Hi all, we have good news! We now have in stock the “new” CANSON INFINITY ARCHES 88 310GSM matte paper, which is in our opinion the best smooth fine art matte paper on the market, made of 100% cotton, it offers an ultra-smooth surface finish and a soft and supple feel to the touch. ARCHES 88 has a pure white tone and is completely free of any optical brighteners (OBAs), it prints with superb colour rendition, deep blacks and natural whites offering the opportunity to create images with a superb tonal range, excellent highlights and mid-tones. You have to check it out!
The ARCHES 88 is a prestigious printmaking paper and offers artists, printmakers and photographers alike the ability to create digital fine art prints on an authentic ARCHES paper for both limited and open edition work.
Paper choices abound in today’s printing world, and it’s easy to get confused or lost between manufacturers, finishes, textures, and size options. The paper you choose will have a direct and immediate impact on the quality and perception of your prints. Paper influences the feel and perception of an image, helps to convey the photographer’s intent, and provides the viewer with a physical representation of a photograph. For us this is the final version of our vision, and unlike a digital display which can potentially change the look of an image, a print “locks in” the way I want others to see my photographs.
Because of this, the paper needs to be chosen carefully and aesthetically. The more you know about the different types of papers, the better you’ll be at selecting the proper substrate for your images.
Paper construction
Fine art inkjet papers are composed of a base layer and an inkjet receptive coating. The base layer is the actual “paper” that is produced at a paper mill, and the inkjet receptive coating is added afterwards for compatibility with inkjet printers. Without the coating, the microscopic ink drops laid down by the printer would bleed into the paper causing smearing and lack of detail, and would produce less than desirable results.
There are two types of base layers used today — cotton and alpha cellulose.
• Cotton —100% cotton rag fibers, highest quality and longevity, most expensive.
• Alpha cellulose — wood cellulose fibers, cheaper to manufacture, less expensive.
These two base layers can also be used in any combination to reduce costs. On either of these base layers, a microporous coating is used to absorb the ink laid down by the printer. This coating preserves very fine detail, helps the ink to dry quickly, has a fine art feel and finish, and is water resistant.
Another popular type of paper is resin coated paper — more commonly called “RC” papers. These are typically known as “photographic papers” and have a plastic feel because the base is made of a resin instead of paper.
While not a traditional “fine art paper,” RC papers are great for proofs and less critical printing situations.
Print Aesthetics
While we’ve all seen and admired great looking prints, we don’t always stop to think about what exactly we found so captivating. But there are some common traits that we generally see and appreciate; full and vibrant colours, deep blacks and luminous highlights, satisfying detail in the right places, smooth mid tone tonalities, and depth that creates the illusion of three dimensions. I think you’ll agree that these are all desirable qualities, especially when evaluating your own prints. The first step to making good prints is establishing a vocabulary for the different elements that you might want to see in your printing. It then becomes much easier to make improvements and creative choices based on the results that you’re achieving.
What is true for any print is that success depends completely on the quality of the photograph, both aesthetically and technically. As Ansel Adams said, “the negative is the score, the print is the performance.” I think it’s safe to say that we’ll never remember a mediocre symphony played brilliantly, just as we’ll glance over a technically perfect print of a mediocre photograph. There are a few almost universal qualities however that we can use to both evaluate a print and decide if it properly interprets the photograph, and the photographer’s vision. This process will fine tune our ability to get the most out of the software and hardware we use to achieve our results. Here are the most important elements to consider, in no particular order:
Sharpness
Are the important details in the print sharp at a proper viewing distance? Is high frequency detail (areas of high detail like foliage, grass, sand) defined and clear without halos and other sharpening artefacts? A properly sharpened print exhibits detail where it’s needed, but doesn’t look overly sharpened or “crispy”. This really makes an image look and feel more organic and highlights the detail in contrast to smoother areas. We’ll talk more about this in the sharpening post, but it is critically important that we sharpen just enough, and not more than needed. Over sharpening, especially when done on a global scale (across the entire print) is a sure sign of a print that will lack subtlety and dimension.
Optimal highlights and blacks
Highlights should be smooth and creamy without losing important detail. Clouds and snow are perfect examples where optimal highlights can make or break a print. Similarly, achieving deep blacks without muddiness in the shadows is generally something to aim for.
Smooth transitions
Just as a symphony would sound rather hollow without the harmony and counterpoint that complements the melody, a print without smooth transitions between the highlights and shadows lacks richness and fullness. It is the transition between the brightest and darkest parts of the print that provide the depth and often visual interest. So called “shadow detail”, which creates a sense of depth and richness, is key to bridging the transition between the shadows and deep blacks. When done effectively, the print “just feels right.”
The ability to render smooth shadows that invite the viewer to explore rich undertones is very much a hallmark of great prints, and will often be the first thing that someone appreciates and explores upon viewing your prints.
Luminosity / Saturation
In a similar way to rich tonalities, this is the ability of a print to look as though it is lit from within. Whether through color or brightness, it is really important to look for this in every print. Prints without luminosity often look flat and feel lifeless and two-dimensional. Over-saturation however can also work against you, so there’s a delicate balance required between just enough and too much.
All of these qualities are subjective, will vary from image to image, and possibly change based on your interpretation of the photograph. But more often than not they will provide a useful guide as you gain experience printing your images.
Scale
During our premium service appointments, we are often asked about sizing and scale. I don’t mean how large can a photograph be printed, but how large should it be printed. There’s no question that scale influences a viewer’s perception and response to a print.
The way you physically interact with a print will be different depending on it’s size, and so that’s always important to consider when you print your images.
We either hold smaller prints in our hands, or get very close to them, which makes them feel more intimate. This interaction is different from our relationship with a large print, where we almost always need to create distance between ourselves and the print, and almost never actually hold it in our hands. Large prints offer a grandiose feel that many like and prefer, especially if the subject matter is complementary to the size. That bring us to another important factor in scale, at least in my opinion —the subject matter. Some images are generally appreciated better at certain sizes. For example, many landscapes photos are grand in nature, encompassing large vistas. Our experience has been that they just don’t impart the same perspective and sense of depth when printed at a small size, say smaller than 16”x20”. This in turn definitely affects the emotional response that a print may produce in the viewer, and that is always of paramount importance to us. This is not to say that you always need to print landscapes large, but rather that you need to be aware of how scale changes perception.
When images are printed larger, they generally tend to lose contrast, become lighter in appearance, and emphasise small details. On rare occasions we make minor adjustments to the file when making larger prints to compensate for this. But in general, assuming you have optimal resolution, if your proof looks good at a smaller size, it will look good at larger sizes. In fact it may look much better!
In the end you need to decide what size your prints look their best. What you shouldn’t do is assume that size doesn’t have an aesthetic impact on how your prints are perceived. We know many photographers who will only print their images at certain sizes, and so the size becomes a part of the photograph’s identity. Nonetheless, do pay careful attention to make sure that the size will complement the photograph, and never diminish the subject of your image.
We have moved to a new place, not too far from our preview location, about 2 miles away towards Central London at Unit 104 Cannon Wharf, Pell Street, Surrey Quays, SE8 5EN, London. The nearest stations are Surrey Quays (10 min walk) and Canada Water (20 min walk). The buses 47, 108, 188, 199 and 225 stops only 5 minutes walk away. You are all very welcome to pay us a visit and check our new studio!
We have a great news to share!
We partnered with Creative Debuts as the official printing studio of their artwork print shop.
For you who don’t know them yet, Creative Debut is an art platform that provides opportunity and support to thousands of emerging artists from all over the world, their online shop gives anyone and everyone the opportunity to purchase exceptional artwork from the world of emerging art.
Don’t miss the chance and check their shop right now at https://creativedebuts.co.uk
“BUY ART FROM LIVING ARTISTS. THE DEAD ONES DONT NEED THE MONEY.”
We just added two more amazing papers to our stock range, the Permajet FB Matt 285gsm and the Permajet Photo Lustre 310gsm.
The FB Matt 285gsm is a fibre based inkjet paper with a smooth matt surface and bright white base tint. Reminiscent of traditional darkroom paper, and the only matt variety in the range, it is a fantastic alternative for photographers and artists who prefer matt finishes.
This Alpha Cellulose paper is highly desirable for its velvety smooth matt surface, which prints with nuanced tones and sharp details. It’s the perfect choice for a variety of images, from soft landscapes to striking architecture, and will capture every detail with its superior baryta base layer. Monochrome images print with wonderful tonal range and crisp blacks, whilst colours are delicate and sophisticated. The matt surface and lay flat technology make this paper highly suitable for framing, ideal for photographic exhibitions, art galleries, and wall art.
The Photo Lustre 310gsm is a bright white inkjet paper with a luxurious lustre surface. Colours are deep and saturated, and monochrome images print with incredible tonal range and contrast. The high Dmax gives intense, rich blacks whilst still achieving definition in shadow areas. Its lustre finish is subtle yet adds an extra level of definition.
This award-winning digital photo paper has a heavy base weight for a feeling of quality rarely found in such an economical paper, and a tough and scratch-resistant surface. This makes Photo Lustre 310 ideal for all manners of usage where punchy colours and bold contrast is a priority, from photographic portfolios to graphic design displays.
Photo Lustre 310 has a UV protective, microporous supercoat that adds a high level of resistance to moisture and fading, ensuring your photographs and artwork look fantastic for years to come.
Book an appointment and come around to check them out by yourself!
We are proud to announce that we are the first printing studio in the UK to offer Piezography Pro prints on large format. Our studio is equipped with a converted EPSON SureColor SC-P8000 110cm (44”) wide and Piezography Pro Inks, plus a selection of the most beautiful papers on the market to make the best out of this system, the result is just the best Black and White prints in the world.
What is Piezography?
Piezography is a brand of monochromatic inks and software that produce what is unarguably the absolute highest-standard in black and white printing. It was first introduced as a Trademarked brand in 2000 and has gone through successive improvements and changes over the years.
It’s primary purpose is printing black & white photographs with carbon. Today, it is a fully mature and developed product with benefits that remain the target of past and current OEMs. It’s a notch well above current OEM systems and sets a level of its own.
One of the benefits of the Piezography is to double the optical resolution of the converted printer. They also produce more printable locations for microdots allowing a substantially smoother tonal lattitude. Combined with up to seven shades of carbon ink, these proprietary media profiles produce greater accuity and detail, smoother skin tones, increased shadow and highlight detail, and substantially more gray levels than the Epson ABW system. Piezography is the only system capable of printing tens of thousands of gray levels making it a perfect accompaniement to 16 bit raw photography.
The Piezography system is totally democratic. An iPhonographer can make extraordinary 20x24 prints with a Piezography system. Owners of the new high resolution cameras, and those investing in Leica sensors will finally see the gains that these investments in gear can produce. The plain fact is that Piezography squeezes the best out of any digital camera. When film is scanned, a much greater tonal lattitude can be printed than in the darkroom. When used to make digital negatives, Piezography emulates tradtional film without any of the digital artifacts associated with making inkjet film.
The final proof is always in the printing. The most striking characteristic of a Piezography print is produced from the increased load of high quality carbon pigment being printed. The dMax will pick up nearly a full stop as it dries. The quality and preparation of the carbon printed in a thick emulsion on the fine art matte printmaking paper produces an effect not unlike light reflecting off the dust of a butterflies wings. Piezography when printed on fine art baryta surfaces eliminates all gloss differential and bronzing.
Digital printing has opened up a whole world of beautiful, organic, tactile fine art paper, that were previously impossible to image on in the analog world. If you desire museum quality, take a look at our hand-picked selection of fine art paper for inkjet papers.
The arrival of archival inkjet printing changed the fine art world and what was possible. New Surfaces and techniques keep developing and we are always happy to experiment and add new products and capabilities.
The incredible variety of paper and surface options that are available to print on is nothing short of inspiring. Rice papers, cotton papers, backlit film and beautifully textured papers give you a choice.
If you’re ready to select from our collection of fine art inkjet papers, visit our studio in London for personalised assistance. We’ll teach you how to get the most out of our materials. Fine art paper for inkjet printers can truly make a difference in your work.
Hi everyone! We just wanted to share this great article published on the Digital Camera World Magazine, written by its editor Pever Travers.
The Canon imagePROGRAF PRO 4100 that we have is definitely the ultimate large format printer for those looking forward to having the best giclée quality on the market today!
If you're planning to start printing your photos or graphics, you'll need to make sure that your monitor is correctly calibrated for the purpose of it.
In general, monitors come factory set in 6500K (D65) colour temperature and brightness (especially Apple monitors) set too high (above 160cd/m2) to attract consumers.
6500K is the ideal temperature to process images which are going to be displayed online, although not for printing purposes. For printing, you must set your monitor to 5000K (D50), which is pure white, that's the worldwide industry standard temperature for printing. This will reduce the difference between what you see on screen and what you will see on paper.
The brightness of your monitor, if set too high will tire your eyes and misrepresent the actual brightness of your images. Get it set between 80-120cd/m2, it will become way more comfortable to work, specially for those who spend long hours in front of the monitor and it will match the correct brightness of your images.
Not every monitor will display all the colours of your image properly, you will need a decent monitor, really designed for photo editing and design work where you can make fine adjustments like brightness, gamma, saturation, individual RGB levels, and so on. Those controls allows you to do some rather intricate color tweaking that together with the use of a professional calibration device such as the Datacolor SpyderX Pro or X-Rite i1 Display series, it will give you maximum control of the colours and brightness to display on web or print your images correctly.
The calibration process is very straightforward and super simple to accomplish. You just need to set the temperature and brightness that you need and the software/device will get your monitor set to it.
Once the process is complete, a colour profile will be created, we advice to name it properly so you know which is which when swapping the profiles to process the images or for printing.
Check your monitor specs to find how much sRGB and Adobe RGB it covers, a dedicated monitor will display 100% sRGB and at least 99% AdobeRGB.
Check here for the top dedicated monitors that you can find on the market today:
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/uk/buying-guides/best-monitors-for-photographers
Another very important detail to take in consideration is the temperature of the lights in the room/office where you process your images and check your prints, if they are too far from 5000K, it will interfere with how you see your monitor and the colours of your prints.
Some calibrators measure the ambient light temperature and take that into consideration when running the calibration process, we recommend you to disable that if you don't have a stable ambient light in your room/office, like a mix of sunlight and artificial light during the day and only artificial light during the eve, this can really mess up what your calibration acuity. If you work in an environment where the light source never changes, then you should activate the ambient light temperature measurement option, it will help the software to get an even more accurate calibration of your monitor.
If you want to work in the most controlled environment, then we recommend to change all your ambient light to 5000K and keep the blinds down to avoid any exterior light in interfer.
If you have any questions, write down on the comments and we will get it answered for you!