Metalic Paper Gives Brilliant Results

Here at Canada on Canvas we love photo Metallic Paper. It is a great product with a unique effect that has become popular with professional photographers. Since it is a relatively new paper for the inkjet process, we thought our other customers could benefit from knowing a little more about it.

This innovative product from Lexjet, when printed with pro-quality pigment based inks, gives the final print a deep metallic sheen that is unlike any other photo paper. It works amazingly well for textures like satin, chrome, and glossy skin, and gives prints the sense of luxury that those materials imply.

Until the development of Lexjet Photo Metallic paper, results like these where only available to photographers using chemical photo-processing equipment. This Lexjet product makes the process of getting stunning metallic prints simpler and more environmentally friendly. At Vancouver on Canvas we can print directly from digital files from your camera onto metallic paper, giving your pictures that extra 'pop' that catches the eye.

Since the surface of this paper is one of it's selling points, it is a good idea to think of mounting options that don't use glass. Spray mounting on foam core or wood is a simple option that works well.

What others are saying:

Ron Martinsen of Ronmart.Blogspot.com raves about this paper in an article with the provocative title “This Paper Sells Prints”. He makes the point that a beautiful, eye-catching print is more likely to attract attention that an image on a hard-drive. Brian Hampton told the Lexjet blogger that the paper gave him the best of both worlds -durability and excellent detail, such as he had not found in other products.

Photo by Mario Werder, via Flikr

TIPS: Which images to try

From what I have seen there are no hard and fast rules about what works and what doesn't, but here are a few tips on what images to try, based on my experience and discussion forums by those far more experienced that me.

-black and white images, the metallic paper gives them a silvery sheen

-images of naturally glossy or shiny things, like satin, water, or new cars.

-images with a lot of high-impact reds and oranges (like sunsets)

-High-contrast images with deep colours.

-Very sharp images.

We invite you to try out your images on the Lexjet Metallic Paper available at Canada on Canvas. You just might love what you see!

photo by Shadowgate Via Flickr

Art Scanning: Reproducing the Irreplaceable

The wonderful thing about digital images is their infinite promise...the promise of infinite copies, that is! As long as that file exists, your work of art or treasured photo can be altered, touched up, re-sized and re-printed as many times as you desire.

(a doodle I scanned and coloured using digital colouring book techniques)

Digitizing your images

The best way to make a digital copy of an original image is using a scanner. It is also possible to use a digital camera, but that's a little trickier. Flatbed scanners are pretty common and can produce good quality scans that are editable and printable. The process of scanning is quite easy, but there are a couple of tips that will help you to get good results.

Tip: Output Type

Scanners usually have a couple of different settings for how they will see an image. This is called the 'output type' and you need to set it before you hit scan. You usually have a choice between “millions of colours” colour palettes of various sizes, gray scale and black and white (sometimes called 'line art'). Millions of colours works best for photos and artwork, and 'line art' works for scanning text documents. This setting creates an effect that looks like an photocopy.

Tip: Set the resolution

All scanners can copy at various resolutions. The higher the resolution, the larger the file, and the more information the scanner will pick up. So if you want to increase the size of the image, it is a good idea to scan at a higher resolution, say 600 dpi.

-72 dpi (ppi) is the size of most web images.

-300 dpi is print standard for many types of print media.

So if you are not looking to increase the size of something, 300 dpi is enough. There is no need to make a meticulously large and hard to handle file. Especially since often the thing you are scanning does not have any more information that 300 dpi.

Tip: Adjust the white point

Most newer and higher quality flatbed scanners have an option to set the white point on the scan before capturing, this is like setting the exposure on your digital camera. It allows you to optimize the image your scanner captures by aligning the darkest part of you image to true black, and the whites part of your image to true white. Basically, you can do this by using the “levels” tool in the scanner interface. This shows you a box with a histogram of the distribution of white and black in you image. By adjusting the whitest and blackest points available to match the lightest and darkest points in your image, you can force the scan to expand the tonal range of the image. This is a little complicated but worth it. For a more much more detailed explanation see here.

High Resolution Scanners

Some pictures are too large or too detailed to scan using a desktop flatbed scanner. If you want to get a good, reproducible image of original art work, especially large paintings with lots of detail or texture in the paint, an ordinary scanner will not be able to give good results. Here at Canada on Canvas, we use a Cruse brand scanner for fine art reproduction. This is a large flatbed scanner that can scan objects up to a depth of 4 inches and 42x78 inches square. This scanner allows us to produce giclees on canvas that get as close to the original as is possible with digital technology. With this service, artists can produce prints of an original, which means more people can enjoy the work, and the artist can make a little more money!

Scanners are a great tool for artists. They facilitate all kinds of printing and editing options, and they are essential if you want to display your work on the web. Some artists even use scanners to produce work, using a technique called scanography, but that will be the subject of my next post.

New From LexJet: Satin Cloth!

Satin cloth is a new material developed for the Giclee process. It has many of the advantages of canvas, and offers new possibilities for displaying your art. It can be sewn, stretched or hung like canvas, and it has even been hung outside!

Satin Fabric has a very smooth texture which does not conflict with the fine detail in your image bright whites give it superior colour response. Some people describe it's look and feel as being like vellum. This product is exiting for us here are Canada on Canvas because it's translucency allows for highly creative and beautiful mounting options.

Satin cloth and canvas printing have various pros and cons. We have created this chart comparing them

attributes	Lexjet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth Giclee	Canvas Giclee
texture	Smooth texture, good for capturing fine detail and sharpness. Vellum-like feel	Woven texture, good for softening images and masking defects, traditional canvas feel
Colour response	Excellent. Accepts high levels of ink saturation. PreLume technology provides brighter white points.	Excellent. High levels of ink saturation and bright white point.
opacity	90% (translucent)	Greater that 99%
weight	Very light-weigh (130g per sq meter)	Heavy (410 g per sq meter)
Stretch-mounting?	yes	yes
Water resistance	Very high	High

Mounting Options:

Lexjet water-resistant satin cloth is stretchable like canvas, and can be mounted for wall hanging. Other mounting options offer the possibility of taking advantage of the material's transparency. Mounting using back-lighting works very well with this material, because the smooth weave of Satin Cloth acts as a natural diffuser, making the whole image glow with light.

Window Display:

One simple option is to use poster hangers to create a banner that hangs in front of a source of light, like a window or a indirect light source. This could be done by using poster hangers like these:

or these,

OR by sewing a pocket into the top and bottom of the cloth, and inserting a dowel to suspend the banner from.

The satin cloth is water resistant, so consider using it in outdoor applications as well. Here is story from the Lexjet web page that attests to the durability of this material

“ [the artist] took the [satin cloth] screen down to the beach for a marketing shoot, he placed it in the water and shot it. Then, the screen tipped over into the surf and was soaked with salt water. He took it home, rinsed it off with a garden hose and left it standing outdoors exposed to the elements for two months. The colours remained totally colourfast.”

Commercial Banner Display

Another mounting option is using a commercial banner displays like these, which can be back-lit, or use the ambient light in the room or outdoor area to show off the Satin Cloth's transparency. Displays like these are available here.

the Lexjet blog has a great post on innovative business ideas using this material.

Light-boxes

A very beautiful and original option for displaying your Satin Cloth print is to create a light-box. A light-box is a framed box that with light mounted inside, and a translucent image on the front. They are often used commercially and by professional artists, but Satin Cloth printing allows them to be created affordability for home decor.

A Light-box turns your image into a creative ambient lighting solution, as well as highlighting the particular beauty of your image. Back-lighting increases the presence and richness of saturated colours, it lends an ethereal quality to soft or misty images, and it makes skin really glow in portraits.

Cost comparison: Satin Cloth Mounting Options

for a 20x30 print ($61 printing cost)

mounting	Do we do it?	Cost	Advantage
Stretch mounting	yes	$62.00	Finished and, ready to hang. Beautifully textured fine wall art.
Poster Hangers	no	$16.95	Simple to order and install, can be hung on wall or window for natural light back-lit effect.
Commercial banners	no	$49.00	Professional displays for trade shows or point of sale displays
Light Boxes	No right now: check back soon	$250-300	Original and beautiful wall are and lighting solution. Makes any photo come alive.

I came across this book review while browsing Ken Rockwell's extremely informative photo site and I though I would share it with you:

“Bruce Barnbaum's The Art of Photography is the best book I've read in over 40 years of reading about photography.

This book is for people with visual imagination. If you're a scientist or engineer looking for some fast 1-dimensional formulae that will let you pop out great photos without having to stop and think long and hard about your subject and your message, you won't understand this book. This isn't a book about rules and exposure. It's a brilliant book that finally explains everything that goes into making a serious photograph — and why rules are "...mindless things that raise you quickly to a level of acceptable mediocrity, then prevent you from progressing further."

Read the rest of the review here

Here is Barnbaum's description of what makes a good photograph. It is interesting that he talks about what the photograph does, rather than what the photograph looks like.

“a meaningful photograph - a successful photograph - does one of several things. It allows, or forces, the viewer to see something that he has looked at many times without really seeing; it shows him something he has never previously encountered; or, it raises questions – perhaps ambiguous or unanswerable - that create mysteries, doubts, or uncertainties. In other words, it expands our vision and our thoughts. It extended horizons. It evokes awe, wonder, amusement, compassion, horror, or any of a thousand responses. It sheds new light on our world, raises questions about our world, or creates it's own world.”