May
22
Rethinking our use of US Web Coated (SWOP)!
Filed Under Color Basics, Color Management, Digital Imaging, Herbiology, Images in Print, Memo from the Pressroom | 6 Comments
If you are one of the millions of folks who assume that we are producing more accurate files for print today and that Adobe’s CS3’s conversion profiles reflect current printing technologies, you might want to think again.
First, realize that the US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 profile is currently used for most of today’s print projects, regardless of [...]
Apr
22
Three Dimensions Are Better Than Two
Filed Under Color Basics, Digital Imaging, Herbiology, Illusions, Images in Print | Leave a Comment
Normally, your eyes don’t see anything in just one dimension. But pictures, whether on a monitor or in print, represent only one view, not two, like your eyes see.
Close one eye and look across the room. Now open it again and see the difference. When your eyes observe [...]
Mar
13
Saturation and Luminance Balance
Filed Under Color Basics, Digital Imaging, Herbiology | Leave a Comment
Great care should be taken when boosting saturation in a digital image simply because there is a thin line between optimal saturation and luminance damage. Photographic saturation has a scientific definition and a practical definition. I believe we need to recognize both in order to really grasp the issue.
Photographic saturation is basically color intensity, expressed as the [...]
Mar
12
Higher-Bit Images Don’t Increase Dynamic Range
Filed Under Color Basics, Digital Imaging, Herbiology | 3 Comments
By now we all know that 8-bit images contain 256 levels of color spanning from solid to no color at all. And if we do the math (2×2×2×2×2×2, etcetera, ad nauseum) we see that higher bit-depths deliver exponentially-higher amounts of tone between solid color and no color. 9-bit images contain 512 levels, 10-bit contain 1024, [...]
Mar
4
Are 8-bit Color Images Sufficient for Printing Press Work?
Filed Under Color Basics, Herbiology, Images in Print, Memo from the Pressroom | Leave a Comment
Try this question first. When are 8-bit color images really 24-bit color images? That was a trick question. But here’s a truthful answer: 8-bit color images are ALWAYS 24-bit images. EVERY color image opened in 8-bit mode in Photoshop is automatically a 24-bit image. Sometimes they are actually 32-bit images.
The calculation of bit-depth is figured on [...]
Mar
3
Specifying Color Versus Producing Color
Filed Under Color Basics, Color Management, Memo from the Pressroom | 4 Comments
When it comes to specifying an exact color, nothing beats the Pantone Matching System. Today this is more true than ever before. The transition that Pantone has experienced over the last two years has brought this already world-respected company into the digital twenty-first century. The company has completely reinvented itself with new digital specifications for [...]
Feb
25
The Low-Down About Bit Depth
Filed Under Color Basics, Digital Imaging, Herbiology, Images in Print, Memo from the Pressroom | 2 Comments
Bit depth is a measure of the number of shades or tones between solid (of any color) and no tone at all. Ideally we are talking about this “solid” being a very dark color (like black). When we refer to an 8-bit image, the bit-depth (or number of tones including solid color and no color) [...]
Feb
24
Smooth Histograms Deliver Lackluster Images
Filed Under Color Basics, Digital Imaging, Herbiology, Images in Print, Memo from the Pressroom | 2 Comments
We have been warned over-and-over again in Photoshop tutorials about the perils of “gappy” histograms produced by editing images in 8-bit depth. O, the pixel carnage! Think of all the data loss represented by histograms containing uneven tones and gaps between them. We all know how absolutely irresponsible it is to produce files with gaps [...]
Feb
22
What color is white?
Filed Under Color Basics, Color Management, Herbiology, Images in Print | Leave a Comment
Sound like a silly question? Just look at what your computer screen calls white compared to a sheet of paper from your printer. Now look at the newspaper today. How about that white shirt in your closet. All slightly differing shades of white.
Why is this important? Because in color management all measurement is based on [...]