Packing & Shipping

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Getting there. It’s important. How you do this is a sign of professionalism.
Imagine. Your work is great. Your prints are great. Your mats are great. Your frames are great.  Your presentation and follow up materials are great. But, you ship it all in a thin cardboard box that looks like it was put together by a serial killer. You use a cheap delivery service, so, after having gone missing for several days, your work arrives late. The damp remains smell like they’ve been chainsmoking and they look like they’ve been stepped on by an elephant. Everything is damaged – including your professional relationships and your reputation. After all the care you put into your work, it looks bad and so do you. You’ll have to absorb additional expenses. You just made more work for yourself and for the person receiving your work. Your exhibit is in now in a state of crisis. Your customer is dissatisfied. You may lose the opportunity or the sale you just made. What can you do to avoid this?
1 Pack your work professionally.
2 Use a professional shipping service.
Read the rest in the current issue of Photoshop User.
Read more in my Printing Downloads.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.

Epson Focal Points

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Find out what Bambi Cantrell, John Paul Caponigro, Douglas Dubler, Greg Gorman, Jay Maisel, Steve McCurry, and Jeff Schewe have to say about the Epson Stylus Pro 900 Series printers. You’ll hear personal stories and real world case studies of how these printers are making the best prints possible.
View these seven new videos here.
By the way, the videos were produced by Epson’s Dan Steinhardt and the same team that produces Acme Educational DVDs – Vincent Versace and Mark Vanocur,
Learn more in my free downloadable Lessons.
Learn even more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.
Stay tuned for the release of my new DVDs Fine Art Digital Printing.
epson900videos

Print Aesthetics

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What do people look for in fine art photographic prints?
One of the most important things we look for is …
Detail.
What kind of detail?
At least five kinds.
Detail – Focus
Detail – Dynamic Range
Detail – Gradation
Detail – Low Signal to Noise Ratio
Detail – Flawless Surfaces
There’s are many exceptions to this rule of thumb but they are exceptions.
The best exceptions depart from the standards meaningfully.
It helps to know what to look for in fine art photographs.
Find out more in my free downloadable Lessons.
Find out more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.
Stay tuned for the announcement of my Fine Art Digital Printing DVD.

Prints Survive Floods – Tina Freeman

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Inkjet prints survived floods where silver gelatin prints didn’t.
It’s one of the worst situations. Your life’s work is immersed under water. Tina Freeman found herself in that situation. She was amazed to find that many inkjet prints had survived where many silver gelatin prints had not.
“This is the print and where it was found after Katrina. I also found another print three months after finding this one, it was in the same shape. You’ll see a scan of the Piezotone print that survived 20 feet of salt water and three months in the blazing southern sun. This print was framed and you can see the mark that the mat made but the print area is pristine and exactly matches the image before the storm. In the other image you will see the site of the house where the image was found – the house that the print was in was completely demolished, this house was next door. These prints, two of about fifteen found, showed no evidence of fading! These prints are tough- no silver print would have survived this trial in tact, we didn’t find any more but they may have been buried beneath the rubble of the house which was about 150 yards northeast of the original site. The print was printed on Hanemühle Photo Rag the Piezotone pigment was Museum Black.”
Don’t try this at home – except under the most controlled situations.
Do rest assured, your pigmented inkjet prints are more durable than you think.
Find out more about Tina Freeman here.
Find out more about digital printing and my digital printing workshops here.

FADP Highlight – Print Presentation

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Print presentation is the final aspect of fine art printing. Mounting, mats, framing, portfolios, bodies of work, environment, light. All of these things affect the way a work of art is perceived by viewers. They might seem like incidental after thoughts but they’re actually integral components of making artistic statement – and it often provides necessary protection ensuring a work of art endures. The most beautiful prints in the world will become more beautiful with appropriate presentation – or fade away without it.
Check out my series of articles on print presentation in Photoshop User and on my website.
Learn more at Brooks here.
Be the first to hear about the next FADP workshop.
Stay tuned to Insights for the upcoming release of our Fine Art Workflow DVD.
Check out Mac Holbert’s website.
Find out more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.

FADP Highlight – Svetlanda Tepavcevic – It's Printmaking Not Just Photography

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Svetlana Tepavcevic makes abstract black and white images of waves that look like ink paintings.
We discussed the importance of scale and presentation agreeing that classic photographic small scale matted approaches reduced the impact of the images. A larger scale with a different presentation format will highlight the more painterly concerns of these images. So will appropriate materials – something matte and fibrous.
The source files aren’t super high resolution, but that’s a non-issue because the treatment of the subject supports substantial upsampling. It’s another case of how the “rules” are only useful guidelines that identify significant considerations and raise important questions but there are always exceptions. They say “Exceptions prove the rule.” And, there’s an art to knowing when to make them.

See more of Svjetlana Tepavcevic’s work here.

Learn more at Brooks here.
Be the first to hear about the next FADP workshop.
Stay tuned to Insights for the upcoming release of our Fine Art Workflow DVD.
Check out Mac Holbert’s website.
Find out more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.
Read more

FADP Highlight – A Sense of Destination

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One of the key concepts Mac Holbert and I emphasize in our digital printing workshops is developing a clear sense of destination before you start editing a file. Once you have a sense of destination what you need to do to an image becomes much clearer. Without a sense of destination you may end up wandering aimlessly. Your personal style may influence the route you take but you’ll know what steps you need to take to get where you want to go. First you have to know where you want to go. Your artistic intention determines objectives, outcomes, and procedures. There may be many ways to get there – different tools to choose from and ways to apply them during your workflow – but with a clear sense of destination you’ll be able to more easily make meaningful choices that fulfill your vision.
Learn more at Brooks here.
Be the first to hear about the next FADP workshop.
Stay tuned to Insights for the upcoming release of our Fine Art Workflow DVD.
Check out Mac Holbert’s website.
Find out more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.
Read More

Comparing Epson UltraChrome Inksets


How do Epson’s three UltraChrome inksets compare?
White arrows
Areas Epson UltraChrome HDR exceeds gamut of previous inksets.
Blue arrow
Areas Epson UltraChrome K3 with Vivid Magenta exceeds Epson UltraChrome.
White
Epson UltraChrome K3 3800 on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper
Orange
Epson UltraChrome K3 Vivid Magenta 3880 on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper
Spectrum
Epson UltraChrome HDR 7900 on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper
Find out more about Epson’s ProImaging printers here.
Get my free printing resources here.
Learn more in my The Fine Art Digital Print workshop series.

Epson 3880



New Epson 3880!
Price
$1,295
Size
17×22″. No roll attachment.
Ink
UltraChrome K3 with Vivid Magenta (8 inks) not UltraChrome HDR (7900/9900)(10 inks)
Autoswapping Photo and Matte Black ink.
Further reduced ink waste.
Print Head
Fast.
One-inch wide, high performance print head.
Even fewer clogs.
Ink specially formulated. Nozzle specially coated. Auto nozzle check and head align.
Fine.
Maximum resolution of 2880 x 1440 with variable sized droplets as small as a 3.5 picoliters.
New MicroPiezo® AMC™ Print Head Technology (like 7900/9900).
AccuPhoto™ HD2 Screening Technology (like 7900/9900).
Among the very best printers for resolving detail and smooth gradients.
Profiles and LUTs
Epson PreciseColor™ makes unit variability is extremely low.
Epson’s ICC profiles and LUTs lead the industry.
Green
It’s built from identified plastic for easier recycling and uses smaller ink packaging.
Should you buy the Epson 3880?
Ask these questions.
What printer are you currently using?
Do you need roll fed paper?
Do you need a prints size larger than 17″?
How much physical space can you make for a printer?
Do you need the extended gamut of Epson UltraChrome HDR?
How much are you willing to spend?
Note! The optional ColorBurst® RIP Software is for PostScript and prepress proofing. Most photographers don’t need this feature.
Find out more about the Epson 3880 here.
See the entire Epson ProImaging product line here.
Get my free printing resources here.
Learn more in my The Fine Art Digital Print workshop series.