Macbooks,monitors and PP for press

[larry]

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(Getting on my soapbox...) I think every commercial photographer and print designer should spend a year or two in a highend printshop learning the process. My own 5 year camera/color sep/strip/plate/press/bindery appreticeship taught me more that the 5 years that followed in an ad agency. And made a foundation for the 30 years that followed reproducing fine art.

(Okay off my box...)

 

Tom

 

Tom,

 

I'll second that. The time I spent working in a printing plant while in college provided me with a great appreciation for the printing craft. The crew at Brown printing in Waseca, Minnesota, who print our magazines are dedicated professionals, and have saved us from our own mistakes on several occasions.

 

Larry

[gmaurizio]

Now, now, that's just not true. In a quality print shop everybody gives your work close attention. Everything is checked and double checked. The prepress person inspects your files to make sure there are no problems. (90% of the time there are problems). Then the prepress person paginates and proofs. You must sign off on those proofs. Then the prepress foreman signs off on the prepress work only when he or she is satisfied there will be no problems on press. Then the press room must sign off on the press sheets showing that the print job matches the proofs. You have three of four signatures on the press sheets and proofs making sure that the job is right. If the job does not match the proof you signed off on, someone could loose their job - especially if the shop has to eat the books.

 

Now it has been a few years since I've run a color separation/comp neg/prepress shop and even longer since I've run a press but working now as a designer, photographer and fine art printmaker, I still deal with printing professionals and they tend to know more about the mechanics of photography and design than photographers and designers. Myself included. Even after 40 years in the business, I still ask their advice because they know what works best in their shop and on their machines. So don't bash them. Its their job to make you look good.

 

(Getting on my soapbox...) I think every commercial photographer and print designer should spend a year or two in a highend printshop learning the process. My own 5 year camera/color sep/strip/plate/press/bindery appreticeship taught me more that the 5 years that followed in an ad agency. And made a foundation for the 30 years that followed reproducing fine art.

(Okay off my box...)

 

Tom

Tom, I am not bashing prepress operators. Just not to trust them to do a better job than you. In most, if not all, cases, the proof is done with a clone printer, not running the press at full ink and stabilized, therefore, not accurate enough for demanding color reproduction. When was the last time prepress staff calibrated their monitors? Most of them do not even know how to use ICC profiles, they just run photoshop with 'some' setting, do a CMYK conversion and print.

In my opinion the artist is responsible for the final product, it is not adequate to just give an RGB file (even if ICC corrected, since most press desks discard the profile on open) and assume someone will map colors correctly!!!! There are inks and inks, batches and batches, adequately humid papers and inadequately set up press runs.

Converting to CMYK is an art in itself, not because there are many ways to skin the cat, but because the details of the inks used, the temperature and humidity of the shop, paper storage and drying conditions, all vary widely and produce different results, even when the most caring operator runs the press.

They are paid to keep the press running first, and to make the jobs look good second.

I work with them every single day, and like many of them, but trust them blindly with your files, no way jose...