For the restless among us (including me), let's delve straight into the proper use of our RGB to CMYK chart. Below I offer more
detailed information on color space and why it is important to you. We also produced a video for those that don’t like to read
all the details. Go here.
We apologize for the inconvenience, but we no longer ship the color charts for free. You can order your copy for only $5.50 (USA, S&H included)
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The Human eye can detect a wide range of colors. However, the range is limited to the edge of infrared and ultra violet on the other end of the spectrum.
For instance, we can’t see the light emitted from an infrared remote control. The eye cannot perceive any light waves beyond the spectrum.
A monitor can display around 16 million colors (8bit models). The RGB (red green blue) color space or gamut of such a monitor
let you see a wide array of colors. But even here, certain colors we can see in everyday life cannot be reproduced accurately.
The print gamut is even more limited. An image is composed by laying down four colors in succession. In printing jargon, CMYK refers to the color
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Not to confuse “B” with blue, it was decided to call black with the letter “K”.
What does all that mean to you? Colors you see on the monitor may not print properly. For example, a vividly displayed red may look brown once printed.
Therefore it helps to have a color chart with the CMYK mixing formula. Now you can enter the color values into your favorite paint
program (such as Photoshop) and be reasonably certain what you will get once printed. Keep in mind that colors will shift no matter what, even slightly.
There are many contributing factors such as temperature, humidity and the overall print batch adjustments.
Tip: When purchasing a monitor for important color work, we suggest an IPS-based display.
Printers can only reproduce a limited color spectrum whether you hire a local printer or an online printing service.
Comon whisdom tells us to adjust the color to 100% (black). But, thats not enough. In order to get that deep saturated black you need to mix your color
as follow: 60% Cyan, 40% Magenta, 60% Yellow, 100% Black (K).
This fact is really obvious when you compare the results on our color chart
