up the colours and again switch between process and spot.

BUT ONLY CONVERT PICS TO CMYK IF YOU ONLY INTEND TO ORDER BOOKS. IF YOU INTEND TO ORDER PRINTS IT WILL NEED TO BE RGB.

Here's how i see it:

1. Apple doesn't want 2 different versions of the pics floating about as running CMYK through a photomachine (as prints you would order in the high street) will not print correctly.

2. RGb's going through a CMYK press using prinergy will attempt to convert and produce the washed out effect, or yellowing effect BUT will still print.

So it will use the 2nd option as it will still produce prints normally and books with a slightly washed out effect. Now to most people in the high street, who will notice a difference?

I have just received my latest book saved as CMYK pics in tiff format and no washed out effect. What i will say is The quality if still not as good as a print. Now we use a docucolour 5252 at work and the colour quality is better. I wonder how often the machine is calibrated and what colour curve it is set to?

However, I am unable to import a CMYK file in any iPhoto version until iPhoto 9. Go figure.

Thanks for the feedback. Hadn't addressed this particular subject in quite a long time.

No one can tell you why since we are users just like you

The answer to RGB or CYMK is simple. ONLY RGB is supported and JPEGs are recommended

Creating Your Order

Image Settings

For the best results, your images should be in JPEG/JPG file format and in RGB mode when ordering photo products using iPhoto or Aperture. You can use an image editor to convert your image file into this common format.

Larger image files can take longer to transfer, and a larger image might be corrupted during the transfer process. There is no benefit to submitting larger file sizes.

For more details on formatting images, refer to Five steps to great books, cards, and calendars.

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For the best results, you should crop your images to the same aspect ratio as the print size you are ordering.

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LN