SunM Color's Production Process
Self-Introduction
I am Masataka Ohata from SunM Color. I participated in this project as a Printing Director (PD). My usual work involves serving as a PD for artists' projects using UV printers, as well as archiving and reproducing cultural assets. I also handle color design for printing presses and color management operations.
About the Specifications
In the previous Print House Session in 2019, our company chairman, Matsui, who has 70 years of printing experience, participated as the PD. Using printing techniques such as ultra-fine 6-micron FM screening and achromatic triple-tone, we pushed the limits of resolution and dynamic range. The book design also utilized traditional Japanese materials like gold-leafed washi paper and Japanese-style binding, resulting in a photo book that conveys the weight of experience.
For this Print House Session, I was tasked with being the PD. Since doing the same thing as last time would just be a copy of Matsui's work, I wanted to do something different. Therefore, I created a design that allows people to touch the new technologies we have recently been using in-house. I proposed the concept of "UV-printed covers," "digital printing for the main text," and "three pattern specifications" to the designer, Mariko Okazaki.
About the Cover
The cover was produced using a technique called "Kasane Graphica," which utilizes a UV printer. Kasane Graphica allows for the printing of textures and uneven surfaces regardless of the media being printed on. For example, reproductions of oil paintings can be printed including the raised texture of the oil paint, and digital art can be printed with physical textures added to the image data. We also used the Kasane Graphica technique for the cover of an art book by designer GraphersRock, which we produced for last year's Tokyo Art Book Fair.
In my meeting with Okazaki-san this time, we decided to create a transparent, textured cover. The technology to reproduce transparent textures is something we use when creating large-scale art pieces. UV printer transparent ink is usually used to provide gloss to specific areas and is not intended to create texture by building up thickness (although there are some technologies like droptix). Therefore, even if you try to create height using standard printing methods, the UV curing timing is delayed, and the intended texture is not formed. We struggled to adjust the process to maintain the shape and pattern while preserving the transparency of glass, and we conducted numerous tests.
Most of the Kasane Graphica technology lies in image processing. The cover, which was printed by extracting only the unevenness of a screen door from a photograph, was personally the highlight of this project in terms of technology. When selecting the cover photo during a meeting with Okazaki-san, she asked, "Can you do a screen door?" I answered "yes" without hesitation, and I remember reflecting on my impulsive response on the Shinkansen ride home. However, since I have been producing art pieces through a back-and-forth exchange of ideas between artists and technicians, I felt that if we proceeded in the same way, it would be fine.
I cannot write in detail about how I extracted only the unevenness of the screen door, but it was not done through sheer grit and determination by tracing the screen door with a pen tablet; it was achieved through a combination of filter work. When creating textures from an artist's work, I am always careful to ensure that the processing is derived from the image itself or, with the artist's permission, generated randomly, taking care not to introduce other elements.
Retouching Policy for the Main Text
For the selection of photos for the main text, Okazaki-san printed all of the over 700 photos provided by photographer Yoshihiko Ueda as cards, and the selection was made from there. Things on the other side of a window pane are transformed and abstracted by the glass. The selection focused on the texture of that glass.
This is a personal behind-the-scenes story, but before deciding on the policy with Okazaki-san, I obtained the photo data and the Akaaka-sha edition of "WINDOWS" to roughly consider how to create the colors. As an excuse to grasp the intent of the photographic work, I have a secret pleasure of looking at the EXIF data point by point, imagining the situation at the time of the artist's shooting based on the camera model, lens, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, date, and time. From there, I imagined Ueda-san's stance at the time of shooting, or his distance from the window, and thought it would be better to reflect that sense of speed in the colors, and that the colors as displayed on a raw monitor would match. So, I discarded the calibration of my secondary monitor and came up with the idea of aiming for the look at 6500K with high brightness, and performed a rough retouch. It happened to match the hard, high-contrast image that Okazaki-san focused on regarding the glass texture and transparency, so I didn't mention it, but I did that part as a hobby in the pre-stage.
For the test proofing, we printed several color patterns, decided on the color direction from there, and performed full-sheet proofing. Okazaki-san's red marks were added to the full-sheet proofs, and we brushed them up for the final printing. I remember being extremely happy when Okazaki-san gave me bold red marks that leaned heavily into the texture. I was excited to see the designer make judgments while imagining the finish, and to realize them accordingly. Although this work has the special circumstance of being produced for the Print House Session, I don't often retouch an artist's work to this extent, and Okazaki-san also said she doesn't do it in her usual work. I retouched it while worrying about what I would do if Ueda-san got angry, but working with Okazaki-san felt like a kind of complicity, and it was fun.
About Tuning the Jet Press
For the main text, we used the Jet Press digital printing machine instead of offset printing, which is SunM Color's true specialty. When using the Jet Press as a production machine rather than a proofing machine, there is no need to match the colors of offset printing, and it becomes possible to design printing that makes the most of the machine's potential. This is not limited to this time; I performed the color design based on that idea when we introduced the Jet Press. Also, compared to SunM Color's offset printing, the standard state of the Jet Press is inferior in both density and color, so this was a necessary task. Through tuning and ICC profile design, we adjusted for a wider color gamut than standard, particularly enriching the density and color in the dark areas, and also ensured that colors prone to saturation clipping during conversion were rendered with distinct tonal gradations.
Even if we call it RGB printing, the master data is just RGB, and it is separated into CMYK or device ink configurations somewhere. This digital printing machine has been given unique settings, considering how to maximize the color gamut, how to render the saturation clipping that inevitably occurs, and incorporating the "flavor" that makes it a SunM Color-style print. Also, for the main text paper "SA Kinto" used this time, that tuning setting alone might have been sufficient, but since I wanted to do everything I could, I first verified the ICC profile and printing method optimized for the work and SA Kinto, and prepared the best color management workflow.
Summary
I think many people are thinking about the theme of what will happen to printing in the future, and what will happen to photo books and art books in the future. However, the necessity of printing on paper and works that can only be realized as a book product will continue to be created.
Through this Print House Session attempt, we were able to complete a high-quality book even with a small lot. From there, if there are sales channels, the hurdle for publishing is lowered, and expectations have risen that works that previously had issues with budget or large lot requirements can be released to the world. There are still various problems with this, such as workflow and costs, but completing art books that should be released to the world with high quality is also the mission of a printing company and an important contribution to art and culture. The reason I dared to divide the number of copies specified by the management into three types this time was also a practice of balancing small lots with high quality.
Aside
This is a bit of an aside, but one of the reasons why this Print House Session was held for the first time in four years was my connection with Saito-san of roshin books. We met over 20 years ago through music, which has nothing to do with photography or printing, and for a time we held events together. This year, I realized that Saito-san from music and Saito-san from roshin books were the same person, and our interaction was the starting point for this project. I felt the mystery of human connections, thinking that such things can happen. After experiencing the difficulty of management last time, thank you again to Saito-san and Kobayashi-san of flotsam books for holding it again. When you come to Kyoto, let's go for a drink.