Two of the most important colors in any imaging application are white and black.  White is normally supplied by the media and black or “key” is supplied by a traditional pigmented ink.  These two visual concepts hold critical roles in the processes that constitute the graphic arts workflow. 

Recently there has been a renewed interest in these concepts as exhibited by activities within the IDEAlliance Print Properties subcommittee on paper characterization, the SIS Workshop on Paper on optical properties of paper, CIE Publication 163 on the Effect of Fluorescence in the Characterization of Imaging Media, and in papers at the Color Imaging Conference.

This has resulted in a number of research committees and standardization committees being formed to try to better understand the scope of this problem – especially as it related to international standards on the measurement and communication of color in image reproduction, such as ISO 2469, 3664, 13655, 12647, GRACoL 7 and the G7 press/proofer calibration methodology. 

We invite you to join the ISCC and the IS&T in a special 1-day meeting after the 2008 Color Imaging Conference highlighting the recent achievements in the measurement of white and black.  Invited, session keynote, papers will come from the research & standards areas described above and contributed papers will certainly fill in the practical understanding between the requirements of the documentary standards.  Topics will include, measuring and predicting the media white point when it contain fluorescent brightening agents,  predicting the visual impact of the media white on gray balance of an image, correlating instrumental readings to visual judgments under various D50 simulations, the effect of geometry on the measurement of white, is there an objective assessment and quantification of the percept known as whiteness,  the relationship between whiteness and brightness in perceived color gamut, relating the standard optical properties of paper (ISO 2469) to the end use properties of the media (ISO 12647).

This is going to be a timely and focused look at the issues plaguing the passage of graphic reproduction from a pure art form to an engineering discipline.  Please consider staying a day or two after the Color Imaging Conference for this meeting – especially if you are a developer of ICC profiles or software tools for an ICC-based workflow.  You will find these topics very relevant and you will want to share your experiences in this area.

For additional information or to send an abstract, contact Danny Rich or Ann Laidlaw.