New technology in newspaper color reproduction is all about prediction.

Most of the emerging technologies are geared towards this premise. The faster the turn-around time in production — the sooner the prediction needs to be made. Proper prediction of color reproduction empowers us to make better decisions about what we run in our paper. An accurate heads-up with enough lead time allows us to reduce mistakes. What does this mean to today’s newspaper? We need to predict color sooner.

Want better editorial color? Predict color in the field. Want to drive down costs? Predict problems prior to pagination. Want to drive up revenue? Print fantastic color — consistently. Not possible you say? Let’s look at some of the technologies helping us to get closer to those goals today.

Prediction is a capability derived from the communication of good color information throughout the workflow. Prediction is enabled by color consistency. These two key factors, color communication and color consistency are the foundation of color prediction. The technologies we will discuss focus in these two main areas.

If you are involved in technology decisions for any department of your paper, large or small, pay attention. These are the technologies that will shape your future in color reproduction.

Pressroom

The pressroom is where any advance in color reproduction must be based. This is where the final product is created.

The primary goal is to predict the result of the press prior to actually starting the press. This requires color consistency on press. Depending on the configuration and quality of your press this can be a difficult task.

There are a number of technologies available to assist in gaining color consistency on press. On the high-end we will investigate on-web measurement technology designed to automatically control color for consistency and accuracy.

Another advanced measurement technology to look at is based upon off-line scanning densitometry for fast and simple measurement of graybars. For pressrooms without the capability to use instrumentation or without the technology to preset ink fountains an affordable inkjet proofing solution that includes ink pre-set information is a powerful option, especially for smaller single-width papers.

On the color communication side, press profiling using ICC color management technology is quickly becoming essential in newsprint. Opinions on products, processes and services concerning press profiling abound. We will discuss all the options, including some information that may surprise you:

• On-web measurement

• Off-line scanning measurement

• Ink pre-setting in proofing

• ICC press profiling processes

Prepress (image editing)

The prepress department of your newspaper may be the area where you can gain the most benefit from prediction technology. This is where the ability to predict the press result will empower your staff to make better-informed decisions about the color that is reproduced and can really make an impact on the quality of editorial color.

There are three core technologies that enable prediction in press or image editing: Adobe Photoshop (version 6 and 7), inkjet proofing and ICC color management.

How is it that a software application such as Photoshop could have such an impact on prediction and color?

Photoshop uses color management to make better color separations for the press. Inaccurate color separation is a major cause for poor color in many newspapers today. No matter how good (or bad) you may think the press prints, the quality of the separation absolutely limits the quality capabilities of the pressroom.

To quote a well-know phrase, “garbage in equals garbage out.” Any newspaper not using at least Photoshop version 6.0 in prepress today is missing a valuable tool for improving color. But also realize that Photoshop cannot improve your color on its own.

We need to empower this tool with the information it needs to help us succeed. This comes in the form of the pressroom’s process control consistency and color management communication mentioned above.

We will look at some easy and inexpensive methods for using ICC profiles combined with Photoshop 6 and 7 to improve color separations and monitor previews in pre-press. Included in this discussion will be a color challenge that you can perform on your press to see if adopting this technology would benefit your paper prior to spending anything on new technology.

Inkjet Proofing technology is another core technology that can revolutionize color in your newspaper. While many papers have already adopted inkjet proofing technology in advertising or for use as paginated proofs, few papers have implemented this technology for single images prior to pagination. Color is often determined long before an image makes it onto a page. Proofing during the process of image editing or even sooner (see editorial and advertising below) is crucial to achieving good color in print.

As the price point of this technology continues to fall while the quality and speed continues to rise, investing in this technology should be an easy choice. We will investigate inkjet proofing solutions for every budget that are easier to implement than you might think:

• Improved color separations

• Editorial image inkjet proofing

Editorial

Editorial image content of the paper is driven by the story. The printed color quality of those editorial images is often disappointing to the editor choosing the images that tell that story. Whether the editor is choosing images from the photo desk or happens to be the photographer capturing the image in the field — color in newsprint often disappoints. We need to predict color sooner.

Inkjet and laser proofing technology has come a long way in the past few years. Many newsrooms have the capability to create a color print of the potential editorial image content for the day. Few have the ability to create a press-accurate color print of editorial images when actually making decisions on which images to run.

Never show color beyond the press capability to anyone in your production workflow. The second an editor sees a beautiful saturated color laser print of an image, they will envision that result on press regardless of reality. They will be disappointed. We will speak to the value of accurate proofing in editorial when we review inkjet proofing solutions.

Many papers today use some form of digital photography. Often photographers have some ability to edit the color of their images prior to releasing them to the photo desk or prepress. Color-corrected previews and proofing technology will help photographers understand how their edits will affect the actual printed image.

Digital has also enabled remote transfer of images from the field. As we move further up the production workflow with prediction technology we can envision a day when the photographer can view an accurate color proof of the image real-time prior to sending the image back to the home office. We will investigate how monitor previews can be set-up in Photoshop to give photographers a better feel for how images will print.

Once again the color management communication of the pressroom will be required as well as monitor calibration and ICC profiling tools.

• Accurate photo desk proofing

• Improved monitor previewing

• Field photo proofing

Advertising

Prediction technologies are available today that actually place color prediction into the hands of the advertiser. Remote proofing technology available today allows you to actually control and certify a proof remotely printing at the advertiser’s location.

Profile distribution products have been recently introduced, which give your newspaper an easy way to distribute your newsprint ICC profile to advertisers and educate them on how to use profiles to both set and preview color for newsprint. These solutions combine ICC color management, instrument based process controls, remote proofs and inkjet technologies to accomplish these goals.

• Remote proofing at advertiser location

• Profile distribution to advertisers

• Advertiser monitor previewing

Why haven’t you heard about many of these breaking solutions in the industry? The answer is simple. The manufacturers are often focused on single market segments based around their product alone. Alone these products do not create production breakthroughs that grab the industry’s attention.

Inkjet proofing is a testament to this fact. Many papers have an inkjet printer for proofing content already. Few use these printers for color. Fewer use these printers for editorial work. However, take this same inkjet printer with a good RIP, some color management tools and the right expertise; place it in the prepress department and reinvent your lead color.

The technology is out there. There are benefits to be had in almost every department of newsprint production. There are solutions at almost every budget level. In many cases, the process may be easier than you think. Follow with us over the next few issues as we dive into some of these solutions in-depth to show you what is available and how you can get started.s

Mike DiCosola is director of technology for Chromaticity Inc. Chromaticity is an integrator of color technologies for the newspaper industry. DiCosola can be reached at 616.361.7773 or info@chromaticity.com.