articles/Media/proofbeyondreasonabledoubt-page9

Proof Beyond Reasonable Doubt - proofing - proofing - part 9 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

by Mike McNamee Published 01/10/2008

Epson's premium quality 'Standard Proofing Paper' is certified by FOGRA and carries the FOGRA logo on its box, along with a copy of the certification document inside

The spectral traces for all the Epson proofing paper range are flat in the blue area, showing an absence of optical brightening agents. The paper used to print Professional Imagemaker is, by contrast, brightened, as shown by the lift at the left-hand side of the trace. The data from the spectrophotometer shows that none of the proofing media has any optical brightening agents in them but that the actual magazine does. This is typical and generally desirable; OBAs in a proofing paper are likely only to cause confusion during accurate assessment when they affect the visual appearance but (depending the actual magazine, however, add that little bit of bite, zing, or pop (whatever you wish to call it!) to the final output.

Each cluster of points shows 15 reading around an large sheet to demonstrate both measurement and paper consistency. Epson Standard Proofing Paper is whiter and brighter than the commercial grades but not as cool as the stock used to print Professional Imagemaker.

To assess the spread in real-life printing we analysed an advert provided by Canon. For this we had the original file to give the base data, two proofs and then actual magazines and two newspaper adverts for what came off the press. The results are pretty much as would be expected. The proofs are the most accurate, followed by Professional Imagemaker, The British Journal of Photography, then The Guardian newspaper.

This is the expected order because the proofs were calibrated, our own magazine rendering was onto the laminated inside front cover, on high-quality paper from a sheet-fed press, BJP is coated stock (probably off a web press) and The Guardian is newsprint. The data are tabled and shown graphically. Although a camera shot of all the subject artwork is shown there is more variability in the lighting and the gloss of the paper for this to be meaningful. However, the dullness of the newsprint is easy to spot, the poorer of the two seems to be a particularly grubby piece of printing even by newspaper standards! A proof cross-rendered to an ISO Newsprint profile was a good mimic of how the advertisement reproduced in The Guardian of July 08, with an error of just 3.7?E in the red of the photographer's top.

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• Proof Beyond Reasonable Doubt - proofing page 2
  
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• Proof Beyond Reasonable Doubt - proofing - proofing page 9
  
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