RGB? CMYK? Funny You Should Ask
Here’s what RGB means to me today: My cranky Epson R1800 printer demanded more difficult-to-find $20 ink cartridges before I could make the prints my client requested.
Once I complied, I was able to make these prints from my Vanishing Austin photography series, which may or may not cover every color under the sun, but certainly sucked up a lot of the RGB ink I had on hand.
Ever wonder what RBG means? The affectionate shorthand a layperson uses to define the colors of the rainbow is ROY G. BIV. (Back to kindergarten if you can’t work out the acronym for those seven colors.) But when it comes to displaying or printing those colors accurately, designers and printers rely upon other shorthand for the space color occupies. And there’s a great deal to know about colorspace, technically, when you’re making prints, shooting photographs, displaying images on a computer screen and printing them on a commercial press for publication. Still, it all comes down to these letters of the alphabet:
- RGB for your inkjet printer settings (Red-Green-Blue)
- sRGB for your computer display and probably your default camera profile (standard Red-Green-Blue)
- CMYK for your commercial printing press (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black)
Confusing, isn’t it? Make a mistake on the color profile, as the industry buffs call it, and be surprised by some ugly printed or displayed results. When in doubt, consult a professional. Results may vary.
That’s the short answer. But probably more than you ever wanted to know about colorspace, right? ♣
About my Vanishing Austin series: While many Austin landmarks are lost, many are survivors still. Admire them all in a slideshow, HERE. Prints start at $35.
You can marvel at what’s lost and what’s survived in my Endangered Species of Austin poster, featuring 16 Austin icons, and sized at a handsomely large 24 x 36,” available for $25, HERE.
- How the Vanishing Austin project began
- The 99+ photographs in the Vanishing Austin series
- More articles in Vanishing Austin blog series
- The Endangered Species of Austin
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Printers really suck up the ink, that’s for sure. And cartridges ain’t cheap!
janet
The cost of the printer is the least of it, isn’t it?
Roy G. Biv is a colorful man, and he proudly stands at the rainbow’s end… ;-). [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf33ueRXMzQ&w=420&h=315%5D I actually never heard it growing up, but I guessed from your context what the letters stand for.
Leave it to you, Paula, to add a clever illustrative rainbow youtube, thanks!
Roy G Biv must be an Americanism, although it has an OK ring to it. In all our Physics lectures, it was always “VIBGYOR”. You can pronounce it and it remains engraved on my brain 😉
HaHa Kay, I remember that one, too. I think Roy turned up with Gen X. 😉