I need a dot gain refresher. . .

[Crimson]

Dot gain on newspaper is where the ink spreads out on the page a little more? When designing for known dot gain, you tend to lighten pictures so the don't get so muddy with ink?

Just drawing a blank. . . Old age is kicking in

[CkretAjint]

Overprint? O_o

[morea]

maybe somebody can explain it quickly - here are some links:

definition from IP (http://glossary.ippaper.com/default.asp?req=glossary/term/659&catitemid=):



Dot Gain

When halftone dots print larger on the press than what they originally were on the plate or film, resulting in a loss of detail and lower contrast in the image. Dot gain occurs on every job to some degree. It is predictable to a point and can be compensated for when film and plates are produced Dot gain often occurs in long press runs, due to plates and/or pressure settings wearing or changing through out the run.


PDF alert: http://www.imaging-resource.com/TIPS/LAWLER/DOTGAIN.PDF

http://www.naa.org/technews/tn980304/p24tips.htm

http://www.umax.co.uk/support/binuscan/technotes/nbi01.htm

[jimking]

That's correct. Depending on the press of course, I would adjust the shadows at around 85%, highlights at 3-5% for newsprint. Better yet you can call the printer and they should give you a ballpark.

[Crimson]

That's correct. Depending on the press of course, I would adjust the shadows at around 85%, highlights at 3-5% for newsprint. Better yet you can call the printer and they should give you a ballpark.


What do you mean adjust? Where is that button in Photoshop (hehe)? Like instead of 100% black use 85% Black and the dot gain will add up to 100%.

Where would you adjust in Photoshop? Curves, Level, Brightness and Contrast? I am going to work for a newspaper. I know what it is but I still not sure what to do about it.

[hewligan]

Edit -> Color Settings.

You can set your dot gain there.

To set your ink limit, you need to set your working space to custom CMYK - a dialogue will pop up asking for your black and total ink limits.

[billyPGA]

Dot gain on newspaper is where the ink spreads out on the page a little more? When designing for known dot gain, you tend to lighten pictures so the don't get so muddy with ink?

Just drawing a blank. . . Old age is kicking in

Hi Crimson,

The best thing is get the profile of the press and put it on your computer.
On the photoshop color settings> select the profile as your cmyk - this is your color space, the value you see on the info palette, is the value of that cmyk. On the Proof set-up, select the profile, absolute rendering intent and simulate paper. This would give you a predictable result for the newspaper.
Oh by the way, you need to calibrate your monitor.

Cheers!:D
BillyPGA

[SpugNothuson]

When I worked for a Newspaper and was doing a lot of Greyscale images the best method I found for myself, as there are many ways to get the same effect, was to use the levels window.

Using the Input Levels section you can make a nice image ranging from 0% to 100% and then play with the Gamma setting to lighten the image. Then using the Output Levels below that section you can move those sliders around to now adjust the range of the image from 0% to 100% to become what you need. (For me it was 6% to 78%, which translated to 55 and 240)

Finally I'd apply a sharpen to the image. Save and send.