Richard Lewisohn wrote:- >So should I be learning to do the conversions myself?
Hi Richard. Nothing to stop you :-) ! > it is presumably impossible to 'practice' conversions >without seeing them printed (by a printing company). Not at all . As Thomas says " Many prepress houses never see the results of what they do in print... It helps to have a proof printer you know (not think) you can trust." >It would be >something of a big leap of faith for a client to trust something that >important to a novice, and it could be a good way of losing a client. If you persevere , it can be the best way of keeping a client , and gaining new ones. >Also, how helpful are printers, who are losing this part of their >business to photographers and inhouse repro departments, in supply >profiles, advice, etc.? This is a sensitive subject. There a great number of helpul printers and pre press houses with a wealth of experience that they are both able and willing to share .Granted there still remains the issue of vested interests in some areas , and some of the experience (only a little ) is not quite as relevant with todays digital workflow. Many pre press houses have realised the benefits of an ICC based workflow and have bought in consultants to produce 'custom ' profiles for their workflow that they are loathe to give to third parties because a) :-they have paid a large amount of dosh for them , and b) :- they don't really want anybody else to be doing the chargeable conversions , having made the initial and often ongoing investment. That said, overall ,the real issues are those of communication. It's not just the amount , but also the quality of dialogue that matters .Through the work we've been doing on digital standards ,we've been fortunate enough to meet up with some extremely knowledgable and generous members of the production , pre press , and press community. These people realise that can be as easy to become a 'victim' of the new technology as it is to become a beneficiary , and are doing their level best to promote transparent and robust working practices. >I can also see it becoming another digital service that clients will >want for nothing. How much is normally charged for RGB>CMYK conversion >(by both photographers and repro houses)? If you can supply CMYK files with confidence , then I can see no scenario where this can or should be free service. As to the costs , then it really depends on how far you are going . Are you intending to supply a generic push button CMYK and an aim print , or an optimised targetted CMYK separation and a proof print ? > >I sadly missed Neil's seminars last week (as I was working) So did I! >I'm hoping to attend Bob >Marchant's seminar, which I understand covers the subject, It certainly does.We're doing CMYK conversions on a daily basis for our clients both in the UK and abroad ( just been supplying a set of images of boats to a US publisher with a custom UCR CMYK separation profile , all as a result of the above mentioned dialogue ).We bring all the experience we've gained both in our working environment ,and in through our industry contacts , into the workshops. We also demonstrate the use of a family of CMYK profiles that we have built for different types of imagery that may be of interest to many specialist photographers such as fine art etc . BTW , the Pic4Press initiative is steaming ahead , and I'm now also involved with the Institute of Quality Assurance and the British Standards Institute on quantifying digital image file supply (more voluntary work .... :-O ! ) . So don't despair , the industry is opening up to entirely digital workflows and life will eventually get easier for all of us. >when it next >happens. We're just arranging a new round of workshops for very small groups , and these will once again be held in our working studio. We're also happy to tailor courses to specific needs .Anybody else who is interested in receiving details of these courses can contact us off list . Regards, Bob Marchant. =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
