LPI

Lines Per Inch. The number of lines per inch on a halftone screen. As a general rule, the higher the lpi, the higher the printed resolution and quality.

LZW

The Lempel-Ziv-Welch image compression technique.

Macro Mode

Setting that allows a camera to focus on objects which are very close.

Make Ready

The time spent in making ready the level of the printing surface by placing packing under the form or around the impression cylinder. Also, the process in getting an offset press ready for printing.

Mask

To block off a background or other area, so that the unmasked area can be printed. Also, to enclose a portion of an image so that it can be manipulated without affecting the unmasked area.

Metal Foil

A highly reflective metallic effect used on printed items. A metal block is produced with the design required in raised relief. A mechanical process then stamps the block under high pressure onto rolls of thin metallic foil which thus transfers the foil image onto the printed stock. A large variety of colours and finishes including matt, gloss and holographic.

Metallic Inks

Gold and silver semi-reflective inks used for special effects in print design. In most cases should be printed on coated gloss art stock or high gloss cast coated otherwise the ink is absorbed into the stock leaving a dull lustre finish.

Midtones

Tones in an image that are in the middle of the tonal range, between the lightest (highlights) and darkest (shadows) areas.

Moiré

An undesirable that appears on printed pictures that were scanned from an already printed source. It appears as a regular pattern or clumping of colours. A moiré pattern is created by the juxtaposition of two repetitive graphic structures, e.g. rows of dots (as with halftone screens) intersecting at an angle.

Native Files

The original computer files in their original application file format as opposed to an exported file format such as postscript print to disk format or pdf format.