Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
files, everything is dialed in from a color management standpoint. He
understands the work flow. Once I get him the files, he also understands
the final output, which is magazine stock. So everything we do from the
time we begin to retouch and I'm looking at color, I'm doing this on the
stock the end product will be printed on. When I see my ads in maga-
zines, for the most part, I never open it up and say, “Oh what a night-
mare, that's awful.” If my clients work with the people I like to work
with, it's what I call optimized, the job looks exactly the way it should
look. The black levels are right, there's a full dynamic range in terms of
color. The biggest problem I find is when I'm forced to work outside your
work flow and that's where you see compromises. You see people who
don't understand what a true black point is on a digital file, they don't
have your sensibilities when they retouch your files. They over-saturate
the image; go over the boundaries, in my opinion, and over-saturate the
image so it takes on an artificial look. In the end, you're judged—how
did the photo look in the magazine.
ADR:
Your retoucher is your digital lab and handles a lot of the color
management?
SW:
He handles the color management up to the proof on the mag-
azine stock but we work together all the way up to that point. After I've
left my file and I've seen a printed proof, I know my color will be rep-
resented in the magazine exactly like that. I sit there and supervise the
color. I work very closely with the retoucher on the color and optimize
the photo. Like do I want more density in the sky, do the clouds have
the right tone, is there too much magenta in the blue, so I'm making all
the decisions on his calibrated display. Then he makes a CMYK proof. He
has an Artisan and I have an Artisan so we can look at the photos
remotely and I feel my colors will be represented in the magazine just
like that. Even with these monitors I always go the additional level of
making sure I get a hard copy, a proof, so I'm looking at real paper. As
great as monitors are, in the end, it's on paper, that's our final goal.
