Report: RGB in the newspaper prepress

This report had two objectives: on the one side, the aim was to discuss the most suitable RGB colour space for newspaper printing and, on the other side, to examine which RGB colour space should be assumed in the unfortunately common case of pictures with a missing RGB specification.

by Anton Jolkovski anton.jolkovski@wan-ifra.org | March 9, 2006

WAN-IFRA_RGB_Newspaper_Prepress

The solution to both questions from a mathematical and physical standpoint appears to be simple, but from a technical and practical standpoint complex and to the contrary. The choice of the most suitable RGB colour space was done using a strategy of picking the one with the least scientific anomalies. Regarding the problem of pictures with a missing RGB definition, a pragmatic approach was adopted.

A problem of a missing overview of the complex subject of colorimetry and with it the closely associated picture capture-, picture processing and print processes was also addressed.