[SNIP]
P.S. Are you done posting on your "The Print Guide" blog, it was a great place to get some good ideas and insight in to things.
I've somewhat lost my motivation for continuing posting to my blog. It was a lot of work to do but not getting any donations even though I know it's helped printers and buyers solve their problems. Heck, I've helped printers and print buyers who contacted me through the blog and not even gotten a thank you from them. So I feel I've done what I originally wanted to do but there's nothing in it for me to continue.
Thanks all for your suggestions regarding the grey balance test.
This newspaper publisher currently balances color on the press by eye - there are no QC targets. Their RIP applies ink optimization using heavy GCR techniques to reduce ink usage.
Part of my intent with the test will be to show the press operators how their twiddling of SIDs has or does not have an effect, other than placebo) on the imagery. So I'll be using several images (high key, low key, neutral and heavily saturated images) that represent the typical images that they print.
The test will be done double truck (the center spread of a broadsheet newspaper section - where content is across both pages, including the gutter between the pages).
The left side will have images that were separated using standard newspaper profiles.
The right side will have the same images but reseparated using their ink optimization system.
The press will be brought up to SNAP densities (at which point their Lab values happen to fall right into place).
We'll pull sheets as we go up to density, at density, and then pushing one of the colors (cyan or magenta) to see how the SID change affects color on standard separated images and on ink optimized images. That way the press operators (who don't understand densitometry or dot gain) should get a subjective insight into how color reacts to SID moves. The mosaiced version of the images simply allows the color of the images to be measured. I.e. on the left the subjective image and beside it the objective measurable image.
Meanwhile, I can measure how the grey balance bar reacts relative to different types of images (standard and ink optimized) and see if my theory is correct (i.e. grey balance patches are too sensitive to be useful in production printing).
Ultimately I want them to have some QC targets included in the newspaper and that they run to the numbers rather than eyeball color. If my theory is proven then the QC patches may likely be solids only (like USA Today) or a grey balance patch from which SIDs can be determined.
That's basically the idea.
best, gordo