Using Photoshop (CS4) to create Album Cover

[goryboy]

Hi,

I have a offer to create an album cover for a talented pianist and have an idea for a post-apocalyptic background with a lone piano in the middle of it, this can only be done on Photoshop for what i want to do as i want it photo-realistic.

I'm concerned about printing issues as he's releasing it in copies as well as digitally. I am going to be using lots of layers and textures and make this looking superb to every last detail. I have never made anything for print on Photoshop, just on Illustrator with logos. And i would love to hear advice on what i should do so that the finished product i see on my screen will look the same when its printed.

I may be asking a stupid question but i keep on finding different answers from printers and its giving me a headache.

Thanks,

Neil

[goryboy]

Yeah, thanks for the help

[ExiledRed]

No need to be bitter, when nobody responds. Maybe nobody qualified to answer saw this thread yet.

As CD covers are outputted at a smaller size, you should be ok being creative with your blending layers, but you're still working at a minimum of 300dpi, so you may find that your filters and special effects don't have the same power that they do when you're creating web-graphics at 72dpi.

You'll be working in the CMYK colour space too, so what you see on your screen will invariably be different from what you see in print, there is no avoiding this. Your monitor creates colours with light, printers creat colours with pigmented inks.

[Blaise]

Yep, Exiled Red is right. You'll never get it exactly the same in print as you see it on your screen no matter what you do.

If you're going to be using a lot of effects and layer modes etc... you may need to work in RGB, but turn on the CMYK preview so that as you're working you'll know how it will look when you convert the final flattened file to CMYK (which you will have to do for printing). Believe me, it sucks when you've been working RGB and realize you don't have the preview on - you think you're done, covert to CMYK, and it turns to shit.

Or just work in CMYK.