Impasse working with/preparing for pre-press and separations
Engrossed in producing our first 4-color offset book, a lengthy volume on architectural history and the built environment, forced, by circumstance to attempt to execute this at the highest level possible, comparable to anything by, e.g., Taschen, Prestel. Have spent years in development, negotiating image usage rights and all this entails, partly with grant monies, but largely supported by our press. I've had extradinary referrals on assistance in the area of separations (color separations and accurate translation to print), but am in quite a bind now. WIthout getting too bogged in the details, I'll bullet some areas:
▪ Printing with be in Latvia at Livonia Print. They run Heidelberg presses and have done, for example, the recent volume Carla Scarpa: The Complete Buildings for Prestel (London), exemplifying the quality they are capable of
▪ Printing on Artic Volume White stock, 130gsm
▪ The printer refers out to exactly one pre-press repro house, in Sweden
▪ The Swedish repro firm began work and at a surprisingly resonable price was producing results that, though needing some additional refinement, would've been nearly ideal because (as was only later understood) of their close working relationhip/ integrated workflow with the printer, something I had yet to appreciate fully. But the Swedish pre-press, due to an upcoming month-long holiday and perceived overly harsh critque of their Epson proofs, retreated and could not, at any cost and despite many attempts, be regained. This proved a torpedo to the workflow and would set us back months, interviewing other pre-press/repro houses in Germany and the US, then restarting the job with one, only to learn that we had had the best option in Sweden. The new pre-press proved disappointing without the attention to detail we expected, and at a far higher cost. After a month and a full set of Epson proofs with them, we cancelled.
I returned to Taipei, attempting to engage a notable pre-press here, but without success. I've been kindly referred to a couple of the best separations experts in the US, yet this would cost in the $20-30K range, outside a feasable budget. But their admiration of the architect garners some very minimal consultation at no cost. As you may see, this is not a normal publication, but something of a legacy publication and passion. The impasse now is handling pre-press/ separations, and accurately reproducing and treating the images as required.
I have multiple questions.
The printer insists that they use only the Fogra 51 color profile, a standard EU color profile. The paper stock producer, however, has its own specific color profile for for the stock.
All the images procured over months and years directly from archives and photogrpahers are intimately familiar to me, and after seeing them in hundreds of Epson proofs, I know exactly the aesthetic direction and adjustments sought. But I cannot execute this techinically, not at the level that ensures accurate translation on press, and so the required specialists are needed, particularly with separations, a foreign art to me.
Local trusted retouchers are on hand, able to get the aesthetic direction right with me, at least in RGB before conversion to CMYK. But I/we cannot translate this accurately or with any assurance to files that will do what's needed on press. This is the realm of other experts, separators.
What do others think of proceeding with the following plan?
1. Execuate all needed adjustments to images in RGB first.
2. Proceed either to do automated separations/conversions in ID for the pdf output; or have another pre-press/repro house here in Taipei try to enact the right curves to match what we have in RGB in CMKY on press. Do Epson proofs as needed.
3. Print at least one scatter wet proof. A scatter proof may be sufficient as a guide to what results we're really getting. on press
4. Do the print run. I may attend, but not sure how, with my level of experience, I can guide/wrangle results there.
5. And, backing up, I'm on an older version ID, CS6. Would using its automated conversions to CMYK (at the pdf output stage) be less capable than later versions?
Aplogies for the length. One way or another, this must come through.
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