The rise of the digital age has boosted the emergence of digital cameras.  Even the printing industry began to address the need to create quick hard copies that would give justice the to high-definition images through digital printing technology.

So exactly how do you prepare your digital image file for digital printing to get an accurate result?  Here’s a little background on digital printers to help you understand the steps better.

Printers use the image space consisting of cyan, magenta, yellow and key color black, collectively known as CMYK, while camera LCDs, monitors and other screens employ the red-green-blue or RGB color model.

If you submit your file to your local or online printer without converting RGB into CMYK, and your file was not evaluated, there will be color inaccuracies on your printouts.  Very specific hues are substituted with an equivalent but imprecise color version.

To convert, you can use your regular image-editing softwares.  For example, with raster-based Adobe Photoshop CS2, click on ‘Image’ then ‘Mode’, and check ‘CMYK color’.  Click OK to begin conversion.

If you are working on graphics, turning your file into CYMK is equally important.  When designing with your vector-based program, use the CMYK image space to have accurate colors in print.  If you already have a design and it’s in RGB, be sure to convert your file to CMYK.  Failure to adjust the color could result to poor printing quality.  However, do note that converting the image space can alter the hues of your image.

For Adobe Illustrator, Click on ‘File’ and then ‘Document Color Model’, and then choose ‘CMYK color’.

And when you’re scanning an image for printing, make sure that you set the mode to CMYK.  Also, use the highest possible resolution for your digital file — 300 dpi or better if your image and the scanner would allow it.