In crafting a Fine Art Piezo Print from printing perspective here is what I am currently looking for when trying to achieve my “best” fine art print:
-Are shadows blocked up, any details in the deep shadows?
-Are my highlights too light, any details in the upper highlights or am I just seeing paper
-Do my skintones look right?
-Any physical defects from the printer made to the paper?
-Any yucky post processing artifacts?
-Does may paper choice work for this image? Too much paper texture detract from my subject?
-no masking lines, nor suggestion that you might have
-and not so sharp that it looks so sharp
-tip toe around dMax
-anything stand out that shouldn’t be or is distracting from what is important?
When I look at prints, here are the things I check for:
Print quality defects, such as banding, poor alignment, print head scuffs, marring, etc…
Imaging defects, such as masking lines, posterization, over-sharpening, pixelation, etc… (edits shouldn’t be obvious)
The image should work well overall- no blown out highlights or blocked up shadows, good balance and smooth transitions.
If the photographer’s intent was for the image to be soft/dreamy, or crisp with detail and contrast, that should work well overall. Some people believe every image should have a pure white and pure black, but I have seen many incredible prints that are like platinum, and focused on the mid-tone range without any true highlight or shadow, but it works well overall. If the intent is to have contrast and deep shadows, there should be some pure black in the image (with Piezography, 98% doesn’t print pure black- so if an artist wants true black in their print, I make sure those areas are 100% for the best dMax, which gives the image more contrast and “punch”).
Focus- if the image is of a subject, but there’s something distracting in the image that has no value to the intended subject, that should be dulled down or removed, so as not to distract the viewer from the subject.
Certainly, paper and ink tone make a huge difference in the print, and should be considered to determine which paper/ink tone works best with a specific image- but I feel this is mostly personal preference. Many people like to use Special Edition ink because it uses warm, cool and neutral tones, which gives prints a unique and interesting contrast, and seems to give more dimension than using a solid tone inkset. When you settle on an inkset, printing on different papers will give different results, depending on the paper surface/texture, and the ink receiver coating (and obviously, uncoated papers give a whole different look than inkjet coated papers). We print primarily on heavyweight fine art papers, such as JonCone Studio Type 2, Canson Rag Photographique, BFK Rives, and Edition Etching Rag. I like Epson’s Hot Press papers the more I use them (beautiful surface and excellent dMax). We don’t print on very many glossy papers, but when we do we primarily use JonCone Studio Type 5 or Epson Exhibition Fiber. We also print on some Japanese rice papers from Hiromi, including Asuka and handmade Kozo for specialty projects.
I hope this helps, best regards and happy printing~ Dana
You’re very welcome. Transitions from dark to light should be smooth, and not posterized or have harsh transition lines. For example, if you’re working on skin tones or a smooth sky, you don’t want abrupt jumps- but smooth, beautiful transitions from dark to light. Over-editing can sometimes cause posterization when there are gaps in the histogram, so try to keep the histograms as smooth as possible without gaps/missing information.
From my personal experience, and feedback we receive from other users, Canson Rag Photographique, Edition Etching Rag, BFK Rives, Platine Fibre Rag and Baryta Photographique (though Baryta needs two coats of 30K GO for good gloss).
We sell significantly more JonCone Studio Type2 and Type5 than Canson combined. The Type2 and Type5 were designed for the Piezography inks. The Type 2 for dMax in fine art matte as well as ultra smooth surface. The Type 5 is the most convincing surface of the baryta papers on the market.
Canson paper is very high standard, and is unique in imparting a different color to the inks than other papers with the same color base.
[QUOTE=stump4545;3647]But why Canson so popular with Piezo Inks?
It seems that the Canson coating sort of gives the ink a browner look which looks pretty cool.
Is this part of the reason Canson is so popular with Piezo printers?[/QUOTE]
Canson are certainly not the only nice/popular papers- many users (including us) also really love our Type 2 and Type 5 papers (Type 5 is our and many users favorite glossy paper), as well as Epson Hot Press papers, there are some very nice Moab and Hahnemuhle papers, and more people are printing on Japanese papers, such as Kozo, Mitsumata, Unryu and others. All papers will give different results, depending on the base paper color, texture, and coating (or no coating).
When people are searching for the right paper(s), we recommend they get sample packs from different companies to see, feel, and try different papers to decide which they like best. You can get sample packs of JonCone Studio, Canson, Hahnemuhle, Moab, and Hiromi (Japanese) to try. I have made two fat 3-ring binders of test prints (with both ConeColor and Piezography inks) and information of different papers from many different companies, so when people come to our studio, they can really see how different papers look and feel- which is very helpful for them to decide which paper(s) to use for their specific printing project.
Yes, I would recommend getting a decent starter paper, such as Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 188gsm, then use Piezography/QTR and get good prints before moving forward and experimenting with other papers, etc… Start with the basics, then add more when you’re comfortable/ready.
[QUOTE=Dana-IJM;3651]Canson are certainly not the only nice/popular papers- many users (including us) also really love our Type 2 and Type 5 papers (Type 5 is our and many users favorite glossy paper), as well as Epson Hot Press papers, there are some very nice Moab and Hahnemuhle papers, and more people are printing on Japanese papers, such as Kozo, Mitsumata, Unryu and others. All papers will give different results, depending on the base paper color, texture, and coating (or no coating).
When people are searching for the right paper(s), we recommend they get sample packs from different companies to see, feel, and try different papers to decide which they like best. You can get sample packs of JonCone Studio, Canson, Hahnemuhle, Moab, and Hiromi (Japanese) to try. I have made two fat 3-ring binders of test prints (with both ConeColor and Piezography inks) and information of different papers from many different companies, so when people come to our studio, they can really see how different papers look and feel- which is very helpful for them to decide which paper(s) to use for their specific printing project.
~Dana :)[/QUOTE]
Do you have curves available for the Epson Hot Press / Epson Hot Press Bright papers (for K3 printers)?
I have made one custom Piezography curve for Epson’s Hot Press Natural White paper, which is attached for you to use. If this curve doesn’t give you excellent results, then we can certainly make you a custom curve specific to your exact printer/ink/paper/computer setup to optimize your output.
[QUOTE=Dana-IJM;3971]I have made one custom Piezography curve for Epson’s Hot Press Natural White paper, which is attached for you to use. If this curve doesn’t give you excellent results, then we can certainly make you a custom curve specific to your exact printer/ink/paper/computer setup to optimize your output.
I believe you will get good results using the Hot Press Natural White curve on Hot Press Bright White paper, and it’s certainly worth making a small test print to evaluate the output before having a custom curve made specifically for the bright white paper.
[QUOTE=Dana-IJM;3979]I believe you will get good results using the Hot Press Natural White curve on Hot Press Bright White paper, and it’s certainly worth making a small test print to evaluate the output before having a custom curve made specifically for the bright white paper.
Best regards~ Dana :)[/QUOTE]
Thanks Dana.
Do you have a curve for Harman By Hahnemuhle Gloss Baryta, not the warmtone?
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