Re: Colorsync-users Digest, Vol 4, Issue 10
Re: Colorsync-users Digest, Vol 4, Issue 10
- Subject: Re: Colorsync-users Digest, Vol 4, Issue 10
- From: Rick McCleary <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2007 15:22:37 -0500
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 20:22:12 -0500
From: email@hidden (Lee Blevins)
Just a couple thoughts from a working photographer:
You're a photographer. You make photographs.
Absolutely correct. And as we all learned on school, having a great idea for making an image is what you talk about over wine at someone else's art show, being able to render it as you see it gets you your own art show.
You should not make CMYK images.
Who made up that rule? What's so difficult about CMYK? This truly is not brain surgery. Every process has clearly defined and knowable parameters. If you play nicely within those parameters, everyone stays happy. The process of working in CMYK is no more obtuse than all the other processes we've learned along the way -- Zone System calibrations, platinum printing, cyanotypes, RA-4 printing, interneg generation, etc, etc, etc. Photographers are a unique breed displaying intense right-brain activity (creative, non-lnear thinking necessary to create images) and intense left-brain activity (logical, process-oriented thinking necessary to put those images to paper, screen, or whatever.)
That conversion should be done where the press is. At that location is
where the people who are getting the minute to minute feedback on what's
working and what isn't.
Ha! If only,,,
I've stuck my hand into the fire enough to know that if I want control over my image -- in whatever form it takes -- I better learn the process and exercise that process to the very end. If a service provider -- whether they be darkroom technician or pre-press operator -- proves their mettle to me, I'll let them in on the fun. Otherwise, no way.
Digital photography more than anything has driven this debate to a new
level.
I agree. And the reason is because there is no tangible original. In the old days, I could give a transparency to a scanning guy and be done. The film itself was the reference. Now, there is no reference. The labs are crying because there's no more film to process and the pre-press guys are crying because there's no more film to scan. The only person who has the reference in their head is the photographer.
As I tell people quite often, technology isn't making this easier, it's
making it more difficult. There's more to know now. More buttons to
press and more software to learn.
Nothing new here. There's always more to learn.
Here's a story that is all too common in my experience:
I just had an annual report printed at a very highly regarded sheet-fed shop in town. When I was preparing the files, I asked the printer if they'd like me to supply color-corrected RGB or CMYK. They said either one would be fine. After consulting with the design firm, we decided to run a test each way -- my RGB that they would convert and my CMYK conversion. I asked the printer to supply me with their ICC output profile. "We don't use that stuff. It screws things up." (grrrr...) So I asked what their conversion settings are in the PS classic CMYK engine. I created the CMYK separations using the settings they recommended, taking into account the limits of the process, and sent off the two versions of the files - RGB and CMYK. Needless to say, the contract proofs from my CMYK looked a hell of a lot better than the contract proofs from their RGB conversions. One more example to me of why I am the best guy to do my own separations.
Needless to say, when I run into a prepress operator who's savvy and talented, I might turn the work over. But that is a very rare occurance, indeed. And besides, the CMYK conversions have become a rather nice profit center.
The advice I'd give photographers is stick to photography and find a
good printer/separator. Establish a relationship and teach each other.
I offer photographers different advice: Learn all you can about the CMYK process and use that knowledge to make your images (and your client) look great. The best place to learn is a printing plant. Go there and see how the process works. Talk to the guys behind the scenes - the pre-press operators, the pressmen. Ask questions and just listen. Even if they don't use CMS or profiles, you'll still come away with a wealth of information.
As with everything else in life, learning and communication are key.
RIck
RICK MCCLEARY PHOTOGRAPHY
201 Orchard Drive
Purcellville, VA 20132
v 540-338-4895
c 540-454-7180
www.rickmccleary.com _______________________________________________
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