For a good while, the staff at Tastar has been working with Dan Remaley, a Pittsburgh based Process Controls Consultant. With Dan's help, we've been developing and refining our knowledge of pre-press and printing press related proofing solutions.

Dan has been in the printing industry for a long time - and probably knew and argued with Gutenberg (or at least a distant relative of his). Printing has come a long way in the nearly 600 years since Gutenberg invented the printing press. Color accuracy wasn't a factor - in the 1400's people were happy with good old black ink on basic whitish paper. Today, we have accurately colored papers with optical brighteners that are produced to exacting manufacturing standards, have ink sets that provide wide color gamuts, have printing presses that are extremely automated (although press operators still do much more than push the green button), and have closed-loop color control. Closed-loop color control theoretically is used to measure and monitor color to produce color accurate results. But, according to Dan, most printing companies out there don't really close the loop, especially between pre-press and the pressroom - because they are missing the fundamental importance of gray balance in printing.

Since Dan has been so helpful in developing our knowledge and understanding of pre-press color, we'd like to reciprocate by presenting some of his work on the importance of Gray Balance in printing. You can contact Dan at 412-889-7643 or at danremaley@comcast.net.

A Partial Collection of Dan Remaley's Reference Material:

Quick Peek: if you are a sheetfed, web offset or flexo printer, you can download Dan's Quick Peek Survey to see if you measure up to Dan's Gray Balance standard.

CEO Blog Site Article: The Little "Secret" of Process Color at Press: Printing to Gray Balance

Color Control In Lithography: Dan's discussion of the importance of Color Control in printing - and why it is so easily overlooked.

Printing to Gray Balance: Dan answers the question of why it is so important to print to Gray Balance - and shows that it's completely relevant with respect to GRACoL, SWOP and other standards.

Part 1 of 5 Color Reproduction, Best Practices: this is the first of a 5 part series that covers all phases of Color Reproduction - from the basics of looking at color through color in the pressroom.

Part 2 of 5 Color Reproduction, Scanning: part 2 of a 5 part series - a discussion of scanning and it's relationship to the Color Reproduction process.

Part 3 of 5 Color Reproduction, Color Proofing: part 3 of a 5 part series - discusses and defines color proofing, including Soft Proofing, Copier/ Laser Proofing and Contract Proofs.

Part 4 of 5 Color Reproduction, Film and Plates: part 4 of a 5 part series - where Dan discusses film and plates and the evolution to Computer to Plate (CTP) systems.

Part 5 of 5 Color Reproduction, The Pressroom: part 5 of a 5 part series - where Dan finally gets to the point of process control - getting accurate color out of the pressroom!