I had been doing traditional silver gelatin photographic prints
for Bruce Meade of Hiromi Paper for quite a while. I had also
been learning digital scanning and printing, and about a year
ago I started offering those services in my lab, Silverworks
Photo and Digital Services in Santa Monica.
Itold Bruce about my new service and he asked me to do some
digital prints for him on high quality cotton rag inkjet paper.
He then decided that he wanted to try printing on Japanese
paper. (Gampi Torinoko White Š HP-71).
I scanned his images creating a high-resolution file and printed
13"x19" images on the Gampi paper. I had never printed on
this type of paper before and had no idea what the results
would be.
When you do inkjet digital printing you have to be sure that the
printer knows which type of paper you are using so that it
matches the inks you are using to the paper type-glossy, matte,
etc. This is called profiling and all inkjet printers and
papers have profiles that must be used in order for your system
to decide how to print your images. Printers have driver software
that do this automatically once you tell the system which
paper you are using. You can also create your own custom profiles.
Since Japanese Paper is not inkjet coated I had to figure
out a profile that would produce the best results.
I decided to use the same profiles for Epson Enhance Matte paper
as a starting point. To my surprise the profile I used worked
out and I was able to make truly beautiful prints for Bruce.
After seeing the results that I was able to achieve for Bruce
I wanted to try printing some of my images on Japanese Paper
as well.
I am primarily a black and white photographer for my personal
work and I am very particular as to which paper I print on.
I was very interested in trying new directions for my images
and found the Japanese Papers intriguing.
Bruce was kind enough to bring me several different types
of washi, as Hiromi wanted to have examples of digital printing
on Japanese Paper to show customers. So I made a set of Digital
prints for exhibition in their show room. (Editors note: The
results of this experiment was very successful. To generalize,
the Japanese papers tend to have a slight muting effect on
colors, as the paper absorbs the ink more than coated western
inkjet paper. If your image is one that doesnÕt rely on color
that pops you may want to try printing on washi).
For
my own personal work I decided to use a relatively thin Gampi
(MM-28), but printing on really thin paper creates its own
problem. The printer would crimp the paper because it would
not feed through without getting stuck on the feeding mechanism
at the bottom of the printer. To overcome this problem I have
to pull the paper gently to keep it flat as it comes out of
the printer. (Editors note: Steve made several beautiful black
and white prints on MMN-28, a machine made Gampi. He found
that scanning a transparency provided the highest quality
print.)
Bruce
helped me in my paper choice and I really appreciate his efforts.
I find that I like the thinner papers with warm brown tones
the best, and look forward to trying a variety of Gampi papers.
I have a new and different way to display my images now.
For
technical information I use a PC computer with a Le Cie monitor.
I drive a 2200 Epson printer with Imageprint, a color management
and profiling software. Imageprint is a software that automatically
matches the printer to the computer and basically what you
see on the computer screen is what you will get in the print.
This is the most frustrating part of inkjet printing. Without
a system that matches printer to computer you could end up
spending a lot of time and money and still have prints that
shift color. With Imageprint driving my printer I can be confident
that what I see on the computer screen is what will print.
Of course the quality of the monitor you are using greatly
influences image quality.
or
further information you can contact Steve Cohen at Silverworks
Photo and Digital Services. Phone (310) 392-1972 or silverworksimaging.com.
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