Illustrator CS3 is giving me problems on colors that i need to print.?

Question

I have made a background in PS, saved it 300dpi and large enough to fit my project within Illustrator.

Once i open the PSD file in illustrator it looks perfect, the colors are 100% what i need. Once i drag it into my file that i want to use the background in, it washes out.

All of my images used within this illustrator file do this, not just my background, only that's the most noticeable.

My illustrator is set to CMYK using U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2.

Please help me out here, i've spent over a day trying to figure this out and i just can't. Also, this file is to be printed as well.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, colors are always going to look different on your screen than what they print out, especially if you're using a low quality printer. Also colors will differ significantly between programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop. Are you also making sure that your color mode in photoshop is in CMYK? Also make sure that your Illustrator color mode is in CMYK as well.  Professionals resort to PMS or Spot colors when they have to have an exact match and then they have to refer to swatch books (which cost hundreds of dollars) to see how the spot colors with REALLY print.  Sorry if this is not much help, there really is no exact science to colors unless you use spot colors, swatch books and professional printers.