Re: evaluating pantone colors with photoshop
Re: evaluating pantone colors with photoshop
- Subject: Re: evaluating pantone colors with photoshop
- From: Chris Murphy <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 23:41:26 -0600
email@hidden writes:
A prospect for one of our printers has sent some test files. Each RGB
jpeg
file when opened has 9 squares, every one a different color. The
squares
all have labels like X1, X2, X3, etc. but nothing more specific. The
customer advises that the intent of this test is to see how well we
print
"pantone colors". When I open the file in Photoshop I am advised that
the
file contains an embedded sRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile.
Disqualify the test. The customer is baiting both of you into a time
wasting trap. Nearly all RGB spaces are insufficient for containing
every Pantone color. So unless they've selected Pantone colors that are
known to be in the sRGB gamut, this is also a waste of time. Further,
it's a waste of time unless everyone has recent Pantone books, as
Pantone changed not just the solid to process basis (which means the
CMYK equivalents are totally different) but the paper on which the
solids are printed. So even the spot colors have different appearance
than they used to, with an increasing difference the less opaque the
spot color is. The change occurred around May 2000.
The questions are:
Did you intentionally embed sRGB? If there is a pause or a "huh?" then
disqualify the test and tell them so. If they say yes ask:
Did you build the test in Photoshop 7? If there is a pause, a "huh?" or
a no, disqualify the test and tell them that is the only version of
Photoshop that provides reliable and accurate LAB versions of Pantone
solids, and would be the only hope for getting them in sRGB in the
first place. If they say yes, ask:
Did you ensure that the Pantone colors you selected are fully contained
in the sRGB gamut? No, huh or a pause = disqualification. A yes means
the test may be valid.
Still this is largely a Mickey Mouse way of determining how well you
print Pantone simulations.
2. Is there a method within Photoshop to reliably learn if "Pantone"
colors
were used?
No, it's a JPEG file - any reference to Pantone colors is gone.
3. If someone deliberately prepares a file filled with Pantone colors
that
are "out of gamut" for most process color printers - and the file is
sent
to the printer with no adjustments, what would be reasonable to expect?
Something between dog doo and cat doo - although I suppose giraffe doo
is possible. But hey, luck happens so you never know.
FYI I have asked for more information about this file - for example
whether
it really was prepared in an sRGB workspace - but it is unlikely that I
will get a response before the printed results are due.
Save yourself some time and cancel the job. The printed results will
only serve to make you look bad because the customer has almost surely
sent you a sabotaged file to begin with (intentional or not). You need
to look good by calling them on the sabotaged file.
Chris Murphy
Color Remedies (tm)
Boulder, CO
303-415-9932
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