What do you know about the job you’re about to shoot? What kind of photo printer will it print on? Is it a large format photo printer, a small format machine running RA-4, or an in-house digital printer? If it's for publication, is it sheet fed or a web press? If it’s a web press, is it heatset? About the total inks: what’s the total dot percent the paper can accommodate? Do you know the measured density range of the press/paper your job will print on? If the job is to be printed, check out the Asking Questions section in the T2 Shooter’s Guide.
If these questions are foreign to you, they won’t be much longer. If you are to exploit the true potential of the digital capture process you will need to create files with the paper’s characteristics in mind.
Fortunately, this kind of preparation is not new to you. Using different films has prepared you for the contrast ranges particular to those films. And if your black & white experience includes graded paper, you probably shot differently for each grade if you used the contrast of the paper to create custom transition of tone.
Most S2 users will know the end use. For publication use, the details are not always known. Of course files can be determined without knowing all the details. The best results, however, will come from crafting a custom transition of tone for the paper target.
The typical portrait/special event client doesn’t care too much about the kind of paper you print on. It needs to look similar to what you may have pre-sold prior to the actual shoot. Does it matter if it comes out of a Durst Lambda or a LightJet photo printer? Yes. You’ll need to know what the highlight and shadow specs are for each device. That information might be specific to each color house, so you’ll want to make sure you test it out before using a given printer on a live job. Send a file to the photo printer you’re interested in using. Find a file on the CD that comes with your camera (contact the MegaVision factory if your installation CD did not come with this file). Notice the file includes some color patches, a fleshtone, and a gray scale. This grayscale is important because it will blueprint the photoprinter you’re interested in testing. Send the file to the photo printer and evaluate the print for highlight and shadow. The file includes single digit percentages of density at the highlight and shadow ends of the grayscale. Evaluate the print you get back to see how far toward the endpoints the printer will separate from absolute white and absolute black. Use these endpoints to setup the color coded light metering on you S2.
For printing press jobs, educating your clients may be more difficult than you imagine. But once they understand how much better their job will print when it’s properly shot, they’ll be more inclined to get you all the pertinent information. Knowledge is power-- with the knowledge, you’ll be empowered to shoot the best possible file for your client. So ask away!
What should you ask? First, find out if you’re shooting for coated paper. If the target is coated you’ll be able to keep the density range up around 2.0 to 2.5. Next, you’ll want to know what the press can hold for separation of highlights and shadows. You’ll want to shoot the file, setting those endpoints exactly; using aperture and lighting, rather than shooting sloppy and remapping the densities after the capture. Here too, you’ll want to send the calibration file to the press proof mimic to see what it will print for separable highlight and shadow.
You’ll want to know how much ink the press can handle. That will dictate the CMYK transform parameters. How much gray component you’ll need to replace with black ink. If the paper is of poor quality and the ink limit is low, you might want to light harder to help separate what few tones the press can render.
Ask away and understand that you may not always get the information you seek. When you do get that information you’ll know why it’s valuable and you’ll know what to do with at least some of it (if you don’t, ask us and we can give some recommendations).
These paper target parameters influence the capture and the transform to cmyk. Capture information is contained in this Guide and cmyk transform information can be had from a number of sources. We recommend Dan Margulis’ Color Theory series. Contact Dan through his e-mail: dmargulis@aol.com or check with anyone on our MegaVision Tech Support staff.
There is great value in visiting your local color lab or pre-press house. Tours are always welcomed and you can learn a bunch about how the process works. Ask plenty of questions, answers (and opinions) will not be hard to come by. Check with the local color labs, separation houses, and service bureau businesses. Anyone who wants your business or your client’s business will be more than accommodating in presenting the value of their operation.
Learn all you can. Like any knowledge you’ll eventually take it for granted and it will go a long way when you least expect it to.