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CSI Print Studio

Digital Reproductions of Artwork and High Quality Inkjet Prints

Across U.S. & Canada
1-416-922-7589
For Consultation, TraIning and Appointment
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Printing

What is a “Custom Print” anyway?

May 15, 2021 Paul Schillinger

What is a custom Print

To fully appreciate a custom print, we should look first at its opposite – a standard or “on-line” acquired print. These prints are made in unattended, automated, serial operations. You upload your images to a server from your computer or drop them off to a photo service bureau on USB where the sales clerk adds it to the queue on the server with all of the other on-line orders. The server is connected to a series of printers each of which is loaded with one of the standard papers – usually gloss, lustre and matte. The idea is to herd everyone to those few common, inexpensive, resin coated, bright white papers to reap the benefits of volume processing and presumably to offer volume pricing. If better paper is also offered, there will often be just one or perhaps two smooth, matte finish papers offered under the general moniker “Fine Art” or “Giclee.“ Also, many of these photo service bureaus print with dye based inks which fade quickly, especially if not carefully preserved by the buyer.

Once your images are added to the queue, they are pumped through to the series of printers where they are grouped together with hundreds of other images from other customers. There they are averaged and printed, as is, on large rolls of the aforementioned resin coated and matte papers. The file settings which are required for this type of print are the least acceptable for print – flattened 8 bit Jpeg, PNG, etc. in sRGB or sometimes AdobeRGB colour space, usually at or below 25mb in size. If you request a 20” x 30” print to be made from your Jpeg image which only has enough print resolution for a 5” x 7” print, the image will simply be enlarged on the fly without concern for the resulting quality loss. That’s your problem. Their job is simply to print.

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Filed Under: Printing

The “Good Enough” Print

February 24, 2018 Paul Schillinger

One thing that I find to be extremely baffling in the world of fine photography is the fact that many photographers invest huge sums of money to acquire the finest gear, go to great lengths to create the best possible image by spending hours in post processing, fussing over every minute nuance of image detail and tonality only to then bang off a “good enough” print with inadequate care or forethought, using OEM canned profiles, inadequate paper and inaccurate settings while under the influence of blind faith that somehow it will all turn out just fine. Of course, when the print is made,  without another superior print to compare it against they may well believe their print is indeed the very best it can be. Most of the time, this is not only untrue but it is a shame.

In fact, a couple of years ago one of my students, a photographer, invited me to review her portfolio of prints which she had been preparing to take to a local gallery. A couple of prints in, I noticed a poorly made print. The image was a colourful shot of a group of children on their way to participate in a parade and all the kids were well dressed in Polish ethnic attire which was quite ornate. The image was printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag. A print on such fine paper could tend to lead one to believe that the print must be perfect and the printer must have been good. Not so!

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Filed Under: Printing

The Importance of Viewing Environment

February 3, 2018 Paul Schillinger

For critical evaluation of an image in print against the same image displayed on a computer screen, the lighting that is used to illuminate the print must be in sync with the display, in terms of brightness and colour temperature, etc. You might say, “Wait a minute, when the print is hung in my home it won’t be illuminated by anything but my living room lights.” This may be true, but neither will your print be evaluated for accuracy in your living room. It is irrelevant to the process of critical evaluation of the print against the same image displayed on a colour critical monitor.

When an image is translated from an emissive medium (a screen display) to a reflective one (paper, for example), it’s success in print becomes entirely dependant upon ambient lighting. The luminance and purity of an RGB image can only be simulated on paper using relatively impure CMYK inks to create a print that is viewed under lighting which is usually far from ideal. The quality of the ambient light, its brightness and colour temperature have dramatic effects on the appearance of the print. Subdued lighting darkens tonality. Shadow detail may seem to be lost altogether. This is the primary reason for one to conclude that their print is too dark.

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Filed Under: Printing

What is a Good Print?

January 21, 2018 Paul Schillinger

Sally Mann’s “Candy Cigarette”

Of course, we have to begin with a good image. What’s that?  Well, while beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder, from an aesthetic standpoint, in my view, the image should be attractive and appealing;  the framing and composition should be intriguing as should the subject matter itself;  the image should fascinate, draw us in, touch us, entertain us, make us think, make us curious, suggest a narrative or ignite a feeling. Great images evoke a mood or a sense of the actual moment experienced by the photographer.

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Filed Under: Printing

The Importance of the Print

December 10, 2017 Paul Schillinger

The_Print

In my opinion, photographers who print are not pursuing photography simply to make visual records for posterity. Instead, our goal is to convey an emotional or aesthetic concept through our photographs. To do that, we need to look at images on paper or some other physical medium. Looking at an image on a computer screen doesn’t allow us to interact with it in a physical sense. When we see a print on a wall, we can step back to appreciate the entire image, then move closer to focus in on details. But, we still see those details in the context of the entire image –  unlike zooming in on a computer screen, which takes the details out of context to form an abstraction.

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Filed Under: Printing

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