Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Chapter 16. Photoshop and Print

Getting your prints to match what you see onscreen is one of the biggest challenges you’ll face when dealing with digital images. Unless you prepare your monitor and files properly, it’s impossible to make them match.

As you’ve learned, digital images actually contain grayscale information—it’s the monitor and printer’s job to translate that info into color. And with the sheer volume of monitors, printers, inks, and papers out there, producing consistent color can be a nightmare.

Thankfully, there’s a solution, but it lies in understanding why creating consistent color is such a challenge. Unfortunately, that means learning about things like color modes, gamuts, and color profiles. These are heady topics, to be sure, but it’s not rocket science. The main concepts are (fairly) straightforward, and if you can make it through this chapter (an energy drink will help), you’ll know how to create consistent, predictable, high-quality prints.

Note

Photoshop CC 2014 can perform 3D printing, meaning you can take a virtual 3D object that you’ve created in (or loaded into) Photoshop and then create a physical object out of it using a special 3D printer. For details, see Chapter 21.