Printing Knowledge for Prepress Printing: Color Separations
Printing Knowledge for Prepress Printing: Color Separations In order to reproduce or prepare a full color image for printing using four process colors, the image must be divided into the the individual subtractive primary color components. The separation process can be accomplished photographically or electronically. Photographic Separations: Using a large process camera, a full color image is converted into halftone negatives which contain a series of dots of various sizes to represent shades of gray. The dots are achieved with the use of special screens placed over the negative material during exposure. When printed, the smaller dots create the lighter areas of the image, with the lightest appearing white, and the larger dots make up the darker areas of the image, with the darkest appearing black. This system of using the halftone screens directly with the film is known as the Direct Screen Photographic Color Separation method. A halftone negative is made for each of the separa...