PDS to PDF/Tiff question and RGB format printing dilemma

[kokoski]

I have 2 quick questions to those that are knowledgeable in printing CPO's or images in general.

#1 My local print shop Staples cant read PSD's for printing but can read Tiff/PDF. Will any image loss occur from the conversion photoshop does, the image looks like it has jaggies when zooming in and out but seems smooth when I did a test print on a page in black and white?

#2 I created my CPO in RGB, do normal printing shops print in this format? From what I've read recently many only do CMYK. When I set Photoshop to CMYK mode the CPO looked faded. Looking for some advice here.

Any help people could give on either of these 2 problems would be greatly appreciated.

[Blanka]

#1 My local print shop Staples cant read PSD's for printing but can read Tiff/PDF. Will any image loss occur from the conversion photoshop does, the image looks like it has jaggies when zooming in and out but seems smooth when I did a test print on a page in black and white?

TIF is exactly the same in quality, it only misses editing layers. PDF can be similar with the correct compression settings, but can be lower quality with no good settings.

#2 I created my CPO in RGB, do normal printing shops print in this format? From what I've read recently many only do CMYK. When I set Photoshop to CMYK mode the CPO looked faded. Looking for some advice here.

This is very logical. RGB on a monitor is allowing more colors to be displayed then in print. Look here:

sRGB is probably closest to your monitor, the SWOP is a common used set of printing inks in CMYK. See the CMYK area is much smaller. That is what you see when converting to CMYK.

The best option for artwork (you won't like it), is drawing in a vector program (Freehand, Illustrator) in CMYK directly. Either ask for a test print with CMYK swatches from the printing firm or send them a generic CMYK swatches PDF from internet to have a good set of sample colours to use in the vector drawing program. That way you can use the extends of CMYK to the max. CMYK has some areas where is exceeds display gamut too, especially with extreme blues or yellows.

[kokoski]

I really appreciate the response. I suppose my next question is this. My cab has a red theme, and when I set Photoshop to CYMK the reddest red comes out as pink when set to that mode. How do people normally get red actually red when printed. I've seen other cpo's with red on them. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but the options in photoshop seem a little overwhelming. I suppose I thought the hardest part was actually making the art, not worrying about the colors printing.I'm totally cool with starting over again, I have most of the cpo in smart object form.

[Blanka]

Red is pretty easy in CMYK. 100%Y 100%M is the reddest red you can get with printing.