Half-Tone Letterpress Printing a Photograph in CMYK!
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- We're printing a full color photograph using our Heidelberg platen press from 1960! Take a closer look at how Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black ink can reproduce a full spectrum of color. Using four different copper halftone printing plates, we take you through the step-by-step process. Our goal is to help you understand what's happening behind the scenes when CMYK printing is done. Whether you're printing with letterpress, offset lithography, screen printing, or digital printing, the principles of four color printing remain the same. Using our letterpress technique, it's easy to see and understand what's happening as each layer of color slowlyl brings the artwork to life. This challenging project is unique and uncommon but it's the best way for graphic designers and artists to fully grasp the science and inner workings of high quality printing.
Photography by:
Dmitriy Serov | Photographer | Art director
/ serovphoto
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as a retired printer its good to see one of the older skilled craft print methods still practiced......
Thank you Edward!
Same here. I haven’t run a windmill since the 70's
Retired blacksmiths feel the same way.
I did a process color piece on letterpress once. Once. Never again. It was the most challenging, difficult, and make-ready-wasting print job I ever did. Hats off to you for attempting this, and pulling it off!
You should have done a 5 year apprenticeship like I did. Letterpress 4 colour process is a piece of cake 8 pages at a time.
@Barracuda 1964 Great! Did the same myself in the 70's. Can't be many of us left now!
@Barracuda 1964 KSBAs are still around. A lot of them are being used for die cutting nowadays.
@@ronnieg6358 My apprenticeship was 7 years in 1965.
@@peterhrick6789 You obviosly learned it properly . Mine even included first year full time at college.
Nice job! Nice register. You know you've won when you come to the trimming and, as you can see you're cutting the trim marks in half. 👌
I really like the look before black is printed.
It looked a lot like a renaissance painting to be honest
After 42 years in print, much of it on Heidelberg platens in print, foil, embossing and diecutting, it's lovely to see them being used well and looked after, you have a great setup there.
I appreciate that views of the printing were taken from differing angles so the actual print could be viewed. The hiss is soothing.
Thank you Susan, some of those angles are hard to see so we tried our best!
I could watch those machines print all day long.
The movement and the soft sounds of the rollers and press is extremely hypnotic.
Very therapeutical.
Sounds like magic!
Ah, I'm a photographer and this brings me joy. I wish you had this kind of service available for limited edition print runs!
I’m a wedding photographer and I have a very small letter press. I love producing images. I am working in sublimation now.
Brilliant Ive been a letterpress printer for 50 years and never seen it done as good, also what an awesome CLEAN workshop well done!!
Thank you so much! It's tough keeping things as tidy when we're in the swing of things but we certainly enjoy a little bit of creative clutter. Producing this print was really challenging so thank you for the generous compliments!
In all honesty... Not sure why this is satisfying... Maybe it's the mechanical movements mixed with the human brilliance.... Maybe it's the old way of doing things better than the new... but it's incredible to watch...and you are a craftsman.
From a neanderthal mindset of squeeze trigger...turn wrench....bang hammer...light the fuse...to the simplicity and chaos of lighting a welding rod...all of which is in my wheel house... This is beyond me!
This is mesmerizing! Truly respect your art form Sir. Keep up the amazing work 💪💪
When I saw the pull cords on your hoody dangling over the press I thought 'there's a man with a death wish'. Glad to see you tucked them in before starting the run.
This is not printing, This is ART !!!
I agree!
So nice seeing a younger generation keeping a mechanical artform alive and desirable. This is not just a case of registration either. You really have to know your equipment, even the small personalities between each press. BTW - will you be selling these prints as a limited and numbered run?
Thank you, we’ve dedicated many years of learning from the previous generations. So much of this skill and talent goes unappreciated. We sincerely thank you for your kind words. Unfortunately we won’t have these print pieces for sale. We will have more CMYK print content on the way!
Astonishing how much work goes into those prints. But the star of the show, in my opinion is this beautifully engineered machine... That one for sure had a lot of work going into it as well.
We feel the same way!
Jesus. It's an incredible amount of time, patience, and patience, and patience... Respect.
(for the info: I'm working in the printing industry for more than 20 years)
The result of the magenta print was absolutely stunning
Almost seems like magic!
@@JukeboxPrintLive truly magical video
Honestly, I was not impressed. I thought it might be a redhead, so that was fine but it looked like he indeed messed up the amount of yellow ink.
Then came the black ink. Mind = blown.
The order in wich you print the different colors is indeed interesting. I have had an extensive printing education and when a first started working (it was a T-shirt screen printing company) we had a lot of difficulties depending on the films we got for making the printing screens. It turned out that there was a huge difference between the opacity and color pigment between different brands of inks. With the one brand the major problem was the magenta that was too red, so the color balance shifted completely. We started to make our own color separations (my bosses weren't used to work with Photoshop to that extend, so it fell up to me) where we adjusted this by removing up to 30% of the magenta curve and started to print the magenta first + we switched the brand of ink. This way we were finally able to run our prints smoothly and more consistantly. Also, if your black is really too dark during print you can cheat a little by switching to a dark gray. Works like a charm!
Sam Liekens thank you for your insight. A lot of the printing industry seems to be experimenting and coming up with the best ways yourself. It feels good to overcome a challenge!
Really appreciate you guys for keeping letterpress alive. I am also an offset printer (inherited from my father & grand father), but sometimes get bored from digital & 4,5 color offset but seeing letter press professionals is something else...Love from Pakistan.
Thank you! We are trying. It is truly a dying art and we appreciate your comments!
I have done 4-color dot register jobs on the Windmill that I have had and have run for the past 40 years, and my ace offset pressman once did a 4-color print like this on our ATF Chief 15 - just because he could.... But I have never printed a color halftone on any platen press. Dot register and perfect makeready and color. I am impressed! Pardon the pun, but Jukebox Rocks! ;)
Ahhhh the Chief... I was running one with a T head before I had a driver's license! After I got my DL, I was able to drive myself to go get stitches when she bit the tip off my right index finger. The cover near the feed lever was off. Thankfully, It was saved, lots worse has occurred as a result of "just the tip"
Wonderful to see a Master at work!
Thank you Johan, we are always trying to improve our skills.
We need more of these videos to distract us from the bad news we're currently faced with
yes we definitely do.
👍Well done demo - I taught High School Graphic Arts for 36 years in Michigan. Lakeland High School, White Lake. 🚂
I watched your video with great interest. I'm a retired press salesman. I worked for Heidelberg beginning in the 70's. Just about every print shop had a "Windmill". I noticed you have replaced the "Original Heidelberg" lockout bar with clear plastic. Do you know the year of your press? There were 165,000 "Tiegel" machines produced between 1914 and 1985. The "Original Heidelberg" on the lockout bar was there to distinguish it from the"Knock off" on the market. For years Heidelberg published a small hardbound book titled "Hints for the pressman". I still have one that was for the "T" platen.
Did you know Lars Stayburg at Heidelberg USA back in the day?
@@rogerhodge1146 I worked for Heidelberg West just after they took over the Heidelberg Pacific dealership for the West Coast. At that time one other dealership existed. Heidelberg Eastern, owned by a Dutch company East Asiatic. Heidelberg USA wasn't formed at that time. Heidelberg USA was formed after Heidelberg took over Heidelberg Eastern and consolidated both dealerships.
Could you share me a copy of that document?
You guys are resurrecting this lost art. I photograph film and I know how this feels. ❤🤩
akshayd211 Thank you! We’re trying!
This type of machine and craftsman is something you never thought existed... until you saw this video. Thank you for sharing the super interesting art form with us
Glad you enjoyed it!
I was one of the final generation that used these.
I have a 10x15 Heidelberg Windmill in storage I bought years ago that I ran at a company when I graduated college.
these presses are a marvel of old school engineering. All of these intricate parts working in mechanical harmony. It has a soothing sound. Precise metal touching and spinning produces very little noise. Mind boggling how no computers were used to build these machines.
Thank you for giving us such a rare and incredible look at a priceless mechanical process. I wish to see it in person before I die, and get one of whatever you’re printing!! You can be like the best tourist attraction ever.
There’s almost certainly one of these machines in your home town. These presses are EVERYWHERE. You just gotta find em!
Jukebox Print kitchen utensils can’t make dinner, it’s the chef who actually delivers 😊 your channel is like an art exhibit, thank you for including us in your art projects ❤️
I would always put density bars in the waist that gets cut off - using density bars is for quality control for color and density of each color and gain control and registration.
I was a pressman for 36 years. * Nice work on this video * 👍🏼
I almost always place color density bars on every print project but for this one, the prepress work was taken out of my hands. It would've been a lot easier with the proper printer's marks all around.
It was actually moving to see this one come together. Very wholesome.
I'm more curious how the plates are made.
Some day we will film the whole process!
@@JukeboxPrintLive I'd love to see more about your plate making process, as well!
I would be very interested in this process as well. the registration lines look very deep and accurate.
for a very traditional way of doing it, have a look at this film. czcams.com/video/KutnfeElLU8/video.html I am sure today CNC is involved to speed things up
Traditional is with panchromatic screens and filters on a horizontal camera for the films.
Modern is with an imagestetter. By modern I mean obsolete now. I still have a Dolev 200 running film for screen printing positives. There is no better way to produce positives for screening screens.
I worked at a print shop once, but i was only the computer guy. I used corel draw, one of the first versions ever. The guys that handled these machines were amazing.
I screen print CMYK on tshirts at 45 lpi. Works pretty well, surprising how well the colors translate. The black is the magic the pulls it together in the end. Cheers
I used to shoot separations for this type of work on a railed camera using screens to expose the dots onto pan film . Each colour was exposed using a coloured filter. Cyan had red, magenta had green, Yelo had blue (always the longest exposure) and a black key was created using a orange/beige filter. Great job, I loved it.
Modern thermo film still doesn’t compare to shooting through a proper halftone screen with strong filters. The camera work has the greatest effect on the overall print. Were you shooting for silver master offset plates? Line screen value for those must’ve been very very high...
I was making seps for lithography and letterpress. 4 colour became rare in letterpress for regular jobbing work and when someone requested it it was a pleasure to do the extra work. Cartonwork was the biggest source of letterpress type separating. Images where then etched onto bimetal plates, similar physically to a letterpress dot but harder and capable of running 500k+ impressions. Have you printed from any wood blocks yet?
Those machine are hypnotising me im sure of it !!! Damn that is some old school engineering!
You can really get lost in a trance watching them go!
That's a super scary paper cutter. And the model has the most amazing blue eyes.
Not sure people realize how difficult it is what you’re doing! Truly amazing stuff. I, too, have the GT model and this just made you LETTERPRESS GODS in my eyes. Thanks for this - truly!
Truly a piece of art!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and talent!
Thank you so much! There’s so much knowledge and talent that isn’t appreciated by those around us. It’s a very challenging and highly demanding environment to work in. Thank you for your comment!
This is by far one of the coolest things I've ever seen. To be able to print any image in etched copper blocks without needing the years of experience with etching by hand is a whole new world. If I am ever rich and famous I would love to get some of my work printed in such a way. Thank you deeply for sharing such an interesting process.
Aidin Andrews thank you for your kind words!
That was one very nice impression of how a 4 color print was done, having to feed the paper 4 times to the printing-press, bringing along all the difficulties to make every next feed fit the one before. There are so many variables involved to get a good result in the printing process... paper quality, humidity, ink density and having it spread out evenly, printing pressure, proper working of the front- and side lays, and so on.
The sounds of the "Degel" , as this book=printing press was called in German, are all to familiar to me, having been a mechanical service engineer on Heidelberg printing presses for over 20 years. Not specifically on the book-printing presses though, more like on to the offset presses of Heidelberg (GTO, MO, SOR and the whole range of Speedmaster series), but on many occasions, when doing a job on a modern Heidelberg press, on the background you would hear this very distinctive rhythm sound of a "Degel" (plate printing press) or a "Cylinder Automat" (like a BIG Degel).
It's very nice to notice that the Plate printing press still is around, for those special kinds of printing demands.
that would be Tiegel
I used to run a 10" x 13" Heidelberg "Windmill" Platen for numbering tickets and ballots and the such back in the 80s. We did a little imprinting or simple die-cutting work but never attempted CMYK printing with it. Very cool to see!! Still have my line gauge handy. Great little back scratcher!
Those hook top pica poles can really get to those hard to reach itches huh?
Wow, this really brings me back to my days working at a print shop. I always aspired to run the Heidelberg Windmill, and the day I got to do it first was such a huge deal. My career has take me other places, but I wish there was a way that I could go back and "hobby print"
its less than $2000 USD to get a heidelberg windmill on ebay
......heidelberg windmill !!.... incredible press.....nice to see one still in use.....
The best!
I love all those old fashioned machines. Great video!
Although it’s been 3 yrs since it was made I have to say it was really well done. I started at a local chain of newspapers and eventually aended up in the IT department. I started in 78 and they had a Heidelberg they used for commercial printing wchich was a niche part of the production but as time went on it was phased out. I was more concerned with the daily press runs of the newspaper so it was pretty interesting to me to see the more upscale printing that is done on these presses
Authentic piece of art (as well as the portrait)
Thanks for this video, having been a designer and art director for many, many years, I spent countless hours camped out at large offset printers waiting to check the register and other aspects of jobs so I could give final approval while the impersonal and enormous machines roared. This seems so much more elegant. 😀
This video was spectacular. It is nice to finally get where the rosette pattern comes from in prints. Thanks for the great vid, I look forward to binging your other videos.
Thank you very much!
Paiting like effect... nostalgic somehow. Great!
Beautiful machinery and beautiful print
Thank you very much!
Recently came across your CZcams channel.
I was a printer for 54 years, started in 1965. It was good to see the skill and craft still at work. I just have one thing to point out, you keep referring to the chase being put in the press, the chase is just the metal frame when type or blocks are locked into the chase it becomes a forme, so when you put it into the machine you are putting the forme in. Just technical but correct term to use. Otherwise very informative videos.
nice editing, thanks for the extra work on the close up part that's really fascinating.
As a screen printer.. the 4 Color process is always a challenge to register. It is cool to see it done on another machine
I started out in the news/print industry and I've always loved full process printing and different separation techniques. Halftone process is gorgeous to look at close up and I use a few deep close-ups of halftone patterns in my current generative art video series. Great video!
Hats off to you, I would never even attempt a 4 colour process job on a windmill.
WOW !!! Great Job. I never had seen a 4 colors job on a letterpress. Awesome.
Neither did we! We had to try it out.
Thanks for sharing. Great work.
I did medium offset decades ago and it really brought back the good memories.
In the end it is something that I miss. You can point to a stack of paper and say I did that with pride in the work that you did.
This is one of the most satisfying parts of the job. The feeling of accomplishment when it's all said and done.
Do you have any videos on how you produce the plates?
As far as digital printing has come I find myself unsatisfied with lots of the results, or rather, the art of print making and stationary has largely been lost. I collect a few old books and have a copy of an 'illustrated' pilgrims progress from 1879. Lots of prints in that book including a colored cover. Love that you are keeping this tradition alive it really is its own artform.
I always have believed that when 4-color-proccess you needed to change the angle of each color to avoid the moire effect, but here it seems that they on purpose left it, and it looks strange but beautiful. Thanks for the video!.
Our halftone angles are C 15 degrees, M 45 degrees, Y 0 degrees, and K 75 degrees. I’m noticing a bit of moire happening in the thumbnail image and some of the video stills but in person there isn’t any... There’s something going on in the display of dots to pixels. Moire can be distracting and I find it happens most when too small of an image is sized up and then ripped as a half-tone.
Oh!, so then its has to do with how cameras perceive the superposition of the dots!.
@@JukeboxPrintLive The fine regular pattern of the halftone dots is triggering moire in the camera sensor! :) Most video cameras don't have anti-aliasing filters in front of the sensor. Same applies for high-end full-frame digital stills cameras which leave the AA filter off to improve sharpness. But can be a nightmare when trying to shoot finely patterned fabrics, for example.
Paul Thompson Thank you! This is the answer we’ve been waiting for. Cheers!
@@pixelp07 I'm not seeing any interference patterns at 1080p. I don't have a 4k monitor to check, but I'd expect to see artefacts at 1080 if they were generated in-camera.
It's possible you guys are streaming the video at a higher resolution than it's scaled in your browser (like viewing it at 720p, but having the window scaled so that the video is only 400px high - or viewing it at 4k in full screen on a 1080 monitor). This is known to cause aliasing on CZcams.
That is a work of art! A wonderfully produced video. Very clear and gives a perfect insight into the skills still required in the industry. Thank you.
Thank you so much! It’s words like these that keep us going. It’s hard to feel appreciated sometimes when people around us don’t quite understand just how difficult and challenging it truly is. Thanks again!
Such a beautiful technique and outcome! Love it how this video is edited too, the lack of music makes it pleasant to watch! Thanks!
Thank you! We're really happy you enjoyed it!
This vid made me A subscriber, as I was riveted the whole time. I was amazed by the details required of the process, and realized how much care must be involved. Truly, a “Labor of love”. At the end, I wanted to understand the front end of the process; What was involved in the making of each halftone plate, the decisions concerning size and placement of the dots in relationship to the desired outcome of tone and value, the making and etching of the plates themselves, the image transfer process onto the plates, all of it! I wish I could spend days in your shop, just observing the various processes involved in what you do. Keep these vids coming. I’ll watch them all with rapt attention!
Vgudorf there’s a lot of technical information on here that I really wanted to include in the video. In the end, the time crunch and need to get the video finished as fast as possible took over. Maybe in the future I’ll be able to make more technical videos to help you learn more!
Outstanding! Makes me wonder about my Mercedes cylinder stop and go press doing billboards for local artists…
I was a printer from 1956 to 2006, this brought back many memories, however you did not mention that the individual screen angles must vary by 15 degrees to avoid the dreaded moire pattern occurring but this is a great video
Love seeing the machines I operate daily do what they were intended to do.
I'm using a Heidelberg platen and Original cylinder press for Hot Foil printing.
The factory also has 5 Original Heidelberg Cylinders and 2 windmill platens dedicated to Cutting and Creasing.
Foil stamping on a cylinder would be fantastic. I love how the impression strength of cylinders, and the rolling motion, can create large areas of foil with more ease than a platen. Plus, trapped air, and gassing out is much less of a problem. Platens can be really tricky with solid coverage...
I wish that I knew you were planning this activity before. One piece of "art" that I always wanted to get would be a strip much like your proofing panel, showing C/CY/CMY/CMYK (and some additional sheets with Y, M, CM and YM), all put into a single frame. A letterpress result is so much more pleasing than mocking this up in Photoshop to be printed on a laserprinter.
Excelent process, love it!
YESSS!! THANK YOU! This was by far the most satisfying print job I have seen in YEARS! Great work, keep it up!
Thank you! Will do!
Why is this so chill to watch?..
I know, right?
Amazing process! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
This was absolutely amazing. I've never seen anything like it!
Thank you Bryan! Glad you enjoyed the video.
I’m in awe I love this CMYK
Pretty cool to see it come together huh?
Absolutely beautiful! 😍
Masterfully done from start to finish.
Thank you!
One of the best video
on the youtube
What a compliment! Thanks Saurav.
You really are very very underrated, If I could I would subscribe a million times your channel!!
Great print. Love the old Heidelberg printers
Thank you, so do we!
I hold my breath every time you adjust the paper in the guillotine to cut it to size!
I wouldn't worry too much, oddly enough they're one of safer machines to use because there are so many safety features on them. For example, ours had light beams across the front you only had to move a fraction into them and it wouldn't operate. Also the blade would only come down if you press the buttons exactly at the same time, if you were slow or took the pressure off, the blade would stop instantly. Depending on where it was on the stroke you sometimes needed to turn it off and manually move the blade to complete the cycle and restart using a key and a mains electric sequence.
Strings on a hoodie is dangerous. Cool content.
Such masterdful work!
Thank you!!
you are so lucky to be doing this I always wanted to do this for years but could not get a job around here. You do great work.
Thank you very much!
Wow, tons of respect to you sir!
This looks better then a Digital print!
Thank you!!
yes, very fashionable and artistic-looking for the final output... not to mention real kudos to the photographer for the stunning image!!
I'm really curious in what way. It's a fun video, but I'd say the final image would be hard to sell up against modern digital printing technology of any kind, offset, clc, or inkjet. I'm curious what you see as "better."
*Than
Printing at it’s best. Well done
Thank you Kenneth!
I love this! Print ♥️
Me encanta amigo......gracias
Beautiful!
Mind blowing! ;) Great job!
Thank you! Cheers!
crazy, I never saw this befor. greets from Heidelberg ✌️
Love this video
Wow. Really enjoyed watching this process from start to finish. I actually watched it twice haha!! Now I need to find a printer locally that uses a Heidelberg!
55 years ago I worked for a label printing company we printed 4 color process all the time but on Miehle Verticals....we had progs form plate maker to show ink color for density used color bars ... you did a good job nice video
Those V-50's and V-45s are good machines. A lot of trouble to clean up from what I remember but the cylinder would do a much better reproducing these half tones than this platen press does. Thanks for your comment John.
I've been binge-watching your letterpress videos: absolutely transfixed. Surprised to see the machine itself stay perfectly clean, the ink efficiently and precisely remaining on the rollers and drums throughout. I have a hunger to understand however how the halftone patterns were created for a print before the relative simplicity of digital algortihms.
Glad you like them!
Great craftsmanship!
Thank you!
bravo!! brillante trabajo!!
This video made my day
wonderful job! indeed! congratulations
francesco fantoni thank you!
Excellent result congratulations
HEIDELBERG - it is special!!!
Well done!
What an amazing job
Elizaveta Demina thank you!