Uwe Steinmüller - Fine Art Printing for Photographers: Exhibition Quality Prints with Inkjet Printers

3rd Edition

Exhibition Quality Prints with Inkjet Printers

3rd Edition

Uwe Steinmueller and Juergen Gulbins

Juergen Gulbins,

Editor: Joan Dixon

Copy Editor: Maggie Yates

Layout and Type: Juergen Gulbins

Cover Design: Helmut Kraus, www.exclam.de

Cover Photo: Uwe Steinmueller

Printer: Everbest Printing Co. Ltd through Four Colour Print Group, Louisville, Kentucky

Printed in China

ISBN-13 978-1-937538-24-8

3rd Edition 2013

2013 Uwe Steinmueller, Juergen Gulbins

Rocky Nook Inc.

802 East Cota Street, 3rd Floor

Santa Barbara, CA 93103

www.rockynook.com

First published under the title Fine Art Printing fr Fotografen: Hochwertige Fotodrucke mit Inkjet-Druckern

dpunkt.verlag GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Steinmueller, Uwe.
[Fine art printing fr Fotografen. English]
Fine art printing for photographers : exhibition quality prints with inkjet printers /
by Juergen Gulbins, Uwe Steinmueller. 3rd ed.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-937538-24-8 (softcover: alk. paper)
1. PhotographyDigital techniques. 2. Photography, Artistic. 3. Ink-jet printing. 4. PhotographyPrinting
Processes.
I. Gulbins, Jrgen. II. Title.
TR267.S7415 2013
771dc23
2013024629

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Camera: Nikon D2X

A brief history

Inkjet printers have been around for more than 25 years, yet digital inkjet printing technology has only come of age in the past 10 years. The earliest consumer models lacked the technology and sophistication to print photographs similar in quality to common silver-halogenid prints (stereotypical photos printed on photographic paper), developed from film negatives or slides. Worse, inkjet prints lacked the lightfastness of silver-halogenid prints. For most users, the digital inkjet printers that delivered the desired image quality, e.g. Iris prints, were, unfortunately, rarely affordable. This economic obstacle has changed dramatically in the last few years, with the rise of digital photography. Thus, there is now a sizeable market for a new breed of inkjet printers from seasoned manufacturers like Epson, HP, Canon, Lexmark and Dell, among other newer brands.

Among the first Super B printers, suitable for both fine art printing and the budget of a broad range of buyers, were the Epson P2000 and P2200 (P2100 in Europe). The breakthrough of this line was based on quality, affordable price, and an Ultrachrome ink set.

Size matters

Many photographs impress viewers only when presented at an optimum viewing size; for example, the typical pocket-size 4 x 6 format is clearly unsuitable as a pleasing means of displaying a beautiful print. For most good shots, even the larger Letter, Legal and A4 sizes often leave viewers wanting more. Enter the A3+/Super B prints, which measure an impressive 13 x 19 inches. In 2005, there was an explosion in the use of these medium and large-format prints, an impressive statistic that further increased in 2006 and 2007 (and beyond) when a number of new fine art printers were introduced by Canon HP, and Epson.

For some photographs, it is advisable to produce even larger prints. Printer manufacturers like Epson, HP and Canon market printers that promise high-quality prints up to 64 inches wide. There are many other large-format printer manufacturers out there, like Encad, Oce, Mutoh, and Roland, yet they are not designed for true, fine art printing. For this reason, we chose to focus on the moderately sized prints and printers, typically from Letter/A4 to C/A2. Most of the lessons of fine art printing, however, can be applied to both smaller and larger prints and printers.

The highly technical nature of fine art printing should not overshadow its ability to awaken the senses. As the term fine art printing expresses, it is the printing of art in a highly artistic fashion. It allows you to project onto paper an image created with a simple digital or film camera, after enhancing the image with image-manipulation software to more accurately represent the original. Todays fine art printing, using a good digital inkjet printer, allows you to produce a quality of equal or higher value than that of traditional silver-halogenid prints, and clearly surpasses the quality of offset or rotogravure printing. When performed optimally, your printing can achieve a richer color gamut and finer tonal gradations than with traditional book- and magazine-printing techniques.

As with other genres of art, without proper knowledge and practical experience, the resulting print may not be as accurate as the image on your computer monitor, so you may have to try several different techniques, papers, paper sizes, borders, and matte styles. With careful practice, you will hopefully be on your way to producing museum-quality work with less effort than you had previously dreamed.

Though most prints are either displayed in frames behind glass or Plexiglas, often to reduce glare, this has the effect of reducing the visual appeal of the print and the fine art paper on which it is printed. Therefore, it is important to experiment with different types of fine art paper to achieve the desired result. Paper with a certain texture and tactile essence can be very sensuous indeed, so take your time to find the paper that best suits your taste and needs and to achieve the result you like.

A printing papers color, surface, texture, and gloss will determine the kind of print you will produce, and must be carefully chosen to match the feeling you wish to project. An architectural shot may require a different printing paper than a photograph of nature or a landscape. A black-and-white print calls for a certain type of paper that would be unsuitable to a full-color shot. A certain print displayed without glass or Plexiglas will appear entirely different than one framed behind these types of transparent coverings.