As well as the problems presented by converting RGB to CMYK, the actual printing process itself has some additional surprises in store. “Dot gain,” the bane of designers everywhere, is rarely understood and therefore not usually taken into account. Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Acrobat can remove some of the sting from its inky tail by tagging work with a digital “color management system” (CMS), but unless the correct CMS is put into place the result will be second best (see Chapter 6). But even Photoshop will not help with calibrating shadows and highlights: Those are areas you have to deal with yourself.

While this may become automated in the future, it has not happened yet. Dot gain means that what you see on your screen is not what will print on an offset press, even if you are looking at a black-and-white photo. Big dots get bigger, and small dots get smaller. And only you can fix it.