Celebrating 25 Years of Art Reproduction Experience

I am celebrating 25 years of Art Reproduction. That’s right, I know I do not look old enough but it has been 25 years of being on the cutting edge of reproducing art. My first experiences were capturing art with 35mm film on transparency film. Than on to a Hasselblad capturing 2 1/4 transparencies. The next major step was a Sinar 8×10, capturing 8×10 transparencies. I still use this Sinar today as a 4×5 camera coupled with Super 6k BetterLight Scan Back. www.betterlight.com The quality exceeds what I use to capture with 8×10 film. The key to accurate capture is the combination of the BetterLight sacnning software “View Finder” and a custom Camera ICC Profile that I build using X-Rite’s ProfileMaker 5 and the X-Rite’s ColorChecker Digital SG

I also do some capturing with my DSLR which is a Canon 5D markII. I use this camera with a Canon 50mm Macro f2.5. I shoot in RAW and make a custom camera profile using X-Rite’s ColorChecker Passport. I mostly use this for web scans and smaller reproductions. It works great for impressionist art. The color accuracy is TOTALLY Amazing!!

To complete my copy set up I utilize a Copy wall and Copy Lights built by R and R Copy Systems http://randrcopysystems.com/ This was designed and engineered by my Dad, utilizing my trials and experience copying art. This is a great solution for Hanging and Lighting Art.

The canvas output (shown in Photo) was done on a Canon IPF9100 60″ printer using Canon’s Lucia Ink set. Final output size was 66×54 which made a 60×48 final sized Gallery wrap. Link To Ink Longevity

Link to Canon IPF 9100
The Canvas is Matte Canvas from Premier Imaging Products using Eco Print Shield for canvas Protection and Longevity.
Premier Matte Canvas
Eco Print Shield
I managed the printer profile by making a custom RGB profile using X-Rite’s ProfileMaker 5 Platinum Pro Bundle and X-Rite’s i1iO table.

File Preperation for Large Prints
I recently installed a Canon IPF9100 60″ printer. My workflow up until now was to use the native file that came out of my Canon 5D mark 2. But I have found noticeably better output when interpolating file to a larger DPI than the native file. I have tried all of the algorithms in photoshop (under image size) and found that Bi-cubic Smoother (best for enlargements) works best from the 5 choices in Photoshop. But today I also tried Alien Skin software titled Blow Up 2. http://www.alienskin.com/ It is a little hard to see in my jpegs since I had to down sample files to make viewable on the web. But Blowup does have an advantage. First it comes with a large selection of presets where the programmer has taken out the guess work. These presets work great! I used 40×60 gloss inkjet for this example. It also comes with some other controls that really make it nice: Sharpen edges, Add grain, preserve natural texture, Remove Compression artifacts and a tool for sharpening for your output device. I really like this software and would recommend using it if you do any large prints. It really does a better job in detailed areas and highlights. Notice how much smoother surfers arm is using Blowup. It does make a difference.