Fine Art Yearbook: CMYK Image Conversion

This morning I popped down to James Mcbeath in the digital dungeon to ask what the best way of converting RGB into CMYK would be, as I was sure the usual method of

image > mode > select your colour profile

in Photoshop was not the best way to do it... and with James being a photographer, I was correct.

As shown below in windowed screenshots, the new and improved (at least to me) method consisted of the following:

edit > convert to profile > working cmyk - U.S. web coated (SWOP) v2 > intent:perceptual


Apparently what this allows you to do, is to have MUCH more control over the colour conversion, as opposed to the other method that is 'the harshest way possible' to quote James.

So with that confirmed, I set up an action and batched the entire folder of yearbook photographs from RGB into CMYK... which in itself was another useful tool learned not too long ago.


Hopefully what this means is that the Fine Art Yearbook will come back printed accurately and representative of the artworks in real life. Ka-ching.