Glossary of terms

Technical terms simply explained

fastness property solidité application oriented resistance of dried printing inks, toner and inks as well as colored foils to external influences; fastness property categories for printing inks according to DIN 16525: 1 “very low”, 2 “low”, 3 “moderate”, 4 “fairly good”, 5 “good”, 6 “very good”, 7 “excellent”, 8 “outstanding”; physical testing  methods: Light fastness (ISO 12040: UV radiation), heat resistance (IR radiation); chemical testing methods (ISO 2836): Alkali fastness (pH > 7, overpaintability, glues, soaps, detergents), water fastness (pH = 7), acid fastness (pH < 7), solvent fastness (alcohols, nitro compounds, benzene compounds), paint fastness (DIN 16544/16524: paint solvents, softener diffusion, gradation errors, sticking together, embrittling), paraffin/wax fastness, oil/grease fastness, spice fastness, weather fastness (weathering system).

field of view champ visuel solid angle which the resting eye detects; independent of the viewing distance.

film for color slides/prints film couleurs obsolete recording medium in the form of the color negative film (for prints) and the color reversal film (color positive film, for transparencies).

filter characteristic curve courbe caractéristique du filtre spectral transmittance of a chromatic filter – used in the past for the production of color separation prints and sometimes still in filter densitometers; wavelength maxima: red filter at 625 nm, green filter at 520 nm, blue filter 435 nm.

fining densification reinforcement of the visual effect of pigment through the addition of suitable colored pigments, e.g. blue to black (or by applying a 40% cyan layer under solid black areas) or any color pigments to metallic-effect pigments.

flare vacillement radiation intensity scatter

flash flash high-energy, extremely brief light emission; application: by means of the synchronization of web/sheet velocity and flash frequency (stroboscopy) color and color density measurement or the viewing of “still images”.

flat tint aplat printed surface with the same hue and screen value or solid tone; printing requires the greatest attention, because the slightest fluctuations in the printing process (ink-dampening solution balance, roller stripes, dirt, color balance) soon become visible.

flicker index indice de papillotement tolerance measure for the flickering of a monitor

fluorescence flurorescence emission of light through external excitation, e.g. of optical brighteners through the UV component of radiant light.

fluorescent (light) lamp lampe fluorescente metal halide low pressure gas-filled tube, whose inside glass wall has a fluorescent coating; applications: Simulation of the CIE standard illuminants D50 and D65 as well as TL84 in color-matching booths, standard illumination on matching desks and on the desktop (reflected/transmitted light), digital photo studio lighting (see Just Normlicht), backlighting of active matrix displays.

fluorescent inks encres fluorescentes CMYK scales to which the fluorescence pigments have been added; used in posters, labels, stickers; with coarse pigments difficult to print; oxidative and UV formulation materials; low varnishing and light trueness.

fluorescent pigments pigments fluorescents color agent added to fluorescent inks; fluorescent pigments convert the UV components of daylight into visible wavelengths, so that the printing ink seems to remit more light than was radiated onto it.

flushed pigments pigments sous forme de flush pigments that are added to oily binding agents from an aqueous suspension without intermediate drying; preferred procedure for the production of heatset printing inks.

Focoltone swatch book nuancier Focoltone system developed for color communication between design, medium preprint and print, consisting of 763 shades resulting from the mixture of the process colors CMYK from a screen value of 5% or more; a special feature is the illustration of the color difference Delta E during dot-size-dependent tonal value increase; Focoltone is also available in some DTP programs for newspaper printing and as a digital color fan.

fog voile irritating, darkening tone value in the light tones of digital photos; can be corrected manually through histogram manipulation or automatically through white balance.

Fogra Graphic Technology Research Association research institute and service provider; developed several test procedures and certifications in the field of printing inks and soft copy proof technology.

foil/film printing inks encres pour impression sur film plastique inks for printing foils/films with non-absorbent metal and/or plastic surface; drying mechanism either purely oxidative (i.e. without penetrating component) or radiation-curing.

formularecipeformule percentage or volume specifications of printing ink components in a formulation that can be used as instructions for implementation with color mixture software and an ink metering system.

formulation formulation printing ink recipe with certain required chemical, physical and optical properties.

fount solution solution/liquide de mouillage in wet offset printing, an auxiliary substance which, through wetting of the non-image areas of the print forme contributes to its correct inking-in and which enters into an emulsion with the printing ink. Fount solution metering and additive concentration have an influence on drying time, gloss, color rendering/brilliance and propensity to scum.

four-color/CMYK printing impression en quadrichromie printing with four process colors in accordance with the ISO scale 2846.

foveal vision vision fovéale sharp color vision guaranteed by the standard field of vision angle of 2° with the area of the fovea.

full shade system système à tons purs system of paints graded according to their pigment concentration.

fundamental stimulus stimulus de base model for identifying a color perception on a value basis, resulting from the physiological measurement of the luminous efficiency of the retinal receptors (cones) responsible for daytime vision. From the Greek numbering of the 1st (proto), 2nd (deutero) and 3rd (trito) cone type come the designations of the fundamental stimuli P (cone releasing green dye, therefore recently also called M as in midwave), D (cone which is luminously efficient in the blue-green area, but which releases red dye, therefore also called L as in longwave) and T (cone releasing blue dye, therefore also called S as in shortwave), which are characterized by their respective spectral value functions p, d, t. Their color values PDT represent chromaticity coordinates in the fundamental stimulus system, the basis for all other color stimuli and color stimuli systems (RGB, CIEXYZ).

Fx, F index indice F abbreviation for fluorescent lamps which emit for example in the UV range (registered from 300 nm): F1 to F6 “normal lamps” (NL, lampes normales); F7 to F9 “broad-band lamps” (BL, lampes à bande large); F10 to F12: “three-band lamps” (TL, lampes à trois bandes), e.g. F11 “store light TL84”.