Now that you have decided to create your digital art or have scans of
original artwork and decide it is time to have a giclee printer output it, how
can you foresee and prevent potential problems? As we discussed in the giclee printing methodology there
is a limit to what colors (namely saturation and brightness characteristics) can
fit the fine art giclee printing reproduction system.
Let's go into the practical side: we will assume that, as a digital artist, you
have Adobe Photoshop. This software is the de facto standard and it is needed
for advanced image manipulation. Most digital artists and image professionals such as
photographers work in RGB. With the image open, go to View->Gamut warning. What
this does is to highlight areas of color in the image which MAY not be able to
be printed. We emphasize MAY because the gamut warning is based on the CMYK
profile specified in Photoshop. Also, giclee printing has a wider gamut than
CMYK, therefore something that shows as not printable could in fact be
accurately represented in a giclee. To turn the warning off go to the same menu
and take the check mark off.
Nevertheless the above technique can be of help to highlight potential
reproduction limitations. One note: depending on which version of the software
is used, there may be differences to where these commands are. Please see the
help files and search by keywords. There are different ways to show out of gamut
areas but we just illustrated one for the sake of simplicity. Fine art printing
reproduction is challenging but it is very possible to get excellent results
given the right tools and knowledge.
What do you do now that you discovered that the super bright blues and reds in
your beautiful image can't be printed? The answer is simple and complex:
compromise. Although it may not be possible to transfer these colors to a giclee
print, a good giclee printer can convey the feeling of brightness and saturation
by carefully choosing in-gamut colors. It is a process that takes a lot of
experience and it is as much a science as it is an art. To do this yourself, it
may take local masking of individual area and color manipulations or general
color layering tools such as "Selective color" and "Hue and Saturation" in
Photoshop.
Fine art printing requires a solid understanding of color and an esthetic
eye. Do not expect this to be easy. What you can do is prepare your images for
printing and communicate your concerns to the printing studio.
If you would like to discuss the merits of fine art printing reproduction I
explained above or have questions about giclee printing methodology, please feel
free to contact me. If you would like to see more articles, please let us know!
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