One of the most common questions we get asked here at Photoshop Essentials is how to convert an image from CMYK to RGB. The reason this is such a common question is because, when you’re first starting out with Photoshop, it’s easy to think that all of the color modes are interchangeable.
However, that’s not the case. Each color mode is best suited for different types of projects, and if you try to use the wrong color mode for your project, you might not be happy with the results. So, in this article, we’re going to show you how to convert an image from CMYK to RGB in Photoshop.
First, let’s take a look at what CMYK and RGB are, and why you would need to convert between them. CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. These are the four colors that are used in printing. When you print something out, whether it’s a photo or a document, the printer uses these four colors to produce the final image.
The reason CMYK is used for printing is because it’s more economical than using RGB. RGB stands for Red, Green, and Blue. These are the three primary colors of light. When you mix these three colors together in different proportions, you can create just about any color imaginable. And that’s why RGB is used for digital displays like monitors and TVs.
Now that we know a little bit about CMYK and RGB, let’s take a look at how to convert an image from CMYK to RGB in Photoshop. There are actually two ways to do this: using the Image Mode command or using the Convert To Profile command. We’ll start with the Image Mode command since it’s the simpler of the two methods:
1) With your image open in Photoshop, go to the Image menu at the top of the screen and choose Mode.
2) In the resulting dialog box, choose RGB Color from the list of color modes (you can see our image changed from CMYK to RGB when we selected it).
3) Click OK to exit out of the dialog box and confirm your changes.
And that’s all there is to converting an image from CMYK to RGB using the Image Mode command! As we mentioned earlier, there’s also a way to do this using the Convert To Profile command. Let’s take a look at how that works:
1) With your image open in Photoshop, go to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and choose Convert To Profile.
2) In the resulting dialog box, choose sRGB IEC61966-2.1 from the list of color profiles (this is basically telling Photoshop that we want our image to be converted to RGB).
3) Make sure that the option for Use Dither is checked (this will help prevent any banding or posterization in your image).
4) Click OK to exit out of the dialog box and confirm your changes.
And there you have it! That’s how easy it is to convert an image from CMYK to RGB in Photoshop!
