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10-21-2009, 10:03 AM   #1
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before the invention of scanners..

i know i could probably wiki this but i wouldnt mind picking the brains of some of the older folks here

before scanners, how would a colour photo from either a negative or a slide make its way on to a 8X10 magazine page?

10-21-2009, 10:16 AM   #2
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Not being that old I can only guess here. But I would think a silk screen type process.

Several years ago I worked for a graphics company, and we'd use a 3 colour process, often giving us photo like results.
With the obsolete machines we were using we'd still be able to pump out several hundred products an hour.
10-21-2009, 10:21 AM   #3
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I think they made inter negatives, i.e. large format film copies of the original frame. This then via some process or another - silk screen sounds good - was 'contact printed' or further enlarged to the final size.

My father in law made some very large posters from advertising art - and one famous photo of Marilyn Monroe. When we inherited a portion of his photo stuff, I found a inter negative - 5x7 or so - of Marilyn. This film was blocked off with tape, and through some process projected onto large photo paper, then mounted on some foam board.
10-21-2009, 10:29 AM   #4
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You could look up lithography (no, it's nothing to do with me.)

It involved colour separation, of course.

By the way, it'll be interesting to see how long it takes the powers that be to decide that Gooshincan't make his mind upwhere he wants this thread and move it to the PP forum.



Note: Italics signify moderator editing.


Last edited by Damn Brit; 10-22-2009 at 10:38 AM. Reason: Edited to keep the peace.
10-21-2009, 10:43 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Gooshin Quote
i post things where i believe i'll get the most responses

as you can see i already got 3, all informative, in less than 30 minutes.
Wasn't a dig at you, of course. But that hasn't stopped them before. And I think everyone has the right to stick a thread we're they see fit. This is a perfectly good place for it. Technically, it's not. Practically, it is.

I suppose it won't be all bad. This place has only, oh, geez, about four-hundred and seventy-eight million forums (not including subforums.) There's a good chance I'll stumble on this thread after it gets moved.

But, eventually, it'll get moved, and be lost below a few thousand "OMG Nu imac!!1!" and "Best printer?" posts.
10-21-2009, 10:44 AM   #6
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Wait... this was a trick question... you mean there was photography before digital and scanners?
10-21-2009, 10:47 AM   #7
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Slide --> Interneg --> Color separations on litho film --> Litho plates --> Printing press --> Printed page

Steve

10-21-2009, 10:58 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by Nesster Quote
Wait... this was a trick question... you mean there was photography before digital and scanners?
Of course there was, haven't you watched the Flintstones.
They had a box, with a bird inside. Who chipped away at a rock slate, revealing the image.

Back then the scanners were Completely Manual. They involved a Dinosaur first sitting in a can of paint. Then onto the photo. Then onto another rock, making an exact duplicate.
10-21-2009, 11:18 AM   #9
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Oh yes, I remember those.

The internet was fun too - you had this shell with a string tied to it, which a bird listened to, and then pecked a new screen for you.

Although, after they invented Etch-A-Sketch, that bird was replaced by a trained monkey.
10-21-2009, 01:52 PM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by Gooshin Quote
i know i could probably wiki this but i wouldnt mind picking the brains of some of the older folks here

before scanners, how would a colour photo from either a negative or a slide make its way on to a 8X10 magazine page?
It's complicated. I know because I did everything from shooting the images to burning printing plates. There should be lots of info on the Web. Search on "halftone", "color separation" and "process camera". "Process camera" will take you to the core of pre-digital photo reproduction.

Last edited by John Poirier; 10-21-2009 at 01:57 PM. Reason: typos
10-21-2009, 02:00 PM   #11
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thanks.........
10-21-2009, 02:00 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by John Poirier Quote
It's complicated. I know because I did everything from shooting the images to burning printing plates. I
Same here. And what about dot etching?

Stevebrot is particularly close. And if all you had was a print you shot it on a process camera using orthochromatic film. Using color filters. And you actually had to have skill. Unlike today judging from what I see coming through my door as "graphic artists"

Don't know how to create spot color in PS. Man. What are they teaching these days?

And it wasn't RGB. You can't print RGB.
10-21-2009, 03:18 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by graphicgr8s Quote
And it wasn't RGB. You can't print RGB.


Lets hear it for subtractive color!

Steve

(CMY...YMC...MYC...CYM...something like that...might be a K in there somewhere...)

Last edited by stevebrot; 10-21-2009 at 06:21 PM. Reason: trying to get my abbreviations straight...
10-21-2009, 03:53 PM   #14
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I remember reading somewhere that in the early days of magazine photography you had to turn in a full 8x10 negative if you wanted a shot at the cover.
10-21-2009, 04:59 PM   #15
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CYMK, photoshop supports that... and come to think of it, I have an article about color CYMK printing processes from 1938. Maybe I ought to scan it in sometime.
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