Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Setting up your color settings
Before you begin selecting colors for painting, you should have an understanding of color
modes and Photoshop's color settings. Let's start with a basic introductory overview of the
two main color modes that you will use in this lesson, RGB and CMYK.
Color primer
This lesson is about painting, adding colors, and changing and retouching images. It is
important to understand that what you see on the screen is not necessarily what your i nal
viewers will see (print or web). Bright colors tend to become duller when output to a
printer, and some colors can't even be reproduced on the monitor or on paper. This is due
to the fact that each device—whether it's a monitor, printer, or TV screen—has a dif erent
color gamut.
Understanding color gamut
The gamut represents the number of colors that can be represented, detected, or reproduced
on a specii c device. Although you may not realize it, you have experience with dif erent
gamuts already; your eyes can see many more colors than your monitor or a printing press
can reproduce.
A
B
C
A.
Colors that your eye recognizes.
B.
Colors that your monitor recognizes.
C.
Colors that your printer reproduces.
In this lesson, you will learn how you can address some of the color limitations that are
inherent when working with color that is displayed or output by dif erent devices. A quick
introduction to the RGB and CMYK color models will help you to get a better grasp on
what you can achieve. Understand that there are entire topics on this subject, but you will
at least gain enough information to be dangerous after reading this section.
If you receive a Missing or Mismatched Proi le warning dialog box on any images used in
this lesson, press OK to accept the default setting.
