Compositor

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

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

Mix solutions such as developing solutions and colored coating solutions.

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

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

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

"Perform ""preflight"" check of required font

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

Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scale copy for reductions and enlargements, using proportion wheels.

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

Proofread and perform quality control of text and images.

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

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

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

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.