A firm understanding of color and quality fundamentals is essential when it comes to color quality judgment and analysis skills. This book — a compilation of author Gary Field's "Color Concepts" columns from 1996 through 2000 — explores the technical, practical, scientific, and perceptual facets of color quality through essays on a variety of topics. The book covers underlying principles, and demonstrates how today's techniques were derived from previous advancements.

From the Preface: “...In practice, misconceptions about color abound in this age of desktop color and so-called digital color presses, and the concept of quality is often reduced to trite definitions that have little practical value. Color quality, to be sure, has always been a somewhat elusive concept, but it is more of a science and less of an art than most people recognize...The essays presented here are succinct expositions on discrete color and quality topics that oftern are either misunderstood or partially comprehended...”

Target Audience: Any reader interested in the concept of color quality, including members of the printing and graphic arts communities, as well as introductory level students.

Table of Contents:

Color Reproduction Objectives

High-Fidelity Color

Gray (Color) Balance

Color Saturation

Color Halftoning

High-Resolution Color

Color Image Sharpness

Fifty Years of Color Scanning

Digital Color

Predicting Color Reproduction

Color Printing Quality

Principles of Color Reproduction: A Classic Revisited