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Using Adobe Creative Suite for Album Design - part 5 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

by Tom Lee Published 01/10/2009

The Result

We added test targets to the back of our book so that we could audit the results off the press. Blurb is set up to receive sRGB image files embedded in the pdf. They prefer that any CMYK files are translated to the relevant HP Indigo icc profile, which they provide, but they recommend that any files already in CMYK format are left untouched, rather than translated back to sRGB. We placed colour CMYK files assigned with Fogra 27 CMYK profiles along with sRGB, Adobe RGB and Grayscale monochrome images.

The Audit

Overall the quality of the book was pleasing. The finish was good, particularly the binding which allowed the book to open reasonably flat. If anything the colours were a little flat and this showed also in the colour audit data. The saturation component of the error was the highest, reflected in the graph which show s the colours being place closer to the origin of the Lab plot. The profile provided by Blurb for their Indigo 5000 printer had a gamut volume of 436,000, much lower than a typical inkjet on a semi matt paper (usually more like 800,000 units). The gamut itself was an unusual cuboid shape, not quite like anything we have seen before. The average error was 3.8ΔE2000/8.0 ΔELab which is quite good for a printed media from a 'CMYK' process (Indigo is actually more colours than that!).

Spectral analysis of the 'monochrome' shots confirmed what our eyes told us. The images tagged with a full colour profile (ie Adobe RGB or Fogra 27) were more metameric and changed to quite a strong magenta bias in tungsten light. The actual metameric index was 3.9 ΔELab (D65 to Tungsten A at 50% Grey) which is a fourfold hike on a typical Epson K3 UltraChrome print. The Dmax of the 'full colour' monochromes was 2.18 playing off 1.56 for the 'black ink only' images. In the images this difference was not detectable by eye, which is an interesting observation alongside the monochrome enthusiasts' devotion to Dmax! The average bridal punter will not be troubled by such technicalities, but if you are minded to produce a 'monochrome' book you might consider using a different profile with which to build your pdf file. We do this for Professional Imagemaker, using a mix of four colour and single colour profiles for features that have a heavy mono bias. Occasionally we even go to duo tone but that is not an option for the Blurb workflow. Martin Evening always uses 'maximum black generation' for his, nominally grey, screen grabs to good effect. The profile he employs reduces the amount of cyan and magenta, and bumps up the black to give the richness of four-colour with the neutrality of using a single black. If you are minded to experiment it may be profitable for the expert!

For a final flourish we put our book into one of the new boxes designed specially for Blurb sizes. British-made, they are available from www.printboxes.co.uk in the following sizes (ex postage):

7x7 inch £10.35 inc VAT
10x8 inch (2 orientations) £11.15 inc VAT
11x13 inch (landscape) £12.65 inc VAT

The boxes are embossed with a recess for placing your own logo or an appropriate image, and a thoughtful ribbon is set in the base to aid lifting the books out. Such niceties go well with wedding albums or if you are proposing to present your Blurb masterpiece as a gift.

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1st Published 01/10/2009
last update 09/12/2022 14:50:50

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Using Adobe Creative Suite for Album Design - part 5 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7