Social Media Army

To colour print your digital files, you have to supply the graphics and image in the optimum colour mode. Most of the software programs will allow you to work with RGB colour mode or CMYK colour mode. RGB colours or Red-Green-Blue colours are familiarly known as the primary colours of the light. This colour combination is represented on your television or computer monitors. The digital cameras and scanners also make images using Red-Green-Blue colour combinations. Red-Green-Blue colour mode should be used when taking photos that need to be viewed on the monitor, emails or CD.

All colours of the light spectrum are formed from primary colours, but monitors can display only limited colour range from the visible spectrum. Light is emitted by the monitors, and the ink recognises only a particular wavelength of colours. The three primary colours are combined to produce white. If the three primary colours are absent, then the light will show as black. By combining various intensities of RGB colours, each combination produces various colours. A monitor of a tv or a computer is made up of small units called pixels. Every pixel contains three units of light, and each unit represents red, green and blue.

We can’t see the individual pixels with the naked eye because they are too tiny. But every pixel is developed by applying proper values of RGB, and without the proper values of the colour units, you will not see any image displayed on the monitor. The values of RGB colours are calculated mainly by three methods. The first method is to set them with the help of different numeric values. The numeric values used for this purpose are the values from 0 to 255, and this is the simplest method of the three.

The second method is the use of hexadecimal notations. This method is mainly used for HTML and other languages of the computer. These notations follow a logical pattern. The hexadecimal notation uses six characters, with these characters being divided into three. The first pair represents the red, the second pair green and the third pair as blue. Each pair is represented by a hexadecimal number (0-9) and the letters (A-F). The third method is the percentage in which a certain percentage represents each colour. The programme translates these percentages into suitable values ranges from 0-255.

CMYK colours or Cyan-Magenta-Yellow colours are subtractive colours, whereas RGB colours are additive colours. Additive colours are referring to light, whereas subtractive colours refer to inks, paint or pigment. CMYK mode is used for printing as all kind of printers are using subtractive colours to produce a variety of colours. When three additive colours are combined, the combination will produce white colour. But when three subtractive colours are combined, the combination produces black colour. This difference results in a wide diversity between the print and the onscreen display. Additive colour throws the light from the monitor, and if more light is projected from a specific pixel, it will be closer to the pure light. Regarding printer inks, they will absorb light and reflects only the wavelengths of light that is associated with the colour of the ink.

The inks of the printer are subtracting the non-essential wavelengths from the light that falls on the ink. The remaining light will return to our eyes, providing the impression of a variety of colours. If you are combining a number of colours, then more light will be absorbed by the ink and a lesser amount of light will get reflected to the eye, and that results in darker colour. Black ink produced by the CMYK colours isn’t a deep black. So you must add black ink to get the best results for printing true black. If you would like to have a darker shade of a colour, you need to add black in CMYK mode.

And how about the lighter shade of colours? As white ink cannot be created using CMYK colours, you need to work under the idea that you are printing the colours on a white paper. Since tiny dots of ink are used to print images you have to use the inks in lower percentage to receive lighter shades so that more white is visible among the dots. The values of CMYK colours are calculated using four different percentages. The values of each percentage should be between 0 and 100 so that the total percentage of the ink values can be up to 400%. However, when the total percentage does reach 400%, the ink takes more time to dry. And so, the total percentage of ink shouldn’t be more than 300% in CMYK mode.

Both colour modes have their own limitations. Images created using RGB mode can’t be converted smoothly into CMYK mode due to the brightness of RGB colours. Similarly, CMYK colours cannot be converted into RGB mode because the sharp look of RGB colours is missing in CMYK mode online. This is the reason why RGB colours are used in monitors and CMYK colours are used in printers.

Looking for Logo Design Brisbane or Graphic Design Brisbane? Bydaughters can help you create a cut-through brand. Bydaughters is also a Brisbane Web Designer of notable talent.