Prepress Technicians and Workers

Generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece.

Proofread and perform quality control of text and images.

Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced.

Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer.

Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film.

Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment.

Operate presses to print proofs of plates, monitoring printing quality to ensure that it is adequate.

Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths.

Examine finished plates to detect flaws, verify conformity with master plates, and measure dot sizes and centers, using light boxes and microscopes.

Punch holes in light-sensitive plates and insert pins in holes to prepare plates for contact with positive or negative film.

Examine unexposed photographic plates to detect flaws or foreign particles prior to printing.

Inspect developed film for specified results and quality, using magnifying glasses and scopes, forwarding acceptable negatives or positives to other workers or to customers.

Arrange and mount typeset material and illustrations into paste-ups for printing reproduction, based on artists' or editors' layouts.

Examine photographic images for obvious imperfections prior to plate making.

Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs.

Operate and maintain a variety of cameras and equipment, such as process, line, halftone, and color separation cameras, enlargers, electronic scanners, and contact equipment.

Scale copy for reductions and enlargements, using proportion wheels.

Perform close alignment or registration of double and single flats to sensitized plates prior to exposure to produce composite images.

Perform tests to determine lengths of exposures, by exposing plates, scanning line copy, and comparing exposures to tone range scales.

Mix solutions such as developing solutions and colored coating solutions.

Analyze originals to evaluate color density, gradation highlights, middle tones, and shadows, using densitometers and knowledge of light and color.

Activate scanners to produce positive or negative films for the black-and-white, cyan, yellow, and magenta separations from each original copy.

Set scanners to specific color densities, sizes, screen rulings, and exposure adjustments, using scanner keyboards or computers.

Perform minor deletions, additions, or corrections to completed plates, on or off printing presses, using tusche, printing ink, erasers, and needles.

Mount negatives and plates in cameras, set exposure controls, and expose plates to light through negatives to transfer images onto plates.

Correct color in photographs or digital images.