Why don’t digital prints look the same as they do on my monitor?

www.mindyourprints.com It happens most of the time, you check your pictures before clicking on the print button and yet when they come out, it shows slightly different colors than the ones you initially saw in your monitor. One explanation to this is Metamerism. It occurs when colors change when viewed in different light sources.
Metamerism is a phenomenon which is defined as “two samples which match when illuminated by a particular light source and then does not match when illuminated by a different light source. It is a source of great frustration to the printing industry and is perceived as a negative characteristic of color and not having it would eliminate reproduction problems. What we see in the monitor is emitted light while we use reflected light to view a print out. The nature of both types of light makes color consistency a bit of a challenge. Also, Printers and Monitors produce colors very differently and add to that, photo papers are also different from each other.
In addition, each digital device speaks a different dialect although they may speak the same language which is color. But the language of colors comes in different dialects and is different from each other—RGB varies largely from CMYK. In differing dialects, a similar word may have a slightly different meaning. Likewise, the pure red of one device may not be the same red of another device.
Light has a tendency to bounce off walls and other surfaces and when that happens, it reflects the color of the surface it just bounced off from. If the walls of the room are bright red, then chances are you will have a red cast thrown about the room. If you are working on the computer and are wearing a bright yellow shirt, chances are, some of the yellow will bounce on the monitor’s glass screen.
Because of metamerism, it is impossible to generate a color reproduction that can match under every light source.
There are still ways of reducing this effect though. Color management is a system that can be used to communicate color accurately and efficiently with each other. As mentioned earlier, different devices speak a different dialect and using color management, a sort of interpretation process occurs so that each device understands what the other device wants to say.
Solving the problem with monitor to print matching lies with color managing your system. You may also need to optimize your editing and viewing environment by calibrating. There’s also a need to create a printer profile and preview your images using the printer profiles created.
You should also optimize your viewing light. Select only one light source. Some places may have a mix of light sources: incandescent and fluorescent on at the same time. Only one type of light should be used. Ideally, filtered sunlight through the window would be the best but its intensity and color temperature cannot be controlled. Also, control your working environment by avoiding colored walls or curtains in your work area.
In doing these, we should get relatively accurate color matches between our monitor and prints but do not over expect as well as one cannot really get an absolutely perfect match—as the goal is to come as close as possible.
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Limited edition prints and giclees

www.mindyourprints.com

Limited edition prints vs. giclees

What is a Limited edition print?

-A limited edition print refers to a print, usually on paper, which is a part of a series of a certain amount determined by the artist and/or publisher. The method of producing such prints usually involved silk screen or plate printing. These types of printing require the image to be broken down and translated into a process color (CMYK) or a spot color. The limited series is printed all at once and when completed all means of production are destroyed. In order to make more prints of that image the process would have to be repeated all over again. With traditional methods of production it is impossible to reproduce a previous series exactly. The final product may look like the same quality but will have been produced unavoidably with variations from another series. Sort of like how lightning never strikes in the same place twice.

What is a Giclee?

-A giclee is a relatively new method of print production which involves ink jet technology. The word Giclee actually comes from the french language meaning squirted. Ink jet technology actually ejects each droplet of ink at a time onto the print surface.

Can you make a Limited edition Giclee series?

-Sure, there are ways to limit a series. But, First consider the purpose of limited edition series prints. This is a common marketing method of limiting supply of something to make it more valuable. Paper prints are commonly produced on very inexpensive materials and printed fast. This marketing method made it easier to justify inflating the price point. Now, consider a giclee. To produce a finest quality giclee takes, sometimes, hours. Ink jet technology is now capable of ejecting droplets on a nano scale called picoliters. A picoliter is a trillionth of a liter. That's an unimaginably small about of liquid. What this means is the resolution of a giclee can out perform any previous method of reproduction ever created! This allows for a huge amount of the available digital color to be expressed on a print. Simply put, you get more colors expressed and a much higher level of detail. This means you are dealing with a much higher quality product which, limited or not, allows for a much higher price point.

OK, I dont care. How can I make a limited edition giclee series?

-If you must provide your buyers with something that is a “limited” series I have a few suggestions.

1. Embellished Giclees are the best way to make a limited series. For those of you who are not familiar with Embellished, it simply means you paint over a print with as much or as little as you like. It is common for artist to enhance areas of bright or intense colors but really the possibilities are endless. It is all up to your personal expression. This means that any embellished print is a 1/1 series print. That makes it the Highest value possible because there are no more exactly like it. But, there is no need to number it. You only need to refer to it as “embellished giclee.”

2. Delete any digital record of an image after you have run a completed series is another method of limiting a series. You will need to delete the scan or digital photo file (or any slides or negatives) used to make the print, delete any final copies of the print ready version of the file. Make anyone involved in the process takes the same action. No one can have a copy of the file once the image has been created. So keep track of who was involved like a photographer, scanner, printer, and yourself. This is a sketchy method of limiting a series simply because it is difficult to completely eliminate digital information. A good computer technician could recover deleted data from a hard drive.

3. Resize the image ratio (adjust length and/or width) of the image could also allow you to run similar sizes without truly being an addition to a previous limited series.

A few words of caution

- Keep track of what you print as a limited series. Digital information is exact and if you rerun a print from a series it ethically and technically invalidates the prior “limited series.” If a publisher sold a series of prints and did not destroy all methods of production and then re ran another series using the same plates that company could get in big trouble. As an artist you should still be ethical and responsible about what you are calling limited.

A simple remedy

-Print as many giclees as you want and charge top dollar for them. And charge even more for a “one-of-a-kind embellished giclee.” The technology, method of production, and quality justifies the higher price point. I cant stress quality enough. When it comes to educating your buyer about the product remember quality quality quality! What they are buying is the best that human technology has to offer in the way of print production.

-Mike-

For more services please visit my website www.mindyourprints.com

I cant surf any more so i need to satisfy my urges by painting about it. this is a digital piece i did in about 4 hours. i wanted to have a real loose style with it. Prints are available starting at $15 each. Just email me email@mindyourprints.com. Please visit my website

Hey everyone. I have a new service i would like share. Archive your photos. you can mail me actual pictures or negatives. $1.00 a piece. It is a great idea. Your photos will not get old... ever... Take all your old film pictures and negatives and secure them in digital format forever. If you are interested please click here to contact me.

in focus "canvas stretching vs. mounting

Please check out 2 articles recently published about me. Both are articles by Lexjet published regularly.

The first is an interview where i go into detail about the fine art printing and giclee industry as well as helping people find the right printer to work with.
Tip and Tricks

the second is a comparison between stretching canvas and mounting canvas. Find out which is better just click on the link below.
Canvas Stretching vs. Mounting

frida kahlo

I think she is ugly so i used ugly colors and found an older picture of her.

Its the Geico Cave man. Just kidding. This one is called "deep in thought". It is part of an ongoing series i have been working on for about 2 years now. I have a lot of fun with this series. It is my attempt at social cometary propaganda. If anyone is interested in purchasing a print (up to 24x36) please email me for all of the details. frameartgallery@mindyourprints.com

They start at $15.

fun technique with computing box

Here are a few pieces I had time to do recently. They were inspired by the now famous Obama print by Shepard Fairey. I liked the technique so much I tried it on a few other famous figures and i love the results. They have been a huge success for me as well. If you would like to buy a print of any of these email me at frameartgallery@mindyourprints.com

They start at $15.

I can print them on canvas as well. they look so cool on canvas.