🚀 go-pugleaf

George: 

I downloaded your PDF and opened it in Acrobat 5.0. I have the Extensis PitStop plug-in for Acrobat, an expensive but essential part of any serious PDF workflow. A printer who is going to accept PDFs for print MUST have this tool. It allows me to manipulate PDFs as though I were using Illustrator and Photoshop simultaneously. Way cool, if you can afford it.  

Unfortunately, I have to say the problems you experienced are due to the way you prepared your PDF file. Here's the problem: all your colors are set to RGB. Your teal, for example, is R=0/G=42.7/B=43.1. Your horse is an RGB JPG. Your black text, sampled in various locations, ranges from R=13.7/G=12.2/B=12.5 to R=0/G=22.0/B=22.4. All your scans are RGB JPGs scaled WAY down (the top left photo, for example, is scaled to 7.7% of its original size). 

Why does all this matter? Because process printing doesn't happen in the RGB color space. Process colors are built from varying percentages of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK). When RGB colors are separated into CMYK plates, all kinds of color shifts can and will occur on press. 

You say the job was prepared as CMYK. If so, you may have used the wrong job options when you distilled the file. Check the Job Options box at the top of your Distiller menu. Does it say Press Optimized, Print Optimized, or Screen Optimized? These are the three default settings from Adobe, though you can create custom settings of your own. If you distilled the job using Print Optimized (a medium-res setting for files to be printed on inkjet or laser printers) or Screen Optimized (a low-res setting for files to be put on a web page), you inadvertantly caused the problem yourself. Only the Press Optimized setting will create a high-res, CMYK PDF that will separate correctly for offset printing. 

Who's at fault? Well, it depends on the printer's workflow, but you're at least 50% responsible. In our plant, we routinely check every single graphic in every single file and laboriously convert any RGB elements to CMYK, grayscale, or spot colors, as needed. This takes a lot of time, for which someone will be billed. 

Newspapers don't have time to preflight and fix every file they receive. Newspaper production is driven by a strict daily deadline. They count on YOU to know how to prepare a file for correct output. Unless you tell them specifically to fix the file (for a fee), they're just going to place it and go. In their workflow, your mistakes are your responsibility.  

I hate to say it, but I don't think they owe you full credit, though they may do it just once for good relations. If they do, count your blessings, ask for their suggested settings (especially for your photos--printing photos with 85 lpi screens on newsprint require radically different adjustment values from, say, 150 lpi on quality gloss stock!!!), and make absolutely sure your next ad will print correctly. 

Good luck, and feel free to contact me for further information or advice. 

Scott