PUB2002: Prepress: Adobe PhotoShop CMYK TIFFs Display Colors Incorrectly

When you insert into Publisher 2002 a CMYK Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) image that was created and saved in Adobe PhotoShop, you may notice that the colors displayed are different from the original. Also, when you print a composite with a CMYK TIFF image, the colors that are printed are different from the original.

Typically, reds have too much blue, and are displayed and printed as purple. Yellows have too much red, and are displayed and printed as orange. Blues are too dark.

Microsoft Office XP and Microsoft Publisher 2002 use GDI+ to convert CMYK TIFFs. GDI+ adheres to the ICC (International Color Consortium) Standards and looks for the image's color profiles, based on the ICC standard location. Adobe PhotoShop version 5.0 and more recent versions support the ICC standard location for placing the color profile within the TIFF file.

Adobe PhotoShop 4.5 and earlier versions do not support the ICC Standard location for placing the color-profile information within a TIFF file. These versions of PhotoShop place the color-profile information in a private location within the TIFF file. GDI+ is unable to read the correct color values from images that are saved in these earlier versions.

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods.

Method 1

Using Adobe PhotoShop version 5 or 5.5:

1. Save the TIFF as an Adobe PhotoShop file (PSD).
2. Save the PSD as a TIFF.
3. Select PC byte order and LZW compression.

Using Adobe PhotoShop version 6:

1. On the File menu, click Save As to create a new copy.
2. When you save the new copy, you must select a Color Profile to embed with the graphic.

Method 2

Save the CMYK TIFF from Adobe PhotoShop as an EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) graphic with preview. Publisher supports the CMYK information from the EPS graphic, regardless of the Adobe PhotoShop version, and processes it correctly for on-screen and as a composite print.

Method 3

Using Microsoft Office Document Imaging:

1. Click Start, and then click All Programs.
2. Click Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Microsoft Office Document Imaging.
3. Click File, and then click Open.
4. Locate and select the CMYK TIFF file, and then click Open.
5. Click Edit, click Select All, and then click Copy Image.
6. In Publisher 2002 click Edit, and then click Paste.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.