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Study Material - VI - Colour Modes

This document defines color modes and describes the different types of color modes used in printing, including basic, full, and special color modes. It explains RGB and CMYK color modes, which are the primary color modes used for screen and print respectively. It also discusses spot color versus process color for printing, noting that spot colors provide more vibrant colors and consistency but may cost more. Spot colors are best used for colors outside the CMYK gamut, logos, or projects requiring large solid areas or metallic/fluorescent effects.

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132 views

Study Material - VI - Colour Modes

This document defines color modes and describes the different types of color modes used in printing, including basic, full, and special color modes. It explains RGB and CMYK color modes, which are the primary color modes used for screen and print respectively. It also discusses spot color versus process color for printing, noting that spot colors provide more vibrant colors and consistency but may cost more. Spot colors are best used for colors outside the CMYK gamut, logos, or projects requiring large solid areas or metallic/fluorescent effects.

Uploaded by

Protap Ball
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BMMC 102: Printing Technology – Paper for Printing

Definition of Color Mode


Color modes can be defined as the basis for the representation of a pixel's color value in an image or Graphic
Design. Color Mode provides a medium across different installations of Graphic designing and Image editing
softwares which defines how a document will be interpreted the same way by the basic image processing
system. Along with color profiles, color modes determine how an image will be represented on screen or in
print.

Types of Color Modes

• Basic Color Mode


• Full Color Mode
• Special Color Mode
BMMC 102: Printing Technology – Paper for Printing

1. Basic color modes


a. Bitmap color mode: It uses one of two color values (black or white) to represent the pixels in an image.
Images in Bitmap mode are called bitmapped 1-bit images because they have a bit depth of 1.

b. Grayscale color mode: It consists of a single channel of 8 bits that maps values to grays, from black to
white. In 8-bit images, there can be up to 256 shades of gray. Every pixel of a Grayscale image has a
brightness value ranging from 0 (black) to 255 (white).

2. Full Color Modes


A minimum of three channels is needed to represent the majority of colors visible to humans. The act of
dividing each color into the different channels is called separation, and the act of combining them is called
compositing— these are handled differently by each mode.

A. RGB (Red, Green and Blue) : RGB most closely resembles the sRGB profile. It is a standard for the
majority of monitors and best describes how they generate color. RGB color mode uses three colors, or
channels, Red, Green and Blue to produce colors on screen. In 8-bits-per- channel images, the three
channels translate to 24 (8 bits x 3 channels) bits of color information per pixel. With 24-bit images, the
various combinations of three channels can produce up to 16.7 million different colors per pixel. It is the
Primary color mode. It is also called Additive color mode.

B. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black): The CMYK color mode describes how colors will be
composited by common printing processes. In the CMYK mode, each pixel is assigned a percentage value
for each of the process inks. In 8-bits-per-channel images, the four channels translate to 32 (8 bits x 4
channels) bits of color information per pixel. It produces more colors than RGB color mode. It is a Secondary
Color mode. It is also called Subtractive color mode.
BMMC 102: Printing Technology – Paper for Printing

C. LAB: The CIE LAB color model is based on the human perception of color. The numeric values in Lab
describe all the colors that a person with normal vision sees. Because Lab describes how a color looks rather
than how much of a particular colorant is needed for a device (such as a monitor, desktop printer, or digital
camera) to produce colors, Lab is considered to be a device-independent color model. Color management
systems use Lab as a color reference to predictably transform a color from one color space to another color
space.
The Lab Color mode has a lightness component (L) that can range from 0 to 100. In the Adobe Color Picker
and Color panel, the ‘A’ component (green-red axis) and the ‘B’ component (blue- yellow axis) can range
from +127 to –128.

3. Special color modes


a. Index color mode: A 8-bit mode that translates each of the 255 possible color values into an RGB triad.
Indexed color mode has a single-color channel and does not support layers.

b. Duotone color mode: It is a printing-oriented mode that, contrary to its name, allows for monotones,
duotones, tri-tones, and quad-tones. Channels are not directly accessible, but are manipulated by proxy
through Curves. Duotone mode creates monotone (one- color), duotone (two-color), tri-tone (three-color),
and quad- tone (four-color) Grayscale images using one to four custom inks. It has a single channel of 8
bits.

c. Multichannel color mode: It is a "super-mode" that allows for spot colors to be used. All other modes
can be considered special cases of Multichannel mode. In this mode, Layers are disabled, as compositing
is too complex to allow their use. Multichannel mode images contain 256 levels of gray in each channel
and are useful for specialized printing. Multichannel mode images can be saved in Photoshop, Large
Document Format (PSB), Photoshop 2.0, Photoshop Raw, or Photoshop DCS 2.0 formats.
BMMC 102: Printing Technology – Paper for Printing

Spot vs. Process


In offset printing, a spot color is a special premixed ink that requires its own printing plate on a printing press.
The colors are produced without the use of screens or multi-color dots, and the colors or your design are
applied individually in layers filling up every spot in your custom design. Usually spot colors are created
through an ink system such as the Pantone Matching System, which can either provide a standard solid color
that can be purchased whole or mixed before printing.
While, process color is a way of mixing inks to create colors during the actual printing process itself. A process
color is printed using a combination of the four standard process inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black
(CMYK). Also used in offset printing, process colors are the more common method of printing. Although the
amount of process colors through CMYK may seem endless, process colors actually provide a limited color
range.

Why use Spot Color


As noted above, process colors can be fairly limited in their color range as the final colors are merely a
combination of CMYK colors. Because spot colors layer an infinite amount of colors, they can provide a much
more vibrant and detailed color. In addition to the variety of options, spot colors provide much better
consistency from page to page. When printing a solid color with process inks, there may be slight variations
in the color balance that can affect the color’s consistency. While spot colors may cost a bit more, they can
add a lot to your project making the extra cost well worth it in the end.

When to use Spot Color


Spot colors are best used when colors are outside of the CMYK range or when accuracy is crucial, such as
in company logos or color-specific brand elements (think Starbucks green or McDonalds red and yellow).
Spot colors should also be used in printing jobs that require printing over a large area because spot color
inks can provide more even coverage. Additionally, projects that require special effects such as metallic or
florescent colors should use spot colors. Spot colors can add a little something extra to your project.

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