May
21
Gratuitous Technology
Filed Under Color Management, Digital Imaging, Herbiology, Images in Print, Memo from the Pressroom
I was just reflecting on the last decade of technological advancement in the publishing industry and thinking of all that we have accomplished. Let’s review:
Faster computers. Processing speed has increased exponentially. We process enormous-size files in mili-seconds. There are virtually no limits to our ability to push pixels around. I have 4 gigabytes of memory and a 500 gigabyte drive in my laptop and another wireless drive in my house to back up my files every hour while I’m surfing the web from my lanai. I’m writing a book on color reproduction so I’m constantly preparing images and uploading them (wirelessly of course) to my editor in San Jose and my publisher in Indianapolis while I’m video chatting with my sister in Atlanta and listening (with Bluetooth earphones) to a podcast that automatically got downloaded last night.
Higher resolution scanners. Just ten years ago we were pretty proud of the fact that we could capture 300 dpi and 256 levels of color. The flatbed scanners we have now (if we really use them that much) can routinely capture 1800 dpi and 12 bits (4000 levels) per channel.
Smarter cameras. Twelve megapixel cameras are the norm and shooting RAW gives us amazing latitude and versatility with the high-bit color images we capture. With a handful of 4MB memory cards we can shoot with impunity all day long. We can shoot under water and drop our cameras off the roof of our house without fear or damage. We can shoot in near darkness without a tripod, and even shoot hi-def movies if we want.
More powerful software. My CS3 software allows me to work on camera images that automatically get downloaded into Bridge (in RAW format) where they are dutifully opened in Camera Raw where I can do everything to them but make them talk. Eventually I open these files in Photoshop where I build images that have multiple nested layers and special masks and then slide them seamlessly over to InDesign where I build amazingly complex pages. I save selected images for Web use and upload them to my sight (while still on my lanai- yeah, I live there!). I (wirelessly) send images to my perfectly profiled and color corrected ink jet printer where they are printed on double-weight photo paper.
User knowledge. Today’s photographers and designers know more about electronic publishing than ever before. They stay on top of the latest developments and purchase the newest and best of the technology available. It’s safe to say that people in the design world today know more about thier industry than any generation before them. There are seminars and conferences taking place somewhere in the country almost every day of the year.
How come then, with all this advanced technology, we see either a flatline or at best only a marginal increase in reproduction quality in print? Perhaps there is more to this image preparation process than we thought.
Think about it!
©copyright 2008 Herb Paynter
http://www.imageprep.net
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