DAN MARGULIS APPLIED COLOR THEORY
Dan's 2009 Year-End
Comments
From: Dan Margulis
Date: February 18, 2010 5:15:29 AM HST
Subject: [colortheory] Dan's 2009 Year-End Comments
I've been on the road for nearly two months nonstop. Just got back from three weeks in Italy, where I discovered a) that Venice is a much nicer place to visit when not completely overrun by tourists, and that cold weather is a small price to pay for the pleasure; b) that recording videos is considerably more difficult in a foreign language than it is in English. But I think the videos will be workable nevertheless.
Anyhow, before I left I shared with friends some written thoughts on how the economy affected us and what it means for our future. I normally post that kind of thing here at the end of the year but the outlook is so bleak that I decided not to. Anyway, after having been back to Europe and discovering that things are not a whole lot better there, I guess it's time to post it. Nothing has since caused me to rethink any of the comments below.
**************************
At around this time most years, I post observations about the way things are going, based largely on feedback from my advanced classes, which are always held in November.
This year, there were no such classes, because we decided back in January that the economy had made them impossible, so we never scheduled them. (They'll be back for one final run next November.) However, I can make some generalizations from the few ACT classes that we did hold; generally these findings are not very uplifting in spirit.
in 2008, in a good economy, I offered eight ACT classes in the United States. There were waiting lists for each one. It was clear that if I had been able to accomodate ten, or even perhaps twelve, such classes the demand was there. I also had four such classes outside of the United States.
As you know, I have been wanting to cut back, so before the economic cataclysm, we had already cut back to six U.S. classes in 2009, and were expecting long waitlists. By the time the carnage was over, we had cut this number in half. Of the eight basic ACT courses I taught in 2009, only three were in the United States.
If you think this suggests that Americans are more buffaloed by the economy than people are elsewhere, you're right. It gets better: fully a quarter of the attendees at the U.S. courses came from Europe.
With so few students in the U.S. classes, it's hard to generalize about trends. In most respects the answers to the poll that I take at the start of each class were similar to past years. The number of professionals vs. hobbyists was about the same. The number of people who often have to work with substandard images was about the same. There was not a single person in any class whose customary RGB workspace was anything other than Adobe RGB or sRGB. Adobe RGB led by about 2.5 to 1. While there hasn't been a complete shutout of other variants in past years, these figures don't constitute much of a change.
The two big changes: practically everyone attending the U.S. courses paid for it out of their own pocket. I don't ask the question outright, of course, but by each person's name I check off whether I think he's on his nickel or some company's. U.S. companies, it appears, are completely shy about spending big bucks on training people. There's nothing particularly new about this; my Canadian classes have always had a higher percentage of company-paid people than in the U.S. But this year, the percentage in Canada was no different from previous years, whereas in the U.S. the students were on their own.
The other big difference was in what the students' customary output space was. When the class began in 1994, it was a CMYK world, so 100% of students output in CMYK. By the end of the decade a minority was RGB-oriented. In the last five years an increasing number have to be ready to work in either. In the last couple of years, both in my classes and at Photoshop World, that last group has grown the most, and it seemed as if we were heading for three equal groups: one-third essentially CMYK only, one-third RGB only, and one third often having to produce either. In my classes CMYK-only has remained in first place with RGB-only second, whereas in Photoshop World it's been the reverse.
This year stood these trends on their head. The U.S. students this year were almost exclusively RGB-oriented.
Admittedly, this is a small sample. If we had twice as many classes one can be sure that the results wouldn't have been so one-sided. However, this, plus smaller moves in the RGB direction at Photoshop World, make me think that those who believe that print-heavy retouchers are guaranteed good jobs forever should probably reconsider.
In saying this, we should look back on 15 years of prosperity, and also in thumbing our noses at the various pundits who have informed us continually over that time that the end of all happiness would be arriving any minute now. During the mid-nineties we were told that CMYK was going to vanish and be replaced by all-RGB workflows, and that would be the end of us. When that didn't come to pass, we were told in the late 1990s that the web was going to take away so much print advertising that *that* would be the end of us.
Of course, just the opposite occurred. Skilled retouchers have been perennially in demand since then; it's the photographers and printers who have felt the bite. The reasons that the demand for skilled retouchers kept growing even as web sales grew were as I stated they would be a dozen years ago:
1) Companies were able to get more information about their clients' personal preferences. They realized there is no point in sending catalogs and other advertising to people who weren't likely to buy; and that it made really good sense to send *more* advertising to people who had a proven record of buying similar products. This implied fewer long pressruns, but many more shorter ones. The development was a disaster for those printers who owned presses that were built for very long runs, but it was great for the prepress folk and a positive development for photographers also.
2) It suddenly became possible for nonprofessionals to buy cheap, high quality cameras. When they did, many of them desired to put their photographs to commercial use. And of these, many were interested enough in quality that they would hire someone to make them look better. This was a very bad development for professional photographers but wonderful for anyone invoved in color correction.
And so, we survived and prospered. Salaries went up and down, but there was always profitable work available for those skilled enough to do it. Even in the last part of 2008, when the economy had already tanked, my advanced classes were saying they had not yet felt the heat (although they admitted that many of their projects were already in the pipeline when the honey hit the fan.)
But that was then. This is now. The factors that have kept us prosperous in spite of economic ups and downs aren't as strong as they used to be. Web sales have always taken a bite out of print sales, but there is a difference between being bitten by two mosquitoes and a horsefly, and being bitten by two wolves and a crocodile. My wife now conducts her extensive shopping activities almost entirely on the web. The hundreds of kilograms of catalogs she receives from every company she's ever bought from now go directly into the recycling bin.
Also, we no longer have the influx of people who have suddenly discovered that digital cameras are a neat and keen invention. Plus, the odds of whoever is originating the files also knowing how to correct them is much higher than it was, say, five years ago.
For these reasons, I surmise that in the unlikely event that there is an economic recovery in the near future, the formerly exalted position of the expert retoucher will not be restored. I still suspect that there will be more opportunities for independent professional retouchers who can do nothing else than there would be for any other one-trick pony in the graphic field.
My advice would be the same to those people that it was to professional photographers in 1999. It does not seem you will be able to stand still under these economic circumstances. Certainly it is permissible to have photography (read: retouching) as a specialty. But you cannot let it be your sole source of income, unless you have a full-time employer that you trust will not be laying you off in the near future.
Clients don't enjoy having a multitude of suppliers. People who can offer them several services at once--photography, web design, page layout, retouching, writing, print management, choose any combination--will have the advantage that enables survival. Professional photographers who followed this route have been far more successul than their colleagues. The same will be true IMHO for independent retouchers.
Dan Margulis
___________________________________________________________________________
From: Kevin Stecyk
Date: February 21, 2010 8:16:00 AM HST
Subject: Re: [colortheory] Dan's 2009 Year-End Comments
Thank you Dan for your observations and thoughts. For (all) artistic professions, the future looks more challenging as world economies struggle to regain their footings. As the cliche goes, the new normal is likely to be only a shadow of the old normal. In other words, hoping that the future once again looks like past is a bad idea.
Your last paragraph where you encourage people to learn more than one skill set is especially important.
Kevin Stecyk
___________________________________________________________________________
From: Eric Basir
Date: February 22, 2010 5:42:37 AM HST
Subject: [colortheory] Re: Dan's 2009 Year-End Comments
Regarding your last paragraph, Dan:
Is not another option that those of us who specialize should ally ourselves
with those who complement our specialty? Frankly, I've never met a
jack-of-all-trades photographer/designer/retoucher/art director that
produced anything exceptional. Regardless, it is helpful—for example—for a
retoucher to know InDesign basics or a designer to understand shutter-speed
and f-stops.
--
Eric C. M. Basir
Photo Grafix
___________________________________________________________________________
From: Jim Bean
Date: February 22, 2010 6:48:36 AM HST
Subject: [colortheory] Re: Dan's 2009 Year-End Comments
hello eric, being located out here in 'the sticks' for a variety of reasons, I studied typography, design, printing techniques, etc... and although I am not the best of the best.. I can run with most and produce efficient, functional projects that work, please my clients, and pay my rates.. I acquired these skills primarily to address bs responses from 'professional' designers and printers and newspapers and magazines and billboard companies and other photographers making excuses for poor output..
Not so long ago, I actually resolved production issues for one of the larger billboard companies by evaluating their workflow and highlighting a major shortcoming. indesign (was quark) /pshop/illustrator/common sense/premier pro and a background of those 'old-timer' traditional methods make for an excellent skillset...
today few travel the path of journeyman under a master ...many jump into design and output without much more than software and a semester or two of college... all graphic industries have and will continue to morph... those punch cutters and buggy whip manufactures and other one-trick ponies will certainly be left to whine and gripe about the 'exceptional qualilty' of yesterday.
continuing education is what keeps us interested, keeps us sharp, and adds quality to our lives ... why not take advantage of the opportunity to handle most of the heavy lifting of a project if you can deliver the goods...
jim bean,professional photographer
jimbean.com
___________________________________________________________________________
From: Dan Margulis
Date: February 23, 2010 6:41:32 AM HST
Subject: [colortheory] Re: Dan's 2009 Year-End Comments
Eric writes,
Regarding your last paragraph, Dan:
Is not another option that those of us who specialize should ally ourselves
with those who complement our specialty? Frankly, I1ve never met a
jack-of-all-trades photographer/designer/retoucher/art director that
produced anything exceptional. Regardless, it is helpfulÜfor exampleÜfor a
retoucher to know InDesign basics or a designer to understand shutter-speed
and f-stops.
Many people are doing this--loose alliances or partnerships with freelancers. It makes perfect sense. The idea is to have the client feel comfortable dealing with us on a variety of issues. Many retouchers are also somewhat fluent with a camera, or Adobe Illustrator, or web design, or page layout. But rarely do we find expertise in all of these areas in a single person. So we may be able to do simple stuff outside of our specialty, but it's useful to know someone who can help us out with some project that we don't care to admit to the client is beyond our ken.
Dan Margulis
___________________________________________________________________________
From: Eric Basir
Date: February 23, 2010 5:28:43 AM HST
Subject: [colortheory] Re: Dan's 2009 Year-End Comments
Jim, I never meant to imply that jack-of-all-trades individuals produced
inferior work. If I came across that way, I apologize. Nor do I think
continuing education shouldn't be paramount. This is why I wrote that there
is value in learning a little bit of everything so one can be "literate" in
a field that is transforming at a rapid pace. Yet a specialist is a
specialist. There may not be room for a 100,000 at $200/hour. But there is
always a need for at least 100 at name-your-price/hour who are reliable and
effective.
Also, I think the journeyman concept is still applicable within a new
context. I believe that context was clearly described in Dan's message.
Personally, there is something rewarding about being a specialist in
retouching. Especially when someone calls or sends an email with "I heard
you're the one who can help us with our photos."
Also, there are stark differences for the potential of critical mass between
a retoucher who is a full-time staffer, an unemployed retoucher looking for
a full-time job and a retoucher who is completely self-employed. When one is
the sole provider for ones family, the harsh realities of hunger, housing
and independence is an overwhelming motivation for innovation and desire to
stay as much ahead with industry changes as possible. It's not for everyone.
However, for some it's thrilling.
--
Eric C. M. Basir
Photo Grafix
___________________________________________________________________________
From: "Pylant, Brian"
Date: February 25, 2010 11:59:39 AM HST
Subject: Re: [colortheory] Re: Dan's 2009 Year-End Comments
Jim, I never meant to imply that jack-of-all-trades individuals produced
inferior work.
It all depends if "master of none" follows that title.
:o)
I think we all know folks of both camps -- those who have truly mastered
multiple disciplines, and those who are really just hacks at everything
(enabled more by software availability than any real talent or aptitude for
the task at hand).
____________________________________________
BRIAN PYLANT
Manager, Electronic Prepress
Disc Makers
7905 North Route 130
Pennsauken, NJ 08110