Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: How to softproof duotone in PS?  (Read 2534 times)

juicy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 254
How to softproof duotone in PS?
« on: January 05, 2010, 04:51:57 pm »

Hi,

How am I supposed to correctly softproof images that are created as duotones in Photoshop and are to be printed in a printing press on coated paper? I have used softproofing very succesfully when the work has been output as 4-color cmyk as long as there have been good profiles for the paper in use and the print house has had their presses under control. With duotone however I can't find any way to use the softproof function in Photoshop  .
Any educated suggestions? The images will use black and one Pantone spot ink for coated stock (Euro).

Thanks in advance,
J
Logged

juicy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 254
How to softproof duotone in PS?
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2010, 03:58:52 pm »

Hmm, Is the Earth flat after all?
If I travel far enough from the well behaved and most common color management scenarios, I fall into the bottomless "old school very expensive trial and error, hardcopy-proof, never get it right" void.
Scary.
Logged

Joe Behar

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 305
How to softproof duotone in PS?
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2010, 04:03:11 pm »

Quote from: juicy
Hmm, Is the Earth flat after all?
If I travel far enough from the well behaved and most common color management scenarios, I fall into the bottomless "old school very expensive trial and error, hardcopy-proof, never get it right" void.
Scary.

Assuming the output device can reproduce a good grayscale, the second colour is Pantone and your monitor is accurate (and capable of showing the Pantone correctly) there is no need for softproofing. You only have two colours to worry about, your Pantone (which is predefined) and various shades of black ink.

If the output device can't produce good grasyscale you'll have a colour cast, but that could vary depending on where in the delta E range the device is at the time of printing.

All this assumes that your printing device is some sort of printing press.
« Last Edit: January 06, 2010, 04:09:23 pm by Joe Behar »
Logged

juicy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 254
How to softproof duotone in PS?
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2010, 04:20:00 pm »

Quote from: Joe Behar
Have you tried converting your file to RGB and then softproofing? It might not be exactly 100% but I suspect it will be close.

Thanks for your suggestion.
The real problem I'm facing at the moment is that I'm working with a presshouse that has (according their own words) very little experience with printing duotone. Also for me this is the first time for preparing duotone images for press. I had some test proofs made but most of them appear so far from what I'm seeing on my screens (sRGB and wide gamut, both properly profiled) or from what I get if I print them on my own printer that I really don't know what to trust. Actually what I see on my screen and what I get when I print the images on my own printer are quite close. But I don't know if Photoshop's color management knows how to simulate spotcolor dot gain and screen angles properly.
The proofs made by the presshouse are made with an inkjet but I do not know what kind of rip they use if any and does their system predict dot gain etc better.

Cheers,
J

Logged

juicy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 254
How to softproof duotone in PS?
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2010, 04:40:51 pm »

Quote from: Joe Behar
Assuming the output device can reproduce a good grayscale, the second colour is Pantone and your monitor is accurate (and capable of showing the Pantone correctly) there is no need for softproofing. You only have two colours to worry about, your Pantone (which is predefined) and various shades of black ink.

If the output device can't produce good grasyscale you'll have a colour cast, but that could vary depending on where in the delta E range the device is at the time of printing.

All this assumes that your printing device is some sort of printing press.

My computer screens show the solid Pantone color very nicely when I compare it to a Pantone swatch in a viewing booth.

The output device is a commercial printing press. However there's the problem of halftone screening of a Pantone color. From what I have read these are not intended to be screened and unlike common proces colors there are no standards for dot gain for spot colors. Also they are semi opaque and thus they may behave very differently when halftone screened and overprinted compared to normal C, M or Y inks.

Actually from what I've read from numerous online sources it appears that it would be wisest to stay away from duo/tri/quadtone presswork if possible unless there's an unlimited budget for trial and error proofing or there's someone who really knows the ropes. Pretty discouraging but it's not an option to back off now. Anyway I may be making it more complicated than it actually is. Thanks for your input.

J
« Last Edit: January 06, 2010, 04:42:02 pm by juicy »
Logged

Joe Behar

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 305
How to softproof duotone in PS?
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2010, 04:42:09 pm »

Quote from: juicy
Thanks for your suggestion.
The real problem I'm facing at the moment is that I'm working with a presshouse that has (according their own words) very little experience with printing duotone. Also for me this is the first time for preparing duotone images for press. I had some test proofs made but most of them appear so far from what I'm seeing on my screens (sRGB and wide gamut, both properly profiled) or from what I get if I print them on my own printer that I really don't know what to trust. Actually what I see on my screen and what I get when I print the images on my own printer are quite close. But I don't know if Photoshop's color management knows how to simulate spotcolor dot gain and screen angles properly.
The proofs made by the presshouse are made with an inkjet but I do not know what kind of rip they use if any and does their system predict dot gain etc better.

Cheers,
J

J

I have since edited my reply to you as well.

It seems like you have no choice but to deal with the presshouse's proofing. The idea here is that the proof they supply you with is guaranteed to be what comes off the press. This is the whole idea of a proof, of course.

Although you might like the results you get from your own inkjet printer better, the sad truth is that you're going to get what the presshouse is offering.

Any chance you can change print houses?
Logged

juicy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 254
How to softproof duotone in PS?
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2010, 04:51:17 pm »

No possibilities for changing the printer (I only do the retouching and duotones for this project).
Actually the proofs I got are much more saturated than what is seen in Photoshop and the repro guy from the press acknowledged this.
After all I may mostly be wondering whether there's a gap in Photoshop's color management or if the proofs are way off. That I will probably learn in a couple of weeks time...
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up