PMS can be a problem...

 While we're on the subject of colour, I thought this might be a good addition. I remember when this colour system was first introduced to me. I was a film stripper in a screen print shop at King and Spadina, (1980ish) and at first Pantone was giving away colour guides to us. Then after a year or so, we were paying $5 each, then $10, then $15 and now the guides cost hundreds.
 The problems associated with Pantones are conversion to CMYK. Many of the new digital printers are adding shades of base colour (light cyan, medium cyan, light magenta, medium magenta, ect.) to more accurately render PMS colours, however traditional print in CMYK is still only 4 colours and limited in gamut.
 The following write up was gleaned from the Pantone website, and provides a brief history and description of the Pantone Matching System®.

The Pantone Matching System®
and Pantone Formula Guides.

The year was 1963. Hundreds of ink manufacturers were producing ink for thousands of printers. Ink manufacturers provided swatches of their inks that did not match or “translate” from manufacturer to manufacturer. Corporations produced color standard guidelines for the two or three colors associated with their brands. But a universal color reference library to identify and communicate color along the product development workflow from designer - manufacturer - marketer - printer - retailer -consumer, did not exist. The Pantone Matching System and Pantone Formula Guides were created to fill this void.

Because the Pantone Matching System concept was simple to understand and the Pantone Formula Guide was easy-to-use, consumer acceptance was immediate. By publishing a color reference library printed under tight quality standards, identifying each color by a unique number and linking each color to a precise ink mixing formula, everyone involved in the development process could accurately communicate color. And everyone understood the value in being able to specify a color as “Pantone 485” and having that shade of red look the same from design concept to finished product and from product packaging to product advertising. The original Formula Guide was called the Printers’ Edition and had 500 colors for offset printers. Though the current Formula Guide now includes 1,114 colors, the concept of the first Formula Guide hasn’t changed much since its inception nearly half a century ago. From these humble beginnings, Pantone Color Libraries have been developed for the graphic arts, textile, fashion & home and plastic industries. Today, specifications for thousands of Pantone Colors are built into design software and production equipment. Pantone, Inc. publishes a variety of products for color communication from printed guides to dyed textiles. All to provide a set of common languages recognized worldwide as international standards for the communication of color.

The Pantone Matching System

In contrast to the commonly recognized color spaces, the Pantone Matching System is a color communication system, with each color referred to as a Pantone Spot Color. The Pantone Matching System is not considered a color space but a color system. The result is not a gamut since there are a finite number of colors that are included in the Pantone Matching System. The colors in the Pantone Matching System have been selected to encompass as much of the visual color space as our ink set allows. There are Pantone Spot Colors spanning much of the CMYK and sRGB color spaces. However, when a CMYK or sRGB representation is not accurate enough, the use of spot colors ensures the perfect color every time.

Understanding the Pantone Formula Guide

14 PANTONE Basic Colors

The 14 Pantone Basic Colors found on pages 1.1 and 1.2 of the Formula Guide, plus Pantone Transparent White, are the building blocks of the Pantone Matching System. Precise mixtures of these Pantone Basic Colors, provided in parts and percentages, allow the ink mixer to accurately create the 1,114 unique spot colors in the current palette. In the development of a printed project, the mixed colors are compared to the color swatches printed by Pantone in the Formula Guide or chips book for a quality check of color match.

PMS Yellow PMS Purple PMS Yellow 012 PMS Violet PMS Orange 021 PMS Blue 072 PMS Warm Red	PMS Reflex Blue PMS Red 032 PMS Process Blue PMS Rubine Red PMS Green PMS Rhodamine Red PMS Black
Plus Pantone Transparent White

Without consistently accurate Pantone Basic Colors, the mixed spot color will vary. To ensure quality, Pantone tests every ink manufacturer’s version of the Pantone Basic Colors annually. Only when an ink manufacturer’s version of the Pantone Basic Colors matches the control version of the Pantone Basic Colors at Pantone, do we approve them as a Pantone Licensed Printing Ink Manufacturer.

The Center-line Concept

The Formula Guide is printed with seven colors per page and uses a “centerline” concept. The center-line color (usually, but not always, the color in the middle of the page) is a mixture of one or more of the 14 Pantone Basic Colors. Lighter colors are printed using the same ratio of Pantone Basic Colors as the center-line color plus increasing amounts of Pantone Transparent White. Darker colors are printed using the same ratio of Pantone Basic Colors as the center-line color plus increasing amounts of Pantone Black. Using page 11 C from the Pantone Formula Guide/solid coated guide as an example illustrates how the center-line concept works. Pantone 165 C is the center-line, and is a mixture of 50% Pantone Yellow and 50% Pantone Warm Red. Pantone 164 C, Pantone 163 C and Pantone 162 C get progressively lighter by adding increasing amounts of Pantone Transparent White. Pantone 166 C, Pantone 167 C and Pantone 168 C get progressively darker by adding increasing amounts of Pantone Black. Most Pantone Colors, such as Pantone 165 C, have the center-line color in the middle of the page. However, as colors were added, exceptions occurred. For example, on page 26.5 C, the Pantone Basic Color Violet is the center-line color but occupies position 5, just below the center of the page. The important thing to remember is the concept of adding Pantone Transparent White or Pantone Black to change the appearance of a center-line color, wherever the center-line color appears on the page.

Lost in Space - Danger Will Robinson, Danger!

Colour Space Explained
  It looked blue on my computer monitor, but when my print came back from the printer it was purple... what happened? It's all about colour space.
 Computer monitors transmit colour as RGB (red, green, blue) light. Although all colours of the visible spectrum can be produced by merging red, green and blue light, monitors are capable of displaying only a limited gamut of the visible spectrum.
 Monitors transmit light, inked paper absorbs or reflects specific wavelengths. Cyan, magenta and yellow pigments serve as filters, subtracting varying degrees of red, green and blue from white light to produce a selective gamut of spectral colours.
 Like monitors, printing inks also produce a colour gamut that is only a subset of the visible spectrum, however the range is not the same for both. Therefore, the same art displayed on a computer monitor may not match to that which is printed. Print processes normally use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) inks requiring digital art to be converted from RGB to CMYK colour for print.

                  
                                               Red, Green, Blue - Additive colours

                
                                        Cyan, Magenta, Yellow - Subtractive colours

 Printers may prefer your files in the CMYK (Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black) mode, as this is the colour mode for the printing process. If an RGB (Red/Green/Blue) file is submitted, it must be converted to CMYK for print.

                                 
                                            Visible colour spectrum with print gamut

 It can sometimes be difficult to visualize the reason for colour shift in colour space conversion. The best way to see the differences between the CMYK and RGB colour spaces is to look at a colour gamut comparison chart. The chart above plots the visible colour spectrum as the larger area, and within this is a plot of the CMYK and RGB colours. Some areas of the RGB colour space are outside that of the CMYK space. It is these colours that are affected by a conversion from RGB to CMYK. Some digital printers have expanded to additional shades of cmyk expanding the gamut capabilities of traditional print, but for the most part expect some colours to be "out of range" to conventional printers.
 For all the "Lost in Space" fans out there...

                                  

New Year's Resolution

Understanding Image Resolution
 Let's start the new year with a good resolution. Ever wonder why the image you downloaded from the web looks all pixelated in print, but looked great on the web?

 Here's the short answer. Whatever we give the printer will determine the quality. Here's the explanation.
Images are made up of little "cubes" of colour named pixels. If you look at the illustration I provided, there are three different pixel counts displayed. These are all the exact same image. The 300 ppi (pixels per inch) is the original image resolution. I created the other two using Photoshop by reducing the pixel count.

 For good picture quality reproduction in printing, and to avoid the "staircasing" effect we require a minimum pixel count. This can vary depending on print process. For example, photographic prints will have reasonably good detail at 200 ppi, but 300 ppi will give you the best quality. Large format inkjet printers usually require a minimum of 75 ppi, however 100 ppi will produce a nice result. These resolution requirements need to be accurate at final reproduction size.
 For example, if a total image resolution is 2000 x 1000, divide by 100 = 20"x 10" to determine an inkjet reproduction size. Divide by 200, 10"x 5" would be a photo print size.
Some images that do not have enough resolution can potentially be used. There are programs available that "build" resolution into images, however capabilities are limited. Genuine Fractals is an excellent example and one of the better options - it works with machine language to construct resolution. Programs like Photoshop will interpolate image resolution, and are very limited in usefulness in this area.
 If you have any questions, feel free to email me at joel@rgsonline.ca.

Forks of the Credit on the fly

 Late September still offers excellent top water opportunities. You may need to work a little harder for big fish, but there's plenty of action with small brooks. This area has special regulations - artificial lures only, single barbless hooks, catch and possession (0) zero.

Getting there

 From Yorkdale Rd., take the 401 westbound to the 410. Follow the 410 north right to the end, and stay on hwy 10 to the Forks of the Credit Road. The Forks road is a scenic drive that will take you right to what is known as the Forks of the Credit. Park just before Dominion Street on the right shoulder. Parking is free, and this spot will give you access to both branches of the Credit and the south park entrance if you want to go up there.



Forks of the Credit from the
 Dominion St. Bridge



http://tinyurl.com/24e92r4

Forks of the Credit Provincial Park

 From the Dominion St. bridge, the south park entrance is about a 10 minute walk. (there is no parking allowed anywhere on Dominion St.)

The trails heading into the park are well groomed and markers identify which path you're on. It's easy going and there are several footpaths through the bush that will get you down to the river. The river is very tight up there except for a few locations, so you'll need to adjust your casting often. Roll casts are useful and can be rewarding to the persistent fisher. The park's nice, but I prefer south of the Forks myself.

South of the Forks

 This stretch of river is my favourite. It holds some very nice size Brooks and Browns. My personal best is an 18" Brook, but there are many in the 10 - 15" range that reside in this area. There are plenty of runs, holes, rocks and logs. Today I was fishing with a #14 Tan Caddis - dry fly. I hooked several small fish (5-8") and just missed a really nice one. It's good to see all the small ones - this appears to be a very healthy river at the top end. Let's hope it stays that way. Only a few more days and the season closes until next April. I'll try to get out again tomorrow.




Small Atlantic Salmon - kind of fun watching them come up and nab a fly.