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My
Two Cents
The Digital World: An Insider’s View
By
Victor O’Beirne
Permit
me to introduce myself. I'm a
photographer and a Master Giclée printer. My company is Blue Heron Editions.
Take a look, and you'll learn a great deal about what I do. I have the
good fortune of printing for some of the greatest photographers on the globe.
The images are spectacular. I run the whole gamut of emotions while working on
them. Who could be luckier?
I
suppose my first order of business in discussing digital photography is to
separate the wheat from the chaff, and there’s a lot of it in this field.
Digital photography is neither magical nor mystical. All you have to do is to
understand the workflow from the time you click the shutter to the final
print. That sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, IT IS!
Let's
put the process into prospective. We'll start with a computer, printer,
scanner or digital camera. We may not need either the scanner or, most
certainly, the digital camera. Our computer doesn't have to be the newest
state-of-the-art, rip-roaring, fastest buckle-your-seat-belt machine. It does
have to be a Macintosh . . . ONLY KIDDING, SO HELP ME.
Anyway, the computer should have 256mg of ram (memory) and be no less
than 300mghz in speed. Otherwise, if your image is fairly large, you’ll
spend your career waiting for it to open and react to your each and every
move. You don't have to buy a new one if yours isn't meeting the bill. Take
advantage of upgrades. It's a heck of a lot cheaper.
Your
printer is probably an Epson, since that company dominates about ninety
percent of the market. However, remember that Epson is in the ink-and-paper
business first and foremost. Their printer has a built-in generic profile
that's dedicated to Epson inks and Epson papers. By generic, I mean that if
you have, say, an Epson 3000, the built-in profile is the same as in every
Epson 3000 ever built. It's the profile that’s the calibration that says
what you see on your screen is what will be printed. The printer, scanner, and
computer are calibrated to each other, as in a circle. You calibrate your
monitor using software (i.e. Colorblind and a puck--a devise that sticks on
the screen of the monitor). There are several companies that provide the same
ability. One that you'll hear me mention quite often is www.profilecity.com.
I think they do an outstanding job. Calibrating the monitor is an easy
procedure; just follow the steps on the screen.
Now
you have to calibrate the printer. If you follow my directions, it’ll be the
easiest job you face. A profile is needed for every printer, ink, and paper
combination you use. Think of that--every printer, ink and paper combination
you use. How many printers do you use--one? How many different types of inks
do you use--one? Yes, but you've read about archival quality--especially in
pigment inks. “Pigment” sounds like the inks that painters use, and those
inks last for centuries. Without getting into the minutia of it, I'm going to
tell you that pigment inks fade at the same rate indoors as they do outdoors.
I know the hype. But this is one of those separate-the-fecal-matter situations
to which I alluded earlier.
In
subsequent articles, I'll delve into the meat of archival ratings. However,
you may use several different papers--say, six. That's a lot of papers. But
you’ve read about the different papers available, and you feel that they
would enhance your images. You're probably right. You've also read about the
wide gamut of Lysonic inks and the presentation offered using Hahnemuhle
papers, and you want to use them on your printer. You'd be absolutely correct
in your decision. (Disclosure: Blue Heron Editions is the beta-testing site
for Lyson. So kill me. I'm only telling you what I know to be true.) There are
other inks and a whole slew of papers out there. You should never be held
hostage by only one brand of ink and papers--never, ever. Even if you decide
to stay with Epson products, their profile is generic, but not for YOUR
printer. Therefore, custom profiles would be in order.
How
do you make profiles? You can
find software and hardware on the market that range in cost from approximately
$800 to $50,000. There’s also an education on color management that must be
learned. I promised you that if you followed my instructions, nothing would be
easier than calibrating your printer. First, go on the Internet to (as I
promised) www.profilecity.com.
They’ll produce perfect profiles for you. They own the extremely
expensive hardware, and they’re color management experts, besides. So, for
about $100 per, you can get as many profiles as you wish.
There
has to be a way of getting your images into the computer. They might be on a
CD-ROM, Zip disk as a digital file. The images get on those devices when a
Service Lab scans them and puts them there, or your photo processor places
them on a Photo CD. The other way for them to arrive there is for you to scan
them yourself. Did you ever hear someone moan, "I hate scanning?"
Want to know why s/he hates it? Because s/he doesn’t really don't know how
to do it. (I'll devote an entire article, in the near future, to that
subject.)
The
scanner also has to be calibrated, depending on the type of scanner you own.
The optical resolution and the D-Max of the scanner are the important numbers.
If you see a scanner on sale for $149.95, that's the quality you're getting.
Not much. A scanner can run from $1,600 to $75,000. For the average
photographer, the scanners in the $1,600 to $2,100 range will be terrific.
(Remember, the scanner is an input device. Ever hear, “Garbage in--garbage
out”?) The scanner manufacturers offer different software that does a great
job, not only in calibration, but also in the scanning process.
Another fantastic program for calibrating your scanner can be found at
(here I go again) www.profilecity.com.
If your input device is a digital camera, that, too, should be calibrated.
Here's a test: Guess who has a program for that?
The
weather today in Maine is beautiful. Our state tag line is “Life the way it
ought to be." So, it's time
to hit the canoe. Next week, once again, I'll put in "My Two Cents."
In the meantime, I'll be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Send me an email at victor@pixiport-blueheron.com,
and I'll do my best.
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