Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
What to Show Your Clients
Assuming you embrace the ideas presented here and produce your
own CMYK separations, there are a few caveats to keep in mind when
dealing with your clients.
Never
show the client the RGB images in a
working space! They will expect the preview seen to appear this way
when output to the press. That's simply impossible. If you are working
on an RGB image, use the
Proof Setup
options for the CMYK output space
discussed in Chapter 2. Have the
Paper White (Simulate Paper White
in
Photoshop CS2) on. If the client sees the preview in its worst possible
appearance, they will never expect anything better. Since they are seeing
the image for the first time this way, they will likely think the previews
look fine.
Never output the documents without first cross-rendering to CMYK.
Again, showing the client a vibrant saturated color they will never see
on the contract proof is dangerous. If you must supply RGB data to a
client, it will be critical they can view the images in a color-managed
environment. Educate the client about what can and cannot be repro-
duced with the limited CMYK gamut. Too bad the client could afford to
print everything in Hexachrome. If cross-rendered proofs are created, be
clear to both the client and the prepress/print house that this is simply a
“lose” color proof and not a substitute for a true contract proof. Often a
client who has seen how effective your cross-rendered prints match the
contract proof may assume they can skip the contract proof. You've
matched the color so often, what's the need? Do not let these dangerous
practices take place. The costs are simply too high to risk a job going
wrong on press.
Cross-rendered ink-jet proofs are not output to a halftone dot as many
contract proof are. You might be producing lose proofs of just the images,
not the entire composed page. The contract proof will be produced from
your color managed images plus all the other elements the designer will
create in the page layout application. You want to be sure your images
appear correct and will not need to be concerned with the rest of the
page. Cross-rendered, lose proofs are ideal to show the color of images
to a client prior to a true contract proof. These proofs are ideal to send
with individual images with tagged RGB documents in situations where
someone needs to produce a CMYK conversion or you simply want a less
ambiguous method of showing the expected color of these images. These
lose preproofs are also good insurance that the files you've provided are
of a quality that can produce acceptable color using the CMYK gamut.
Your clients may want you to cross-render the entire composed page.
This is possible but will require more work on your part, ensuring the
other elements in the page are correctly color managed. You will need to
have a RIP to output these pages. My advice is to try and stay away from
this kind of work. Last, if you do undertake some prepress work such as
