If I were you, unless the paintings are fairly small, like 8×10 inches or so, I wouldn’t rely on the digiphoto files you’re talking about because I think they’re unlikely to be color accurate and because if you enlarge them to large end sizes the detail may not be there.
For the best repro quality, you want to have the paintings scanned and work from the scanner files.
Either method, the workflow is likely to be the same — clean up the files (spot them, etc.) adjust the color for accurate reproduction, resize, and sharpen if necessary.
If you haven’t already, you would want to fully calibrate your equipment, from camera/scanner to monitor to whatever ICC profile your proof and final printers are going to use.
Art
Hi Frank,
What is the maximum size of print you anticipate producing? That would probably govern the size of file you create and save, while the format itself should be a lossless one such as TIF or PSD. TIF is more universal, so if you don’t have any Photoshop-specific data that needs to be retained in your edited images (assuming some edits are still needed to obtain faithful reproduction of your paintings), then I think TIF would be the favored format. You may find a 6.1Mpx camera insufficient for your goal, especially if it happens to be a "digicam" as oppposed to a digital SLR, the latter having a larger sensor that typically yields images with less noise and which therefore tend to resample more cleanly to larger sizes.
Also, do you have any idea as to what specific print media you would be using and what minimum image resolution is recommended for it? For example, fine-textured or glossy media might do best with an image at 300ppi, but media of a more coarse texture might not require more than 240ppi. Another factor may well be the printer itself, if an Iris or other such fine-art Giclee printer. And your art itself, if not finely detailed, may also reduce the demands on what maximum image resolution is needed.
Keep in mind also that a 6.1Mpx image…let’s call it 2000×3000 pixels…will have to be upsampled considerably if you are producing prints of much size. At 300ppi unsampled, you’re looking at 6.67×10 inches. I don’t know how much you can push the limits of resampling an image of that size and still produce art-quality prints, but I’m thinking perhaps no more than 20×30 inches, if that. Hopefully someone here has experience in producing such prints from that size of original image and can provide you better advice.
I have never done any Giclee printing, unless you simply want to call that a fancy word for modern inkjet printing, but I have made nice 12×18-inch productions of my sister’s paintings using my Epson R1800 and Epson Velvet Fine Art paper. She commented that without the original painting adjacent the print to compare it to, she thought the colors were faithful to the original. I found that quite true, with some colors visually identical to my eye alhough others shifted in hue but still pleasing. Of course, the flat surface of the matte finish could not quite capture the texture of acrylic on canvas paintings, but there was some sense of that which again was still pleasing to her.
In the case of these photo-reproductions that I made, I was shooting with a 10Mpx camera and the artwork was originally 24×36 inches in size. The image I was printing from was 12×18 inches @ 300ppi (58MB file size), ressampled using PS CS2’s Image Size dialog (as opposed to any 3rd-party approach).
Regards,
Daryl
We have been working with an artist printing to our Epson 9800 from digital files she provides. The photos are being taken with a digital SLR and supplied in RAW format, 24 x 36 is the largest output we’ve attempted. The files require color adjustment. We provide the artist with 3 miniature proofs of various color corrections. So far there is always one that I think is "spot on" and she has chosen that one as well, but there are very minor variances we’ve had in a few, sunset pastel renderings that were shot using spot-lights that shifted the photograph a little yellow, very hard to get the yellow out of the white areas without losing it in foliage etc. So she can choose between a barely noticable yellow tint in the clouds, or a barely noticable reduction in the yellow of the green. We print on both the velvet fine art and luster for her. So far it is going pretty well, we’ve only done about four different projects though, so I’m sure a snag is waiting out there somewhere. She’s going to try shooting in daylight on her next round. We’ll see if that helps with her "yellow" casting problem, and makes the color correction process that much faster. She priced having them professionally scanned or photographed, the quotes she got were very high. So high, in fact, it made me wonder why I’m not using my Bachelor’s in photography instead of this whole graphic design thing 🙂 Anyway, I’ve rambled, hopefully you’ll find some useful info in the descriptions above of our process.
Hi Heather,
If the artist you’re working with hasn’t already factored this into her process, you might suggest she always include a gray card in the set of photos she shoots, so that a proper white balance can be established for the lighting conditions at the time.
Just a thought. 🙂
Daryl
Thank you all for your inputs….I will not do the Giclee printing myself. The initial cost of a scan, a proof and a print is $150 and up (according to the size of the original)….I can’t afford that route….The same printer will except a digital file and will charge me $13 a square ft. for a print…..that would be $19.50 for a 12×18
Giclee print…I will be using a Nikon D70 DSLR to make the digital file,and I will use a custom white balance,to make sure that my color
will be as close to the original as possible.Presently my largest watercolor painting is 18×24.Your info concerning a Tif file is very helpful.Should I give the printer the native size from the camera, and let him up size to the printed size I require?….Are there any PS tutorials available on color correction, color by color.? I am using PS 6.0. Thank you, Frank
Daryl, her son is doing the photography, and I did suggest the grey card route, which may or may not have been accepted, we’ll see on the next painting, he is a professional and there is a no desire to step on any toes. I also suggested professional lights, if this takes off, that can be balanced to etc. A work in progress no doubt.
Francis, can you save RAW? If not just make sure you’ve got your camera set to a standard color mode and balance as you stated, save at the largest possible resolution and provide a TIF if RAW isn’t available. Also ASK your printer, they may have specific file types that work best in their process.
Frank,
Personally, I’d do all the image manipulation myself and provide a final image to the printshop if going that route. I’ve never done that however, preferring to instead do my own printing. If I need a sizable quanity of prints made, then I might go the printshop route. The only prints I’ve seen that were specifically called Giclees were printed on a cotton rag stock far heavier and thicker than any media I’ve seen for anything but a professional caliber printer, but I wonder if any archival-quality print produced by a high-end consumer caliber inkjet printer can be correctly referred to as a Giclee? Perhaps not…although one definition I found online referred to Giclee printing using 6 colors of ink which may be found in some consumer printers, another described 8 and 12-color professional printers which would indeed be more unique and perhaps provide a better quality print and/or support a wider range of media. But, that’s not addressing your question….just something I’d be curious to see others comment on.
If you are making 1:1 reproductions of your art, then your D70 should easily be able to provide quality images suitable for a 12×18-inch print. I’ve made several such prints from my D70 (it preceded my D200) that looked great at 12×18, using 13×19 paper stock for my Epson 1270. So, any higher quality printer, Giclee or not, should give excellent results also. I suggest you need nothing more than a file of 12×18 inches @300 ppi for that purpose, and the TIFF format should be fine if acceptable by your printshop, which surely it would be.
As for tutorials, I’m not familiar with any to specifically point you toward, but I suggest you simply do a web search for "Photoshop color correction tutorials" and check out the results.
Daryl
Daryl, you’re right, giclee is simply french for inkjet. In industry though it roughly means, "archival commercial quality reproduction". Epson 9800 runs on 8 colors of ink, Ultra Chrome blah blah. Basically, unlike most inkjet ink, it doesn’t fade, considered archival and all that jazz. When we make prints, we’re talking usually 20 – 50, with matching postcards, sometimes 500 for the artists bigger events at which time we go to another machine, etc. Not something people can do at home and save any money on really.
If Francis has a color calibrated work flow going, adjusting the file will be helpfull. However, if his work flow isn’t calibrated accurately he could end up doing more harm than good, so I’d say that depends.
Francis, if 12×18 is all you plan to do,you might as well buy an epson 2200 or whatever the current model is and print your own. obviously you need to be good at color correcting your file to get a very close match,but once your happy,you will have repeatable results at your fingertips. i do work like this for a few artists friends and i use one of the stock epson papers that look good on these things.
As far as shooting the original,i have always preferred to shoot outdoors in total overcast for perfect soft light. if you understand the color mgmt scenario and have the understanding of color and correcting,you can sure save a boatload of money. the d70 files should be fine for the size you talking about,but just use a tripod and good macro lens or the sharpest lens you can find to record all you can on the sensor.
Thank you Donald….I know that pigmented inks are used in Giclee printing….I’m not sure what type of inks are used for the Epson 2200. I reshot 10 of my paintings,and made prints of each all were very satisfactory, except for one. The one in question has a small area with a copper color, this area looked fine on the monitor,however it printed as a saturated red.although it looked ok on the monitor, I used selective color correction to reduce the red, but it still gave the same saturated red color, which I don’t understand since I reduced the red….Frank
I never did understand all the hoopla about giclee,and exactly what it means. maybe you can charge more if you use that terminology,but i cant believe if you have two artists at a show,and one does his own and another has giclee,how can you tell any difference? the epsons use archival ink,so to me,it makes no sense to outsource.
It sounds like you have a solid understanding of how to tweak your paintings,but i cant explain your color change,unless you picked a different paper profile or something. you should still be able to bring that color around with a little further tweaking. you could just take that problem area,and make 9 different changes to it and print them as a ringaround like the old darkroom days to hone in on the best adjustment.
Donald….I believe you are right….as long as archival ink is used in the printing process,for longevity,no one would be able to tell the difference quality wise.I am going to look into the situation,to find out if I can call a print a Giclee,if it is printed with archival ink on a quality printer at home.I’m not sure how I would get that information.I have been quoted a price of $19.50 for a 12"x18" Giclee from a digital file that I supply.This company strictly makes Giclees for artists.If a client asked if I could sell them a Giclee Print, I would want to be able to answer them truthfully…….Thanks for your response…..Frank
On Thu, 23 Nov 2006 06:19:24 -0800,
wrote:
Thank you Donald….I know that pigmented inks are used in Giclee printing….I’m not sure what type of inks are used for the Epson 2200. I reshot 10 of my paintings,and made prints of each all were very satisfactory, except for one. The one in question has a small area with a copper color, this area looked fine on the monitor,however it printed as a saturated red.although it looked ok on the monitor, I used selective color correction to reduce the red, but it still gave the same saturated red color, which I don’t understand since I reduced the red….Frank
The Epson 2200 uses pigment based inks. I think all Epson printers use pigment based inks.
Talker
I think its all talk myself. i was told once giclee is basically inkjet. i do 12x18s for my artist friend for 5 bucks each as a favor. its hard to calculate expenses but a 50 sheet box of epson archival matte is 80 bucks,so thats a 1.60 a sheet plus ink. you could pay for a new epson printer,do your own and still produce archival work,and have money to travel with. you must know what you want though.
Most, or possibly all, Epson printers use pigmented ink; certainly the high-end ones like the 2200 or its successor the R2400 do. Giclee is indeed the French word for inkjet. It’s typically used in English to describe high-quality archival inkjet prints of high-resolution-scanned artwork.
Using a digital camera to photograph an artwork and then printing it will not give you as high resolution as scanning it. For example, an 8" x 10" work, scanned at 1200 pixels/inch, results in an image that is 9600 x 12000 pixels, or about 100 megapixels, and the scan could have 16 bit/channel data (48-bit color), while even a pro camera has much lower resolution. Also, when you scan, each pixel receives flat light, while when you photograph the lighting will not be nearly as even.
That being said, you may well get an image that is comparable (to the human eye) to a high-res scan when printed at 300 ppi.
