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COLOR GLOSSARY
PRINTING TERMS (A-M) | PRINTING TERMS (N-Z)
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A
Additive Primaries: The red, green and, blue (RGB) components of light are known as the additive primaries and are used to create all other colors of light, either direct or transmitted. When the additive primaries are superimposed on one another they create white light.
Airbrush: An electronic retouching tool that selectively can add color in a way that goes far beyond the functions of the traditional hand held air gun that sprayed droplets of ink or dye on halftone art to create a variety of tonal effects.
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B
Brightness: Brightness, hue, and saturation represent the three dimensions of color. Brightness, that is, intensity of light reflection or transmission, is considered as a separate value without regard to color saturation and hue.
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C
CEPS: Color Electronic Prepress System. A computer based system for the graphic arts industry that electronically simulates the traditionally labor intensive or cumbersome tasks associated with page makeup and color image manipulation.
Chrome: A positive transparent photographic image, also known as a color transparency.
CMYK: The four process colors cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. "K" is used to stand for black to avoid confusion with blue.
Color Cast: The predominance of a color or tint in a full-color photograph, sometimes caused by using the wrong kind of lighting or the wrong kind of photographic emulsion.
Color Correct: In four-color process work, small adjustments are often needed to satisfy the preferences of a customer or to compensate for the behavior of printing inks, grades of paper, and inaccuracies in reproduction. This color-correction may be done photographically, during the process of making negatives and printing plates, or by scanning the artwork into a computer system and adjusting the hue, saturation, and/or brightness of the image before color separations are created.
Color Saturation: The strength of a color, or how far it is from gray. The greater the saturation of a color, the farther it is from gray.
Color Separation: The process of preparing color work for printing by breaking down the image or publication into the four process printing color inks: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK). Each ink color is represented on a single sheet of film.
Color Transparency: A positive photographic image through which light must pass to view or reproduce the image.
Complementary Color: Also known as subtractive or secondary color, it is the color resulting from a combination of any two of the three additive primaries (red, green, and blue); for example, red plus blue equals magenta.
Contaminant Color: Also known as Chroma, it is the unwanted grayness and desaturation of color caused by the imperfect nature of printing ink, which reflects some of the color it should absorb, reducing the purity of the color and making color correction necessary.
Contrast: The tonal gradation in an image between highlights, mid-level tones, and shadows.
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D
DDCP: Direct Digital Color Proofing, a prepress proofing method which creates color proofs without any need for film or plates by using only digital data.
Densitometer: An instrument which measures the lightness or darkness of an image. A reflection densitometer measures the light reflected by an area which has been darkened by ink or by photographic processing. A transmission densitometer measures light transmitted through an area of film.
Density: The amount an object absorbs or reflects light is described as density level. High density objects absorb or stop light; low density objects reflect or transmit light.
Dot Etching: A technique to reduce the size of halftone dots on photographic film. In manual dot etching, often referred to as wet etching, acid is applied to the film. In photographic dot etching, masks are used. Note that when dot etching is done on a negative, the smaller dots translate into an increase in color when the job is printed onto paper.
Dot Gain: An increase in the size of halftone dots that naturally occurs during the steps between screening an image and printing it onto paper. Common causes of excessive dot gain are incorrect film or plate exposure, wrong tack or incorrect viscosity of printing ink, excessive ink film thickness, internal reflection of the ink, or incorrect pressure settings on the press.
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E
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F
Flop: Turning a negative over to create a mirror image. In an electronic environment, flop or mirror is a function that creates a mirror image, either horizontally or vertically, of an image or portion of an image.
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G
GCR: Gray Component Replacement. Replacing the graying component of CMY with black.
Gray Balance: In four-color process printing, proper proportions of the three process colors (yellow, magenta, and cyan) create the appearance of neutral gray with no apparent hue.
Gray Scale: A tonal scale graduated from white to black, ranging in density from 0% to 100% and used as a reference guide for screened halftones and color separations.
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H
High Key: An image that mainly consists of highlights and midtones. For example, eggs in a white bowl.
Hue: The attribute of a color that is defined by the dominant wavelength of light it transmits or reflects, distinguishing it from other colors. It is one of the three dimensions of color.
Hue Error: The difference between a printed color and the ideal color which it is supposed to represent. For example, cyan ink used in four-color process work should ideally reflect all of the green and blue frequencies of light that fall on it, while it should absorb all of the red frequencies. In reality, the ink will not achieve this state of perfection.
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I
Image Enhancements: Electronic functions, such as shading, coloring, highlighting, and zooming, that accent an image or portion of an image.
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J
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K
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L
L*a*b*: A system for describing, measuring, and controlling color, using hue, luminance, and brightness established by the International Committee on Illumination (CIE).
Line Screen: The number of lines of dots per linear inch on a halftone screen.
Luminance: One of the components of an HSL (hue, saturation, luminance) RGB (red, green, blue) image on a video monitor. It is the highest of the RGB values plus the lowest of the RGB values, divided by two.
Low Key: Describes an image that mainly consists of midtones and shadows. For example, a black cat sitting on a gray chair.
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M
Masking: Defining an area in an image which will be color-corrected or edited separately from the rest of the image. This may be done on a video screen using computer equipment, or it may be done on a conventional mechanical with rubylith masks.
Maximum Density: The measurement of the blackest or darkest area of an image on film; that is, the area with the maximum ability to stop light.
Midtone: Tonal values that are seen in the mid-level range between highlight and shadow. Broadly defined, these are within the 25% to 75% range (1/4 tone to 3/4 tone); narrowly defined, around the 50% range.
Midtone Placement: In the production of four-color halftones using a scanner, the process of choosing a dot value that will represent midtones. This is a matter of judgment, depending on the look of the original art.
Minimum Density: The measurement of the whitest or lightest area of an image on film; that is, the area with the minimum ability to stop light.
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O
Oil Mounting: The application of a coating of mineral oil or clear paraffin between a transparency and a scanner cylinder to minimize defects such as Newton rings, dust, dirt, scratches, etc. in a color separation.
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P
Peaking: A common expression used to describe the electronic manipulation of gray tones to increase contrast in an image.
Process Color Separation: A consequence of the offset lithographic process. In order to print full-color images, it is necessary to prepare four separate plates, one for each of the process colors - cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Plates are then overprinted on an offset press to render a full color printed document (or at least the illusion of full color).
Progressive Proof: Sometimes abbreviates as prog. In process color work, printed proofs showing the result after each successive color has been applied.
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Q
Quadratone: A black and white image reproduced through the four-color process in which black is simulated by levels of gray to bring out detail and provide dimension.
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R
Reflection Copy: Originals such as photographs or drawings which have been created on a reflective surface such as paper, as opposed to transparent film.
Retouching: A technique, either manual or electronic, used to eliminate flaws or improve the appearance of an image prior to making negatives.
RGB: The additive primaries (Red, Green and Blue), which are used in video monitors, as opposed to the subtractive primaries (yellow, magenta, cyan, and black), which are used in four-color process printing.
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S
Saturation: One of the three dimensions of color, and the attribute of color that defines its degree of strength of difference from white. The higher the saturation, the brighter and lighter the image. The lower the saturation, the duller and grayer the image.
Silhouette: An electronic filtering function that can outline an area or object in an image and extract the background.
Spectrum: The bands of color formed when white light is dispersed. Each color has a specific wavelength from the shortest, violet, to the longest, red.
Spot Color: A specific color in a design, usually designated to be printed with a specific matching ink, rather than through process CMYK printing.
Subtractive Primaries: When two of the three additive primaries - red, green, and blue light - are superimposed, the result is a subtractive primary; for example, red plus blue equals magenta. Yellow, magenta and cyan, the colors used for four-color process printing, are known as the subtractive primaries.
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U
UCR: Under Color Removal. Subtracting CMY under black and dark gray areas and replacing the undercolors with additional black.
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V
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