Nomad Raster (Bitmap) Art Information
Nomad Printing and Services

last updated : 2003.02.11

Photoshop

RGB vs CMYK

The two most important things to watch when working in Photoshop are Colorspace and Resolution.

Colorspace: Most printing is done in CMYK colorspace, or Cyan Magenta, Yellow and Black inks. These four inks are the standard process colors. With them, you can generate millions of colors, just about every color you'd want to use.
Another popular colorspace model is RGB, or Red, Green, and Blue. This colorspace is used for television, and web graphics. All computer monitors display the RGB color space.
Unfortunately, the RGB colorspace includes colors that can not be reproduced in print. Be extra careful to check (and change to CMYK) your colorspace in your graphics.
Yet another color model is the PANTONE color matching system. Pantone colors are spot colors, or special inks used with CMYK or by themselves. You can get some excellent results using Pantone Spot colors, but there are some issues to be aware of.
Pantone inks don't mix well with regular CMYK inks, so don't overlap a spot color onto CMYK artwork. If a spot color abuts process color, care must be taken to trap the two colors.

Clipping Paths, transparency

Layers, Channels, and Masks

Well, I haven't quite finished this section, so, if you
have a specific question about a feature or tool in PhotoShop,
or raster (bitmap) art in general,
please feel free to email me at

[email protected].

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