The international Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG), which in five years has become one of the world's most respected graphic arts best practice organizations, announced the availability of the GWG Photography White Paper.

The GWG Photography White Paper gives publishers and photographers a compact set of digital photography guidelines for print production. Correct implementation of ICC color management and standards is essential to ensure that maximum quality is maintained from the original capture through to the final printed result. The GWG recommends using these guidelines for digital photography projects for print production.

According to Peter Kleinheider, print publishing technology manager for Callas Software and GWG co-chair for the color management subcommittee, “Digital photography is here to stay, whether it is in the graphic world or in daily life. Yet the wide varieties in cameras as well as the large number of image (and file) formats have created the need for guidelines that will ensure quality print production.”

According to Kleinheider, these guidelines were initially created by Medibel+, a Belgian graphic arts association (www.medibelplus.be), and were subsequently edited and approved by the GWG. 

“Digital images utilized for graphic applications should always be of the highest quality. The Ghent PDF Workgroup guidelines give professionals an easy way to check that images will perform as needed.” 

The GWG Photography White Paper includes two versions – one covering news photography and the other for commercial photography. See pdf link at the end of this article to download the commercial photography version.

The newspaper version as well as free GWG specifications, test suites and other whitepapers can be found at www.gwg.org.

More Know-How

The Center for Color Management, established in April, 2008 by The Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF), assists members with the implementation of color management and production color controls. The Center provides consulting, training, publications, and case-study evaluations of international print standards and printing reference conditions.

The association reports that printers recognizing the power of color science, advanced technologies and integrated systems consistently increase color accuracy and repeatability among various digital and print media devices, while also reducing production waste. Additional information on the PIA/GATF Center for Color Management is available at www.gain.net.

IDEAlliance (International Digital Enterprise Alliance) is a not-for-profit membership organization that has been a leader in information technology and publishing since 1966. IDEAlliance advances core technology to develop standards and best practices to enhance efficiency and speed information to all facets of publishing – creation, production, management and delivery of knowledge-based content – digitally and in print.

The G7 Summit is the official IDEAlliance event that focuses on the G7 Proof to Press Calibration Process that is at the heart of the IDEAlliance SWOP and GRACoL Guidelines and Specifications and that serves as the basis for ANSI/CGATS TR003, TR005 and TR006.

The Summit will provide technical updates, case studies, the G7 Calibration Tolerances Report Card as well as G7 industry awards.  Technical topics for the 2008 summit include G7 techniques beyond sheetfed offset, a discussion about G7 inks and the impact of optical brighteners on the G7 process.  In addition to a gallery of G7 proofs & printing will be displayed.  The IDEAlliance G7 Summit will be presented September 15 in New Orleans, LA. 

GRACoL, SWOP and G7 are all specifications developed by IDEAlliance working groups and committees. See www.idealliance.org for more information.

The Color Management Group, founded in 2003, is a growing worldwide “think tank” consortium of independent consultant-based resellers and their Silicon Valley Distributor who share technical information and work together to conduct marketing activities.

To fill what they view to be a void in color management education at the extreme level, the group launched EXTREME Color Management, a first-time event offering sessions that provide comprehensive technical information and insights into the newest color management techniques and technologies plus a track designed to help managers make decisions about implementing color management techniques and technologies. This event will be presented entirely by Color Management Group members, in New Orleans, Louisiana September 16 and 17, 2008. The content is targeted for color management implementers and general managers who want to learn from experts who actually use color management tools on a day-to-day basis.

More information can be found at www.extremecolormanagement.com.

4/30/08

Download the GWG Photography White Paper (PDF 921 KB)