What is it called when you say one thing equals another thing? There is a literary term for it but I can't remember what it is. Is is the strongest word in the English language?

"She walks in beauty like the night." No, she is the night.

"A rose called by any other name is still a rose."

And finally, the most powerful of all, the contracted equals:

"She's a real fox."

More Offset

Contacted offset printer last night and they are going to overnight me samples of their b&w (4-color offset) printing (cards, brochures, posters, calendars). I think that CMYK is calling me back. Oh God - CMYK. They told me what printer they use but I already forgot. Markus made a great point about getting a RIP / Profiles to emulate the end printer. All I know about CMYK is that to get good blacks you don't just set the K to 100% but need to mix other channels as well. Whatever - I'll figure it out. And what I liked about the site was that they gave good instructions about formatting files for CMYK with templates for photoshop.

iView Media Pro (chapter I)

After working with Mr. Fish on his website using what I thought was a pretty simple method with iView Media Pro - it became obvious that more help was needed.

So here's chapter one on how the web galleries on this site were created. Believe me - I'm not doing this for the sheer fun of it - but because the advertising associated with what may be useful information is the most targeted and because I figured out how to hit the "ALT" button and the "PRINTSCREEN" button at the same time.

What I've discovered is that there are four distinct groups of visitors to the site:

1) Just looking (maybe 70%)
2) Actually looking to buy a print (maybe 5%)
3) Photographers looking for technical information (10%).
4) Yikes - what did I click on to wind up here? Quick, click on anything to get me out of here (15%)

* * *
Added chapter TWO
to the iView Gallery Tutorial.
* * *

Lulu and Part Ways

Ciao Lulu.

I suppose we had our good times, Lulu and I - but I was looking for something more - something more beautiful. Lulu is just not good for fine-art books - or high-quality calendars - and so I guess we'll have to go our separate ways. I will think back fondly on all the time I wasted with her reading through forums for printing specs, and waiting eagerly for proofs. Good-bye Lulu - and I only wish you the best. I hope we can still be friends.

* * *

I am going to have to put the calendar thing on hold for now since there are orders to work on - and it's already getting late in the year and I would like to begin shooting again. I have sent out for samples from a few companies that do 4-color b&w printing - not on demand - but with digital printing presses (Indigo, Heidelberg DI) as suggested by M.

I also see that if I am going to do a high-quality calendar or book, I'm either going to have to get into CMYK in a more serious way, especially as it relates to good black and white printing. For example - one thing I read is that if you want rich black tones - you don't just set the K value to 100% but you also need to mix the ratio of other channels in certain percentages. And as M. mentioned - the best thing is if you can afford to get a proper RIP and profile that mimics the output a particular press / paper combination on your inkjet printer for proofing.

It was an adventure being with Lulu because honestly, I never knew what she'd do next. I have four or five proofs of various items she left behind and you know - they all look slightly different.

Ciao. Maybe we'll meet again someday.