BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Answers

Postcards

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May 14, 2009

and their work is quite excellent.

When you say the quality of the local printer isn't as good as you'd like, it would help if you explained that. Lots of photographers blame the printer as the client blames the photographer and round and round it goes. In fact, to solve the problem of "bad" commercial printing, one needs to work directly with the printer in pre-press. Your work needs to be shot for the printers window and one needs to understand the limitations of say the four and/or six color commercial printing process and the type of press the work is printed on. Handing a printer a disc or CD with images and telling them to print them isn't enough.

In sddition, the results you get also depend on the paper stock, whether you're looking at a wet image of the work or dry (that also depends on the type of press, waterless or wet) whether the run is "ganged" with other work, the coatings applied, if any, and again, the quality of the image they start with.

Finally, whenever I shoot a job that's destined for the commercial printer, like catalogs, brochures, booklets and pamphlets, I always go to the printer on the day of the run to check the press runs, particularly color match, saturation and shadow detail off the press at the start-up of the run and if something is off, say color shifting, then I'll work with the printer to correct it before they run the job. If I'm happy with the way it looks when it comes off the press then the client will be too.

Lastly, you might find the resources you need in the Printers Blue Book.

Take it light ;>)
Mark

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May 14, 2009