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How are prints made from digital files? » Producing the final digital continuous tone photographic print » Options for continuous tone photographic prints » Color calibration of monitor, scanner, and printers » How are prints made from digital files? The photographer's original transparency or negative is scanned into the digital world with the very best high-end scanner, a Heidelberg Tango updated with Newcolor 7000 software (making our Tango equivalent to Heidelberg’s new Primescan scanner). All transparencies are mounted to the scanning drum under clear Mylar in special Kami mounting fluid for the best possible scan. The ICC scanner profile is added to the images as they are scanned. The digital file is then brought into one of our powerful Macintosh workstations. We try to accurately reproduce your transparency or follow your color instructions. Dirt and scratches are removed. The digital image is then transferred to the digital printer. There are two ways to make prints from digital files. For continuous tone photographic prints, we use light to expose color photographic materials. The Durst Lambda and the Cymbolic Sciences LightJet use red, green and blue lasers to expose the prints. The Chromira, a second generation printer we have installed, uses red, green and blue LEDs to expose the prints. Non-photographic prints can be made by spraying ink (or pigments) onto paper or some other medium. Inkjet prints are prints made from digital files onto different types of paper. They can be printed on material that looks like photographic paper or on a wide variety of fine art papers and canvas. The inkjet printer squirts tiny droplets of ink onto the paper. The graphic arts industry has named them Giclée (jhee-clay) prints. This is taken from the French word meaning "to spray." Some inkjet processes use dye-based inks and others use pigment-based inks. All inkjet prints are made up of many small dots of ink. They are not continuous tone prints. Inkjet processes do have the advantage that prints can be made on many different kinds of media. These prints can have a very pleasing look quite different than a standard photographic print. The ability to put photographic reproductions of paintings and watercolors onto any number of fine art papers is where pigmented Giclées look best. Producing the final digital continuous tone photographic print We installed the U.S.-made Chromira photographic printer to get better control over our fine art prints. The printer and its processor must be able to produce a neutral gray scale at all times, or the color prints will vary. We are able to balance both the printer and its processor so that we have the total control necessary to maintain consistent color. We constantly monitor the balance of the Chromira and its RA-4 processor, and we check and rebalance whenever we change a roll of paper. Only by having the printer in-house and under our direct control could this happen. The Chromira printer is a 30" wide roll printer, printing up to 30" by any length. The Chromira prints at 300 pixels per inch (using 425 optic fibers to expose the photographic paper). Prints look as good as or better than any LightJet print. Since the Chromira uses LEDs instead of expensive lasers, its cost and its upkeep are kept under control. (For more information on the ZBE Chromira printer please check out ZBE's web site at www.zbe.com.) Once we have a corrected digital file, we are ready to make the final print. An ICC color profile is added to the file as we make the final print, in order to match the file to the type of material being printed. Standard Fuji matte FA5, Fuji gloss FA5, Fujiflex™ Supergloss and Kodak Metallic all require different color profiles. (See "Options for continuous tone photographic prints" for more information.) The file is transferred to a Windows NT system that runs the Chromira and exposes the Fuji material. Processing is done in a 30" wide Colex RA-4 processor using Fuji chemicals. All used bleach-fix is collected and processed for silver recovery and proper disposal. The final prints are trimmed, inspected, carefully packaged, and shipped to you. All prints have one-inch borders for ease of handling. Options for continuous tone photographic prints. The material of choice for making digital photographic prints is the latest Fuji FA5 Crystal Archive RC color paper. Both matte and gloss RC base are available. Considerable testing has convinced us that there is no better color material. Long life, good color gamut, sharpness, ease of processing, and cost all enter into this decision. Testing by Henry Wilhelm indicates the new Fuji FA5 Crystal Archive color papers should last more than twice as long on display as Ilfochrome (60 vs.25 years, respectively). Kodak and other RC-based materials are rated by Henry at about 15 –18 years (see Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. http://www.wilhelm-research.com for more information about media testing). Our recommendation is to use the Fuji Crystal Archive RC-based color materials. Fujiflex™ Supergloss is a new, super-glossy polyester base - as archival as Fuji Crystal Archive™ - with increased saturation and contrast. Supergloss is an excellent choice for images that really "pop" with rich color and lustrous gloss. Color calibration of monitor, scanner, and printers. Every scanner sees an image differently. Color and dynamic range vary from scanner to scanner and from image to image. ICC profiles are needed for each scanner to adjust to the range of the transparency and the type of original film used in the camera. They are also used to adjust the way each scanner sees color. These profiles are added to the image data as the transparency is scanned by the Tango into Newcolor LAB color space to ICC standards. Working in LAB or LCH while scanning allows for the most precise color correction. When working with color negatives, the ability to capture 16-bit color helps us obtain better-quality digital data. This allows for better gray balance and better color rendition when converting into an 8-bit color space for printing. The digital file must be viewed on very high quality monitors.Our monitors are Apple Cinema Displays, calibrated to ICC standards. This means that, unlike normal monitors, we can view an image at any time and know that we are seeing accurate color, density, and sharpness. All ICC profiles for scanners and prints are made in our lab. We use an X-Rite DPT-41 spectrophotometer and CompassProfile software by Praxisoft for the Chromira and Onyx Graphics profiling software for the inkjet printers. We have nine high-end Apple and Intel-based workstations that are constantly upgraded to the latest hardware and software. |
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