Art Printing Reproductions
Art printing reproduction and watercolor reproduction requires careful attention to detail in every single step of the process. Cheap shortcuts result in cheap looking art reproduction editions. We are first and formost a fine art reproduction facility and have been for over 30 years.
Here are the basics on How-To do art watercolor and art printing reproduction:
Art Painting Reproduction Copy File:
Every great painting reproduction edition must start with a great digital capture. If you are serious about selling your editions, then a large format digital or photographic capture is a critical detail that should not be overlooked. Your final print will only contain the amount of detail captured in this process. Digital SLRs and Point and Shoot cameras do not have the ability to meet the requirements of detail for a fine art edition. As DSLR megapixels continue to climb, it is important to realize that the amount of image detail a lens can send to the chip is proportionate to it's "Image Circle" ( this is the size of the area that the lens projects into the camera.) A significantly larger amount of detail is sent via the larger image circle of a large-format digital camera, such as a 120 sized camera or 4x5 digital camera, than is sent to the chip of a 35mm or smaller camera. So don't let a large megapixel number fool you, pixles are only a small part of the image quality equation. As megapixles climb, there is only just so much sharpness the smaller camera's lens will EVER provide due to the limitations of the image circle size.
There was a time that the defacto standard was to photograph the art using at least a 4x5 film camera. 8x10 was preferred by the serious artists. That film was then used to create production printing plates. Modern technology allows us to skip the film process and use large format digital cameras to create a file that goes directly to the art print reproduction device.
If your artwork can be wrapped around a cylinder, and is smaller than 20x24, we can also drum scan your piece for reproduction.
Pick a method of Art Reproduction:
The two most popular methods of art reproduction are Giclee art on canvas prints and watercolor paper.
Our giclee art printers use a pigment based inkjet process to spray a very fine stocastic dot pattern onto acid free giclee canvas. These professional level art printers are of such high quality, that any detail available in the digital file of your art, will be rendered on paper. There is a caveate to this however. Any substandard files will show their lack of quality at the printing stage. Giclee prints truly represent art printing at it's finest and is ideal for all types of artwork prints.
What is the difference between Pigment Printing and Giclee Printing?
Pigment printing and giclee printing are two names for the same print process as long as the giclee printer uses pigmented inks not water soluable dyes. Pigment printing is the current high-standard print accepted by top museums.
Art on canvas.
Reproducing art on canvas giclee is most popular, with the canvas texture offering a life-like substrate for reproduction of artist original oil paintings and other medium originally printed on canvas. Some print houses will offer a hand brushed clear texture option to your artist prints to provide an overall appearence closer to the original oil painting.
The giclee art on canvas prints can be stretched on conventional stretcher bars and then presented for sale as-is or framed to your liking. Giclee prints on canvas can be sprayed with a UV protective lacquer as a final finishing step after stretching. Many artists prefer to mount these giclee canvas prints on a flat substrate such as foam-core, aluminum, MDF, plexiglass, etc. prior to framing. This eliminates the tedium of stretching hundreds of canvas prints and frames easily.
Giclee on watercolor prints.
Giclee art printing on watercolor paper is ideal for art reproduction of original watercolor and acrylic on watercolor paper. A good reproduction facility will print on an exceptional paper such as Hahnemühle. We will also print on a paper of your preference, as long as your order quantity will support ordering the paper mill's minimum sized quantity of paper. Giclee watercolor artist prints can be sprayed with a UV protective lacquer as a final finishing step.
Our Giclee Services
 Giclee Fine Art Print Prices (1.6 MB) Giclee Setup Guide (180.44 kB )
One of the hottest buzzwords in the art-market today is "Giclee". With an ultra-high apparent resolution of 1800 d.p.i., and the ability to print on many fine-art substrates, the Giclee processes are commanding a great deal of attention. Ideal for fine-art editions, the Giclee has become the preferred method for fine-art reproduction world-wide. Many of our clients feel that our Epson Giclees outperforms the competitive Iris for color fidelity and detail. The 7-color process of the Epsons provides a much larger color gamut than the 4 and 6 color versions on the market today. A Giclee printer is essentially an ink-jet printer with higher resolution heads and the ability to work with fine-art type substrates such as, water color papers, canvas, silk, and others. By using archival inks, this printing medium preserves your art-buyers investment, making your artwork a more attractive purchase.
LightJet Digital Prints
LightJet Digital Print Prices (2.07 MB ) LightJet Setup Guidlines (563.3 kB )
The Lightjet 5000 and the Lightjet 430 are wide format digital laser printers. LightJets are considered by many to be the finest quality photographic digital printers available today. Originally designed for the military to produce high definition satellite imaging, this technology is now available to the public. Created by Cymbolic Sciences, now part of the Gretag Imaging group, these digital printers have changed the way photo labs do business. Light Jet laser printers use 3 lasers (RGB) to expose photographic materials such as Fuji Crystal Archive colour c-print paper. Other digital laser printers like the Lambda also use lasers but cannot compare to Lightjets amazing quality. Printing at either 305 or 406dpi, the human eye cannot see a dot within the image. LightJets produce a true continuous tone photographic print. LED digital printers ie: Chromira, also cannot compare to the sharpness and detail of the Light Jet laser prints. Because your image is in digital form, you have almost unlimited control over the color, contrast and density which makes Light Jet digital laser prints far superior to traditional photographic printing. Both the Lightjet 5000 and the Lightjet 430 can print on a variety of photographic materials including Fuji Crystal Archive and Kodak type "C" print color papers. Kodak Duratrans, Kodak Duraflex, Fujitrans and Fujiflex are also used for advertising graphics, point of purchase, trade show displays, backlit signage and rollable or portable graphics where durable polyester based materials are required. Using the Light jet to print on Fuji's Crystal Archive and Kodak's Enura papers, offers excellent mediums for archival fine art digital photographic prints. We specialize in limited edition fine art digital printing. The Lightjet combined with these archival print materials is ideal for the fine art photographer or artist who want to offer archival quality fine-art photographic editions to galleries or collectors. The LightJet 5000 and LightJet 430 are also capable of printing on Black and White photographic papers. The Lightjet 5000 is able to print both digital color prints and black & white prints up to 50 inches x 96 inches. The Lightjet 430, the latest technology from Cymbolic Sciences and Gretag Imaging, is able to print up to 50 inches x 120 inches in one piece on color or black and white photo materials. This new technology has vastly increased this speed with which this digital printer can produce as well as increased length. The Light Jet 430 can now be considered a true production digital wide format laser printer. Both the Lightjet 5000 and Lightjet 430 photo printers have an endless list of applications such as satellite space imaging prints, aerial photography prints, commercial and fine art color prints and murals as well as smaller sizes too. We can even print from your press ready files (we recommend a conversion to RGB colorspace for all your scanned images). The Lightjet will print to almost any size. Whether your needs are for a 5 x 7 inch or a 4 x 10 foot photographic mural, the Lightjet digital laser printer can handle the job. With the Light Jet 5000 and the Light Jet 430 you can also produce multiple panels to increase the overall size of your color or black and white mural prints. Whether it is 2 panels or 10 panels, your space and imagination are your only limitations. Lightjet murals on Fuji Crystal Archive or on Kodak photo paper can be hung like photo wallpaper. We have produced these excellent prints for museum photo backgrounds, office murals, visitor center displays and even for home decoration.
Bringing out the best in each and every image is our goal.
It takes an expert's critical eye to reproduce images from transparencies or negatives. Different mediums react differently to color, contrast, and detail. It is important to understand what is the most important aspect of the image, what it's going to be used for, and even how long you want this image to last. You may need help in choosing the best paper for your specific image. Don't worry, we'll take the time to explain the differences and help you make the best decision possible.
Copy Film
Copy Services Price List (843 kB )
Our Copy Department is considered to be the best in the country by many of our clients. We can photograph your artwork on film format sizes up to a dramatic 8"x10" for stunning reproduction detail. We also offer smaller formats of 4"x5" and 35mm, ideal for gallery submissions. Now we're not bragging, but we have actually helped get art pieces into the Smithsonian Institute with our Copy Transparency Services. If you have a piece of flat artwork that you need to reproduce, this first step can be the most crucial. Reproducing color on film takes a critical eye and a lot of patience. We take the time to provide the quality job your artwork deserves by paying critical attention to color, contrast, and detail. Our copy transparencies can be used for print reproduction, scanning, color separations or other reproduction tasks without fear of sacrificing the quality you've worked so hard to achieve.
High Resolution Drum Scans
Scanning Services Price List (985.08 kB )
For the highest resolution RGB (Red, Green, Blue) scans we recommend our Drum Scans. Our scanners will raster transparencies, negatives and flat art (as long as it can be taped to the drum) up to 20" x 24" in size, at the highest quality possible. Using Photo Multiplier Tube (PMT) technology allows a maximum dynamic range of approx 4.2 to 4.4. Much higher than the typical desktop scanners using Charge Coupled Device (CCD) technology. What this means to you is deeper shadow detail without the typical color breaks or gradient banding of inferior scanning methods. Every image is scanned on it's own merit. This means that we never use "global" corrections based on film type. Instead, every drum scan is corrected on an image by image basis. We know your prized images are not shot under generic conditions, why should your scans be handled that way? To further enhance the quality of your scan, all transparencies and negatives are oil mounted to the drum. This helps to eliminate dust and can actually hide small scratches in the film, which saves you valuable time. Our attention to detail, paying close attention to color fidelity, density, shadow & highlight detail, and overall sharpness truly makes this a custom scan. If you need a high quality scan that supports photographic output or large format digital printing, you can't beat our high resolution drum scans.
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