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Thanks for your replies. OK, I would be grateful for your advice/opinions on a few followup questions:
1) Why do 1% dots not show up on our postscript laser printer and why did they not show up on the professional wideformat inkjet poster printer?
2) Why is there not some sort of "Proofing" mode in Photoshop that mimics on screen how these 1% pixels will print out?
3) Why does the yellow area which is approx 100% Y, 25% M, 0% C (+/- 1 or 2 %) show up all speckled. I speculated that this was because whilst most pixels showed 0% C some showed 1%C. Presumably the yellow would have looked fine if it was mainly 100% Y, 25%M, 2%C with some pixels showing 1% but never 0%? i.e. what I am saying is - Presumably the problem is the non-linear jump from 0% to 1%. If the yellow area had 1% throughout with 2% or 3% in the odd pixel then this would have looked fine. Yes??
4) I did ask for a hard copy proof before requesting the print run so that I could be part of the "quality control" process. However, I was told if I wanted a hard copy proof there would be a charge (which was fairly high in my opinion). Consequently I settled for their standard digital proof. The digital proof looked just as clean as my original artwork and I was told my artwork was "fine". I did still have to pay a modest proofing charge. Now I accept that there may be colour variations between how a digital proof looks on screen and the final paper output, but surely I shouldn't have to accept such a difference in visible noise. Zox, I know you said that you "usually pick up these 1-2% dots", but surely this is something I should be able to expect from *any* good print shop's proofing process given the drastic effect it has on output!? After, all I did have to pay a proofing charge!? I don't know, maybe this is wrong forum to be looking for the "right" answer to my question :wink:
5) If I had requested a hard copy proof then this would presumably have been printed on some sort of inkjet printer, before the plates were made. Given that the proof would be printed on different equipment presumably there is no guarantee the noise would have shown up? After all, as I say, the noise didn't show up on our postscript laser printer.
6) What is the best way to fix the image? I could get rid get rid of the speckling around the edge of the images by cutting out the product images more carefully and ensuring that any subsequent RGB to CMYK conversion or jpeg compression does not reintroduce the noise. However, there are various cutouts within the product, it's not just the outer edge that would need cleaning up so there is a risk of missing somewhere given that the pixels are invisible on the screen. How would you suggest "sealing the background".
7) How do I get rid of the speckling from the yellow background. I could use the "Curves" tool to convert any pixel with less than 2% dot density to 0%. Indeed this should also get rid of the noise around the edges of the image. Is this what you would suggest?
8 ) Zox - you mention a "clipping path". This is not something with which I am familiar. Is it supported by Photoshop 7.0? Is embedding clipping paths a better approach than just recutting out the white areas from the product images?
9) Zox you mention that you usually pick up these 1-2% dots on your "proofing equipment". For my understanding, is this a piece of hardware or a software proofing tool? LoganBlade you mention that these problems can be fixed by using a "proper program for best end results". What software tools would you both recommend?
10) Would I be better off providing the artwork in RGB form and leaving CMYK conversion to the plate producer? I notice that if I convert my CMYK image back to RGB, the yellow background does not contain any B pixels - just R + G. So it does look like the 1% C pixels are created during the RGB to CMYK conversion. I believe I am using the Photoshop default profile - US Web Coated SWOP (v2). Or alternatively, should I be asking the print shop to provide me with a profile and then use this to do the RGB to CMYK conversion. Trouble is, I presume there is still a risk that the profile will create 1% cyan noise on the yellow background so I am still left with the need to "clean up" the image if this can't be left up to the print shop.
I'd be grateful for any advice you can give me.
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