designbymyself

Printing is the process of sending your image to an output device. You can print on paper or film (positive or negative), to a printing plate, or directly to a digital printing press. Before printing, you can preview your image in full color using color management options from the Print dialog box.

From Photoshop, you can prepare image files for offset lithography, digital printing, gravure, and other commercial printing processes. Generally, your workflow depends on the capabilities of the prepress facility. Before you begin a workflow for commercial printing, contact the prepress staff to learn their requirements. For example, they may not want you to convert to CMYK at any point because they may need to use prepress-specific settings. Here are some possible scenarios for preparing your image files to achieve predictable printing results:

Work in RGB mode until you finish editing your image. Then convert the image to CMYK mode and make any additional color and tonal adjustments. Especially check the highlights and shadows of the image. Use Levels, Curves, or Hue/Saturation adjustment layers to make corrections. These adjustments should be very minor. Flatten the file if necessary, then send the CMYK file to the professional printer.

Here are a few issues to keep in mind when you work on an image intended for commercial printing:

If you use a desktop printer to preview the appearance of the final printed piece, keep in mind that a desktop printer cannot faithfully replicate the output of a commercial printing press. A professional color proof gives a more accurate preview of the final printed piece.

Note: Some printers may prefer to receive your documents in PDF format, especially if the documents need to conform to PDF/X standards.