November meeting recap:
Why doesn't the proof and press sheet match?

When was the last press check you attended where someone said, "Make it sing" or "It lacks snap"? According to Dick Bucknam, Senior Product Application Manager at Kodak Polychrome Graphics, these buzzwords ? while humorous ? do little to help us communicate on press checks. In a recent survey, color variation was sited as the number one reason why jobs fail. Since color is so critical, a better understanding of it is key to better communication.

How Digital Has Affected The Proofing Process
When printing was analog, proofs were film-based, leaving little room for variation. The halftone dot size, shape and arrangement could not be changed significantly. This allowed the proof to accurately predict the press results. With the introduction of digital proofing, the size, shape, arrangement and color of the dots can be manipulated. All of this means
your proof may not be an accurate representation of the press results. Asking your printer what you can expect from your proof is the first step toward understanding the color you'll get on press.

It's also important to make sure your proof is calibrated to the press you're printing on. If not, you may see a proof with colors that are impossible to achieve. Just like the human eye or photograph, the digital proof will print more colors than can be printed on press. So there's no way around it, the proof must be calibrated to represent the press or you may be disappointed with the results.

Another thing to remember, according to Dick, is that proofs are the same density across the sheet while your press sheet will vary in density. In addition, proofs may not show poor trap problems and certainly will not indicate ink contamination, registration issues or show how your paper choice will affect your results. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest variables in printing is the paper stock. Because a 10% screen is actually
90% paper, your paper stock will have the biggest impact on tints, highlights and mid-tones.

Neutral Surroundings Are Best
Your environment also affects how you see color. Color perception is affected by everything around us, from the color of the walls, floor and ceiling to what we wear and the type of room lighting. Be sure to review your proofs under 5000 degree Kelvin overhead lighting. A color that looks blue in sunlight may have a greenish cast under fluorescent lighting and yet a different appearance under incandescent lighting. Standard 5000 degree Kelvin lighting doesn't exaggerate one color or another.

Take A Break
Perhaps the easiest thing to do when evaluating color is to take a break. After a while our eyes become fatigued and can actually play tricks on us. The red, green and blue cones in our eyes are what allow us to see color. If you look at one color too long, that cone will tire and make it difficult for you to see that particular color. For the same reasons, first impressions are often the best and most reliable when judging color.

While color matching is a tricky process affected by many variables, the steps discussed above should help smooth out the process. But if they don't, you could see what happens when you ask your printer to "open the choppy midtones, saturate the shadows and make the whites whiter." We'd like to thank Dick Bucknam for the eye-opening presentation and for shedding some light on a topic that impacts our day-to-day business,
and to APALA program committee member Sally Toth, of Kodak Polychrome Graphics, for organizing this presentation.