Re: Who makes the separations?
Re: Who makes the separations?
- Subject: Re: Who makes the separations?
- From: Karsten Krüger <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 17:06:31 +0100
Thanks for this discussion thread. The more I read, the more it gets
clear that communication is about everything.
Let me try to summarize:
We face several situations:
Photographers who either
- want to have control over how the final piece looks like
- don't care too much (because of time, financial or knowledge
constrains)
Prepress people who either
- know how to handle profiles and project communication
- don't care too much (because of time, financial or knowledge
constrains)
Printers who either
- know how to handle profiles and project communication and keep
their production well colormanged.
- don't care too much (because of time, financial or knowledge
constrains)
The customer who places the order:
- usually does not know too much on technical requirements and details
Depending on where you are in production chain you need to know who
your partners are and how they do their job. Whenever you hit a
"don't care too much" responsibilities start to shift:
A photographer,
who cares about output, needs either an experienced partner or has to
know how to do ICC profile based separations to **industry
standards** like ISOcoated, ISOnewspaper etc. He has to have a color
managed environment and a proofing device to be able to pass on a
real world evidence of how his work has to look like. Depending on
project requirements (did I mention communication) he delivers RGB or
CMYK - and a printed reference.
The least thing a photographer has to learn is that output abilities
define the quality of his work (for other people). There is no
transparency film to pass on as a neutral reference in a digital
world. The only time his work can be judged upon is after being
processed by other people. He has to understand the needs and
abilities of these "other people". When hitting "don't care so much"
he has to decide to either accept, educate or avoid those partners.
If a photographer is not able to detect a "don't care so much" all
his output will be a surprise to him.
For prepress and printers
the news is that they have to include the photographer into their
communication. In analog time they had the transparency film as a
reference. There was no need to talk to the photographer. But that
film doesn't exist in digital world anymore. So they need to know
more about how to interpret the data being delivered from a
photographer in order to get best results.
Prepress and printer have to understand the needs and abilities of a
photographer. When hitting a "don't care so much" they have to decide
to either accept, educate or avoid those photographers. If they are
not able to detect a "don't care so much" all output will be a surprise.
The customer who places the order
can be the biggest challenge. For best results try to get the names
of who is doing what in the whole project. If that is not possible,
try to understand how the final product will be printed and settle
for the appropriate established standard like ISOcoated, ISOnewspaper
etc. If that is not possible (because of multiple outputs or
customers inability) go for an established RGB color space like
LStarRGB, ECIrgb etc. which is suitable for most print productions.
Make it hard for others not to notice which color space your images
use. Put the color space into your contract with the customer to
avoid discussions later. Attach the corresponding ICC profile to each
image being delivered. Put the ICC profile as a separate file into
the same folder where your images are and and an additional copy into
the root directory. Write the name of the ICC profile onto the CD-ROM
you deliver.
Bottom line:
There is no fixed rule on who should do the separation. It depends on
project requirements and the people involved. There is only one
responsibility: know the process for a project, know your partners
and do an educated decision. And be patient. Digital photography is a
new challenge in print production. Nobody knows everything. Forgive
those who make mistakes the first time and try to communicate and
educate your partner. You will benefit on the next job.
Have a nice weekend,
Karsten
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