I have given my web and adv. guy a "heads up" regarding the color balance of the faceplate of the Ultra 550 in the 550 amp in the TAS adv. that you are unhappy with. We will fix it. Thanx. The amp sounds better than it looks, and looks better than the photo.
Regards,
Frank Van Alstine
Hi Frank,
Not to pile on......I'm looking at your AVA Transcendence Eight pre-amp ad in the March '07 TAS.
Either the flash is yielding very yellow light and/or the "studio lighting" is too yellow or the printing plate and seperation process is yielding too much yellow. Alternatively, if the printer is using a digital pre-press system maybe your files do not work well with their RIP software. Their color profiles are set to particular levels and your file copy may need yellow attentuation. The net is an identical file may yield masterpiece level copy in one magazine and much less so in another.
As you likely know, four color process printing uses cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow and black dots in precise patters to fool us into seeing something like photorealistic images. Looking through a 10 power loop-the four color build of your pre-amp is simply too yellow. "Yellow" blacks are printing sins. Red blacks are a little better-but still look terrible sometimes. Blue blacks look great. (A standard neutral black will be a bit flat looking....add some yellow and it will look worse, add some red and the new black may look better maybe worse, add 6-10% of a dark blue and presto the new "blue"-black will look stonger and much more appealing than the neutral black).
Unless he is a color RIP software master, make sure your web/ad guy is not color proofing/testing/approving on his PC. The resolution looks a bit weak as well. Is that a digital photo of your pre? If so try more megapixles if not try slower speed film.
*For you guys in the printing business....I've tried to simplify this a great deal. I am aware of hexachrome, standard six-color process, spot colors and the rest.
