In a message dated 9/11/04 8:58:03 AM, ed_mines@... asks:
<< Is this yellow typical from fading? Could the printer be responsible for
the change from orange to yellow? Everything I remember has these car sides as
orange. >>
Let me emphatically say, yes!
Having just completed publication of the 2005 B&O Railroad Historical Society
calendar this is fresh in my mind. I am no expert at this but can offer the
following. Tony T and some of the others with more experience can probably
refine what I say, but here is what I have learned over the past few years.
There are several steps between original and final printed product that are
affected by the answers to the following questions.
1) Did the original film render the color correctly and has it changed over
the years?
2) How well were the scans of the original material done?
3) How well were the "separations" which are used by the pressman completed?
4) How well has the pressman adjusted the color press?
(there may be some other steps that I am unaware of)
If any of these is off, the final product may be as well, although step 4
allows for some corrections (but also allows for the introduction of more error).
The final step we take is a "press check" in which we stand at the end of
the press and examine the sheets coming off and then stop and fine tune the
color balance on the press compared to the original material (affected by 1
above). But if steps 2 and 3 were not executed properly, step 4 may or may not be
able to bring the final printed version back to what the original looked like
after step 1 (and the original film itself may not be correct as has been
discussed here before).
In our calendar layout we only have four large sheets and the design of the
press allows for a fair amount of localized color adjustment on different parts
of each sheet. But adjusting the color on one picture will often involve
compromises regarding all the other colors in the same picture, so the pressman
will generally care more about the overall balance than the exact shade of the
locomotive or boxcar of interest to a particular individual. I try to be
there for each press check and can offer my opinions about what the most important
colors in each picture are, but I suspect that is the exception rather than
the norm. Also, depending on the layout of the sheet and the design of the
press, circumstances can easily arise in which adjusting the color on one
picture will affect another, so the final represents a further compromise. And,
all of this depends on a pressman who cares and is talented.
As I said, we have only four sheets and it is not a particularly onerous task
to carefully examine each one and adjust as necessary. But if someone is
doing many dozens or hundreds of pages as in a book, I am not sure how well the
press check on each page is typically done. Also the graphic layout of our
calendar allows most pictures to be adjusted individually without being
concerned with the effect on another picture, but that will often not be the case.
Even if all the steps up to the final press stage are done very well, the
pressman has a lot of latitude in the color balance so as I said, he better care
and be good at his job for the color to come out right. The bottom line is
that relying on the subtleties of color in printed material is risky (which is
not to say wrong). They may be dead on and they may not be, but it is hard to
know if it is truly correct.
And yes there are several pictures of freight cars in the 2005 B&O calendar,
including a color photo by Soph Marty of two of the B&O's blue and orange
"Timesaver Sevice" boxcars. I'll let you all decide if their color is rendered
correctly!
Chris
P.S. The 2005 B&O calendar features a number of Soph Marty's B&O pictures,
several of which are truly outstanding. Many thanks to him for loaning us his
material.
