Computer Graphics with Photoshop

Author

Duplicating color?

peter

2007-02-25, 6:14 pm

I am trying to duplicate a specific shade of green. All I have is a
hard copy of a brochure. I naively hoped I could scan in the brochure
and get the info from a sample in Photoshop. It didn't work. Is there
any way I can do this besides visually comparing the greens? I am
sending a business card design to a printing company and really want
the greens to match as closely as possible.

Thanks,

Peter

2007-02-25, 6:14 pm

peter wrote:
> I am trying to duplicate a specific shade of green. All I have is a
> hard copy of a brochure. I naively hoped I could scan in the brochure
> and get the info from a sample in Photoshop. It didn't work. Is there
> any way I can do this besides visually comparing the greens? I am
> sending a business card design to a printing company and really want
> the greens to match as closely as possible.

(Aside - Photoshop is not the best way to go. Illustrator is the tool to
use.)

Anyway, just approximate the color. It doesn't really matter what color
it is - just that it can be differentiated from the rest of the card,
and then go to the printer with the original card and ask them to
duplicate the color. It's a spot-color so they should be able to easily
identify it.

peter

2007-02-25, 6:14 pm

On Feb 25, 11:20 am, JJ <j...@nowhere.net> wrote:
> peter wrote:
>
> (Aside - Photoshop is not the best way to go. Illustrator is the tool to
> use.)
>
> Anyway, just approximate the color. It doesn't really matter what color
> it is - just that it can be differentiated from the rest of the card,
> and then go to the printer with the original card and ask them to
> duplicate the color. It's a spot-color so they should be able to easily
> identify it.

Thanks for your reply. The thing is, it is an internet printing
company, but I suppose I can mail them the actual brochure.

Thanks again,

Peter

Mike Russell

2007-02-25, 6:14 pm

"peter" <plaz987@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1172419278.583072.40940@j27g2000cwj.googlegroups.com...
>I am trying to duplicate a specific shade of green. All I have is a
> hard copy of a brochure. I naively hoped I could scan in the brochure
> and get the info from a sample in Photoshop. It didn't work. Is there
> any way I can do this besides visually comparing the greens? I am
> sending a business card design to a printing company and really want
> the greens to match as closely as possible.

As someone mentioned, the best method is to send the original brocure that
you want to match along with the job. Printers and prepress folks do this
sort of matching all the time and they will get it right.

One very common way to match a color that way is to get hold of a Pantone
swatch book, and visually match up the card with one of Pantone's spot
colors. Be sure to distinguish between coated and uncoated.

Another way is to scan it with a colorimeter or spectrophotometer, and match
the numeric color values to a spot color. Using a scanner for this purposes
is not dependable because it depends not only on the calibration of your
scanner (if any) but the characteristics of the scanner light source.

A fourth method - much less accurate than the first two - is to calibrate
your monitor, and then match the scanned color to one of the solid coated or
uncoated Pantone swatches in Photoshop's color picker. Click the "Color
Libraries" button in the picker dialog to access this. I don't recommend
this method because you are completely dependent on the accuracy of your
monitor calibration and the viewing conditions of your desk area.
--
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com/forum/

tacit

2007-02-25, 6:14 pm

In article <1172419278.583072.40940@j27g2000cwj.googlegroups.com>,
"peter" <plaz987@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I am trying to duplicate a specific shade of green. All I have is a
> hard copy of a brochure. I naively hoped I could scan in the brochure
> and get the info from a sample in Photoshop. It didn't work. Is there
> any way I can do this besides visually comparing the greens?

If you do design professionally, you need, and I mean need, to buy a
Pantone color guide. Then it's easy. Hold the Pantone swatch book up to
the printed piece.

> I am
> sending a business card design to a printing company and really want
> the greens to match as closely as possible.

If you are doing business cards in Photoshop, you have already started
down the wrong path. You are using the wrong tool for the job, and the
printed result will be inferior to what you'd get if you had used the
right tool.

Photoshop is a photo editing program. It is not an illustration or page
layout program. For jobs like business cards, you should be using
InDesign or Illustrator.

--
Photography, kink, polyamory, shareware, and more: all at
http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

peter

2007-02-26, 3:14 am

On Feb 25, 4:23 pm, tacit <tac...@aol.com> wrote:
> In article <1172419278.583072.40...@j27g2000cwj.googlegroups.com>,
>
> "peter" <plaz...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> If you do design professionally, you need, and I mean need, to buy a
> Pantone color guide. Then it's easy. Hold the Pantone swatch book up to
> the printed piece.
>
>
> If you are doing business cards in Photoshop, you have already started
> down the wrong path. You are using the wrong tool for the job, and the
> printed result will be inferior to what you'd get if you had used the
> right tool.
>
> Photoshop is a photo editing program. It is not an illustration or page
> layout program. For jobs like business cards, you should be using
> InDesign or Illustrator.
>
> --
> Photography, kink, polyamory, shareware, and more: all athttp://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

Thanks for your replies. I am creating the business cards in
CorelDraw, just using Photoshop for the background, since it is a
picture which fades to this green. I just recently purchased InDesign
and trying learn it, but CorelDraw is comfortable for me!

Thanks again,

Peter