Kuvapainoon

Kuvapainoon is a Finnish term historically used in printing and publishing to denote the stage in production when an image is prepared for printing, i.e., when the image is ready to be transferred to a printing plate or press. The word combines kuva, meaning image, and painoon, meaning into the press. In traditional Finnish publishing, kuvapainoon referred to the prepress and press setup steps involved in reproducing photographs and illustrations.

Historically, the concept encompassed several technical tasks. Technicians would convert photographs to halftone images, perform color separations, and create plates for letterpress or offset printing. During the prepress process, adjustments to contrast, density, and screening were common to ensure consistent reproduction across pages. In offset printing, the image elements were etched into metal or polymer plates, then inked and transferred to paper. The term thus captured a collective set of workflows linking image preparation with the mechanical act of printing.

In contemporary usage, the exact expression kuvapainoon is less common, having been largely superseded by terms such as prepress, image reproduction, and plate-making within digital workflows. Nevertheless, the concept remains relevant for understanding historical practices, archival materials, and the evolution of printing technology in Finnish publishing. The term may still appear in older manuals, periodicals, and discussions about newsroom and printing-house workflows.

See also: printing, prepress, offset printing, halftone, printing plate.