PDN Print quality - can it be this bad?

[GerardK]

Hi all,

My large format series 'Hidden Land' about the province of Groningen, The Netherlands, won a merit award in PDN World in Focus contest, and was included in the Open Series presentation in the February issue of PDN (p. 96).

Thrilled as I was to be included in the presentation, I must say I was very disappointed with the way the series was printed. Both color and contrast are way off. I've attached a jpg with a photo that I took of the PDN Feb issue, with a high-quality inkjet print on top and a grey card to the left. Being a photo of a photo this is of course an approximation, but the inkjet print is what I think the image should look like, and what I think the tiffs I sent PDN looked like.

You can clearly see that both color and contrast in the PDN rendition are vastly different, they're not even close. I know they're working in a CMYK environment, but this is ridiculous.

I might add that I know a thing or two about color management, I wrote the two 'Fancy Graphics' articles that Michael published on this site.

I tried to contact PDN about this issue; at various dates I sent e-mails to various editors, but nobody at PDN even bothers to reply.

So now I'm asking you all: do you have any experience with having your work published in PDN, and did it look like it was supposed to look?

Gerard Kingma
www.kingma.nu
[attachment=5551:attachment]

[Roscolo]

Looks acceptable to me, especially considering PDN is a photo trade mag, not a more expensive fine art publication.

Did you send them a guide print, or just the file?

I think I understand why they don't respond to you. What exactly are you expecting PDN to do for you?

[jrosas]

I have a photo printed in the same issue.  It is the winner in the Extreme Exploration Category.  The colors in the magazine are very different from the TIFF file I sent them, but they look acceptable to me.

I have also written to them, on a practical issue about the prizes, and my emails have also gone unreplied.

Best regards,

Jose

[GerardK]

Looks acceptable to me, especially considering PDN is a photo trade mag, not a more expensive fine art publication.

Did you send them a guide print, or just the file?

I think I understand why they don't respond to you. What exactly are you expecting PDN to do for you?
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I don't expect them to 'do' anything for me - a reply, any reply, to a simple question would be nice.


Gerard Kingma
[a href=\"http://www.kingma.nu]www.kingma.nu[/url]

[grabshot]

I rather prefer the lower contrast PDN version to your inkjet print.

[Anthony R]

I rather prefer the lower contrast PDN version to your inkjet print.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=181078\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I second that.

You didn't say if you sent them a 'go to' print for color reference.

Greens are very hard in cmyk and will never be exact. I'd have been happy if it printed as it did. Your  electric greens in your print, to my eye, are ghastly.

[clearescape]

I think your greens on the overcast day are nice it gives some punch of color to the scene.   Greens explode on wet overcast days and you captured it well.   As for PDN at least you got published lesson learned send along a go by although Im not sure as to how much they will pay attention to it.

[CatOne]

I have a photo printed in the same issue.  It is the winner in the Extreme Exploration Category.  The colors in the magazine are very different from the TIFF file I sent them, but they look acceptable to me.

I have also written to them, on a practical issue about the prizes, and my emails have also gone unreplied.

Best regards,

Jose
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=181020\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I saw that shot.  It looked a lot like this shot:

[GerardK]

I have a photo printed in the same issue.  It is the winner in the Extreme Exploration Category.  The colors in the magazine are very different from the TIFF file I sent them, but they look acceptable to me.

I have also written to them, on a practical issue about the prizes, and my emails have also gone unreplied.

Best regards,

Jose
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks for that info, congrats Jose,


Gerard Kingma
[a href=\"http://www.kingma.nu]www.kingma.nu[/url]

[jrosas]

I saw that shot.  It looked a lot like this shot:



 
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=181194\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yes, it does, and also to one of the same iceberg that Michael posted in his Antarctic portfolio.  

[dwdallam]

Hi all,

My large format series 'Hidden Land' about the province of Groningen, The Netherlands, won a merit award in PDN World in Focus contest, and was included in the Open Series presentation in the February issue of PDN (p. 96).

Thrilled as I was to be included in the presentation, I must say I was very disappointed with the way the series was printed. Both color and contrast are way off. I've attached a jpg with a photo that I took of the PDN Feb issue, with a high-quality inkjet print on top and a grey card to the left. Being a photo of a photo this is of course an approximation, but the inkjet print is what I think the image should look like, and what I think the tiffs I sent PDN looked like.

You can clearly see that both color and contrast in the PDN rendition are vastly different, they're not even close. I know they're working in a CMYK environment, but this is ridiculous.

I might add that I know a thing or two about color management, I wrote the two 'Fancy Graphics' articles that Michael published on this site.

I tried to contact PDN about this issue; at various dates I sent e-mails to various editors, but nobody at PDN even bothers to reply.

So now I'm asking you all: do you have any experience with having your work published in PDN, and did it look like it was supposed to look?

Gerard Kingma
www.kingma.nu
[attachment=5551:attachment]
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=180837\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

You know maybe they did this on purpose? When I first say the image I thought like you did--ugh! But then I started to like their version even better. It has a more fine art aspect to it with the more washed out colors, a more ethereal and mysterious feel. In any event, it does not make you look bad in the least.