When To Use A Pro Lab - 350 Reasons

The new digital photographer can be forgiven for being confused by any number of aspects of the sport - there seem to be so many to learn.

He or she used to be confronted only by which film to use, does the orange needle match the mark on the light meter, and is the Chemist open so that I can drop my film in? Then in two weeks it was should I buy another roll of film or a bag of barley sugar and box of bandaids?

Now it is white balances, tonal curves, video frame rates, colour spaces, and all the rest. No wonder they have started putting an " Automatic " setting on new cameras and dedicating a knob or lever to it. The relief for some shooters must be palpable.

It is nearly the same for the shooter who wants paper prints of their work. What do they do now that the chemist has gone out of photofinishing and reverted to selling overpriced vitamin supplements and something for the weekend? What are the alternatives with that card full of images?

a. Print it yourself at home on a multifunction printer from Officeworks. No, please - go ahead and do it. The printer will only cost you a hundred bucks and you'll be so disappointed with the results that you won't even have to buy expensive ink cartridges later to try again. The larger multifunctions make attractive pots for cactus.

b. Get Officeworks to print it for you on their big machine. This sometimes works to some extent if your file is perfect and your need is modest. Do not expect art. They are not going to correct your flaws. GIGO.

c. Get an Epson photo-quality printer and do it at home. This works. Start off with the Epson Surecolor SC-600 and move up to the SC-800 if you want larger prints and cheaper ink. Then cast your eyes at the even larger range of large format printers from the company. They will not be cheap but their quality of print is professional and you can be sure that the prints that emerge with K-3 ink on quality Epson, Ilford, Permajet, or Hahnemuhle paper will be be permanent and accurate.

But sad to relate, you are still going to have to be doing a good job with the files. You'll be telling the computer what you want, but you'll have to make sure your monitor is showing you the truth. ( Hint: Spyder colour calibrators, EIZO screens...) And you'll have to make sure that the computer tells the printer the right thing to do ( Hint: either, you, the computer, or the printer will have to manage the colour. Decide early.) And you'll have to make sure that the printer knows what paper you're using ( Hint: paper profiles.)

You will also need to ensure that you put the paper in the right side up. Do not ask this writer how he knows that. Take it for granted that he knows...

A little unsure about all the settings and alternatives? Then you need the Automatic solution...

d. Take the files on a hard drive, CD, or memory card to a professional photofinishing lab. They have not disappeared with the advent of digital - in fact the good ones are going strong because they are the good ones. And they are resourceful, technically skilled, and helpful.

A visit to a professional photofinisher like Fitzgerald Photo Labs at 350 Fitzgerald Street, North Perth
is almost as easy as it used to be to put your films into the chemist. There are real people there who can look at your files and advise you on the optimum sizes that they can be printed. They can suggest paper surfaces for larger works. They can frame the bigger prints - and there are so many options for modern display that you can never run out of a fresh decor idea.

They are able to handle film needs as well - lots of people still shoot on film - and converting the negatives and transparencies to digital files is easy these days. You can get your work back in dual form - digital as well as paper print.

Again you can be sure that the pictures you pay for will be permanent. The big labs use Epson K-3 ink on their big machines.

The joy of a big lab like Fitzie's is that the printing people are there to talk to you and they know what they are doing from long experience. It is not just machine minding in a large furniture or discount store for them. Their job is a profession and they produce professional quality - and that's why Camera Electronic depend on them for our advertising banners and promotional prints. These need to be right and they ARE right.

For those of you  point out that I have forgotten the discount store and the furniture shop...well I remember them when I need tee shirts or kitchen chairs. But not when I need good quality photofinishing.

Fine Art Paper - Pulp Friction Brought To Life

I realise that using the phrase fine art photography is a dangerous thing - it seems to be two adjectives chasing a noun. And in many cases unsuccessfully...But at least we can try.

If you hope to present digital images that will be hung you must make sure they deserve to be*. This means a great deal of careful work before the printer whirrs - photographing, editing, critiquing. The printer that you choose and the inks that it will use are prime factors as well...but the chief thing that has to be right is the paper.

It has to last. People who pay money for pictures want those pictures to stay flat, stay clean, and stay the way they were when the money changed hands. Thus you need to search out archival-quality paper. "Archival Quality" is also a fraught phrase but at least there are some scientific standards for it - laboratories have established criteria for the longevity of paper and ink and published them. Various manufacturers tell us that their products meet these standards.

Of course, performance over a passage of time is only tested by the passage of that time. There might be a sales warranty issue on the Great Pyramid of Cheops over the stone facing that has fallen away...but the builders are nowhere to be found.

But back to your prints. Your surface needs to be appropriate to the image presented. Some people want canvas - some paper. Some want aluminium - they can all be accommodated these days. The papers can be smooth matt, smooth gloss, smooth semi-gloss, or can have texture imparted in the manufacture. Some are extremely rough, but if the image can be of blocky form this may be just perfect.

On a technical point - the heavy papers can be very heavy and you'll need to see if your printer can deal with the increased thickness. They may also have considerable warp and droop and you'll need to make provision to eliminate or cope with this as well. Crude as it sounds, you might find yourself doing a bit of judicious paper bending with your fingers before you press the start button.

You'll be confronted with some real choices in the base colour of the paper. Various words are bantered about; wheat, buff, cream, ivory, etc. but the end result is off-white. See if your image is one that will be complemented by this sort of thing or whether you'll need a clear white. these are available too.

Come in an browse amongst the Ilford, Hahnemuhle, and Permajet products. Some can be got in sheet form and some in roll. Sample packs are here so that you can experiment before lashing out for a full box.

* Either they hang or you do...

Lustre, Semigloss, and Smooth Pearl - The Paper Cuts

Okay, I can tell the difference between these if I look hard...but if the various manufacturers come out with new surfaces like Semi-Lustre, Semi-Semi-gloss, and To A Certain Extent  Smoothish Sort Of Pearl I am going to just take the box nearest the front and whack that into the printer. If I am feeling fussy I'll put it in the right way up and if not I'll just stand at the door and throw the box at the machine...

You can still get sample books for paper surfaces and colours from various makers and sometimes they are a help - however paper development can leapfrog past their own publicity and sometimes the books fall out of date. And sometimes the images in the books seduce us into believing that our own pictures will look as good, but then leave us standing.

This isn't a new phenomenon- the old darkroom paper books from Ilford, Agfa, Kodak, Ansco, Seagull, Gevaert, etc. were mostly black and white but could exhibit such a variety of effect for surface and colour as to fill any professional need. Some papers were bizarre - witness the silk pattern surfaces and some of the heavily swirled ones. There were artistic reasons for it, as there are for heavily textured inkjet papers, but these were few and far between. Mind you, we all tried them and as fate would have it, some of the best portraits of people we love are seen on these odd papers - if we have lost the negatives we are left with just the oddities.

Commercial considerations often dictate the surface for giant inkjet prints - in some cases canvas is the material of choice. Artists sometimes favour matte surfaces to suggest watercolour paper. Technical prints may benefit from a high gloss.

The default paper, though, probably is some sort of a slightly broken clear white. Ilford, Hahnemuhle, Harman, and Permajet all make something of this nature, and if you wish to print A2, A3+, A3, A4, 5 x 7, and 6 x 4 there are ready supplies in bulk.

Indeed - sometimes there are great bargains - once a year Ilford used to give from 5 to 10 free sheets of their standard papers in special packs at the regular price. Right now we have Harman A4 in 100 sheet boxes for under $ 50. If you've a printer and are a Printer, come visit.

Thick and Thirsty with Permajet

Before you write in to complain that I have singled you out for abuse, let me say that having a pint of beer is perfectly alright with me. 3 or 4 are fine. I find that after the 8th one people get argumentative...The thirsty I was talking about was for printer ink.

As for thick, I meant of the 310 gsm weight of the latest Permajet paper that has gone through the Epson 3880 here at the shop. It was the Portrait Velvet 310 from a test pack. We needed a stiff substrate for a presentation certificate and this seemed to fill the bill.

Like all thicker papers, it does have a little curl inherent - I make sure that before it goes through an Epson I gently flatten it out at the corners with my fingers. It is not a fault in any of the paper - it is related to the temperature and humidity at the time.

I also make sure that I reset the platen gap on the printer - from "standard" to "wider". There is little, if any degradation of the resolution on the printed image, and the extra space makes sure that there will be no overstrike of the head.

The best place to run thicker papers into an Epson is the front feed tray. It has a straight path for the paper to go and does not impose any bend on it. You need to be sure that there is enough space behind he printer for it to run back into when it loads and the receival shelf fully extended at the front.

OK - that said, and the laptop telling the printer that you want to use the front tray, you can press the button. I did an out flowed perhaps the nicest matt-surfaced print that I have ever seen. No flaws on the surface and perfect colour.

One superb certificate in one print. No waste.

Win.

Permajet A4

There are 6 finished prints in the Permajet display folder here and you're welcome to come inspect them. You can scoff at the images themselves as they are taken from my own studio, but the printing of them is pretty flawless.

I'm still not sure whether the Ultra Pearl 275 is charming or just weird, but the colour is superb. And the Titanium Lustre 280 is an eye-opener as far as detail on monochrome images goes.

I shall be spending some of my own discretionary money on the larger boxes of these - and trying to wangle some of the fine arts ones as well.

One thing is evident - the Epson inks in the 3880 and 3000 are perfect for these papers.

The Proof Of The Pudding With Permajet

My plan to scientifically test the new Permajet papers at home with the sample pack has fallen behind - the pressure of holiday preparations and the delivery of my new barn, railway siding, and grain elevator has delayed the program.

Nevertheless we have had a win this morning with the shop advertising. We're running promotions all the way to the 24th of December that need large A3+ hanging signs - up until now I have been using up the leftover papers from several years - I products, E products, and one old K product...

Today we ran dry...and grabbed the packet of A3* Permajet Smooth Pearl. No change to the profiles in my laptop - they are still just the Adobe/Epson combination that I always use. The results are great - every bit as good as other manufacturer's papers.

The significant thing is the number on the price sticker is a lower number than those on other maker's A3+ paper. Good for the advertising department here and good for you at home. I shall use the money saved to buy mince pies and gingerbread men...

The Last Sherry Glass In the Cupboard - With Permajet Paper

Okay, you know what I'm talking about.

You get engaged, or turn 21, or get married. And you have this party, and people bring lame presents. Some of the presents are fondue sets and some of them are little wire carriers with 6 sherry glasses in them. You watch over the years as the sherry glasses gradually diminish - they crack or break - until you are down to that last one glass.

It will never break. It could be used to peen over the end of an armour-piercing shell...it's that tough. And your cupboard is full of the same thing from other sets of cups and glasses. You can set a table in the presence of your enemies with the calm assurance that they can't break anything...

It is the same with inkjet printing paper. You buy all sorts of different sizes and surfaces from all sorts of manufacturers and print up nearly all the packet...then you have the last few sheets. You NEVER use them again, because you NEVER have enough to do the next job. And the packets mount up...

Time to change. Go into your computer room and grab all those ratty ends of paper  packets and throw them out. Or print lost dog notices for imaginary dogs and post them up at the local IGA...always a favourite. Or make unwieldy paper airplanes. Whatever, get rid of them and get a set of the new Permajet papers.

I am currently working my way through the #1 sample pack and they are proving to be beautiful surfaces. So far the smooth pearl type is perfect with the profile I downloaded. When I can be bothered to change to matte ink I will run the fine-art types. This would be a good project for any printer during the coming holiday break...so come in an take home some packs of paper this week. And check the ink supplies as well - we'll be shut between Christmas and new years so get your shelves filled now.