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The advantage of GIMP – the program is free. And it can do a great job. Unfortunately, it cannot convert RGB to CMYK itself; this must be done through a plug-in that is somewhat inconvenient to install and use. |
First of all, we need the current version of GIMP, as well as the plug-in that facilitates the conversion. We can get both of these directly from the programmer’s homepage.
1. Unpack the archive and go to the folder in which you have expanded it. From there, open the following subfolder:
separate+0.5.4 – bin – win32_gimp2.4
2. In this you will find three files
icc_colorspace.exe, seperate.exe, seperate_import.exe.
These files need to be copied into the Gimp plug-in folder.
3. You will find it here:
YourDrive – GIMP-2.0 – lib – gimp – 2.0 – plug-ins
Copy the three files to this location.
4. Start GIMP
Open the picture you want to convert and right-click on it. In the following dialogue, choose: Image -> Separate -> Separate
In the window that appears, choose “Coated FOGRA27″ under “Destination Color Space”. In addition, make sure to select “Make CMYK pseudo-composite.” Leave the other options as they are.
A new Gimp window will open with your converted photo. To save the photo, right-click on the converted picture and choose from the following menu:
Image -> Separate -> Save
All that’s left to do is enter the file name in the subsequent window, and then you’ve finished the conversion.
Note:
I regularly get the question, “Why is the colour profile you mentioned in this tutorial not available?” This is most likely because you do not have the target colour profile. However, you can download it from Adobe for free.
Adobe Colour Profiles
