Does anyone do their own printing?

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I print my own photographs on an Epson 7800, which is one of the so-called "giclee" printers. I like the subtle image control it gives me, and the instant proofing makes it easy to zero in on a great print in fairly short time.

There are various online sources where you can buy non-exclusive rights to semi-professional and professional photographs at a very low price. One example is iStockPhoto, don't know if this is necessarily the best, there are many others...

www.istockphoto.com/index.php

You can also browse websites like these, and then contact the authors about rights to reproduce their photos...

www.pbase.com
www.photo.net

Or you can contact the local photo clubs and negotiate with local photographers (usually amateurs) for rights to use their photographs. Giclees with strong local interest is one area where there may be some real advantage to doing it yourself.

The cost of making giclees is about $3 to $7 per square foot if you factor in all the real expenses like paper, canvas, ink, repairs, shipping, depreciation, replacement of torn out hair, etc. It's very easy to fool yourself with these numbers, be careful when you do your estimates. That puts home-brew giclees a little more expensive than good quality printing-press prints.

You also have to devote quite a bit of time learning how to apply color management principles to your printing, which is much more complicated than it should be. Non-geeks need not apply.
 
This is dangerous territory

Many framers will decry the "encroachment" of our industry by photogs and other retailers that simply are ruining our industry by offering framing services

I wonder if this ought to be left to those imaging experts

Okay, I am being sarcastic, but don't most of us feel we ought to explore areas that we wish to expand our biz base?

May i suggest that the best opportunity available to learn, visit, see and explore everything about this will be in Las Vegas end of Jan at the PMA/PPFA Convention? It'll blow you away
 
The Light Room, Berkeley

And they don't do framing. Then you can take the piece to your local independent framer who will know how to frame it properly. There is also information on this site regarding handling of the giclee print.

Why are you asking this, eMart, when you are already offering the service on your site?

Nice to see you back for a bit, Bob. Our best wishes to Debi.
 
Bob Carter said:
Many framers will decry the "encroachment" of our industry by photogs and other retailers that simply are ruining our industry by offering framing services...but don't most of us feel we ought to explore areas that we wish to expand our biz base?
Click to expand...

Those who find themselves decrying need to either alter their business model to better suit their market, or move to a market that fits their desired business model. The second is optimal, but the first requires less heavy lifting.

Compared to other businesses I have rubbed up against, framing seems particularly old fashioned in many of its attitudes and institutions. Might be time for a major redefinition of its place in the market.

So Bob, what's going to blow us away in Vegas? Will it be worth the trip?
 
Hey Bill-The PMA/PPFa Convention will be "The Mothership" for Digital Imaging. Everybody that sells and services these wide format printers (and so much more) will fill the Vegas Convention Center

For more info go to PMAi.org

Thanks Kirstie-We have had great news lately
 
Kirstie said:
Why are you asking this, eMart, when you are already offering the service on your site?
Click to expand...

I'm asking because I am considering adding framing to my services and was wondering if it's a stupid idea. I already use two really good framers to frame the prints that I do make. Most of my customers (all of them artists) prefer to choose their own framers even though I recommend these two in my area. So I was thinking if I brought framing in house if it would be a good idea. But then I started thinking, will I need to then keep a stock of prints? Or would customers be agreeable to using a print-on-demand service?

It's difficult for me because as an art consultant, I think it's more important to have a reputation of not pushing my own inventory. However, is it more profitable to turn my business into a gallery and abandon the art consulting thing? I'm at a point in my life where I think I'd rather work in my own store than have to travel to meetings and customer locations. Not to mention, the photography side of things can get pretty hectic.

In short, I'm trying to decide what to do when I grow up. I feel like I'm offering too many services, and I need to concentrate on just a few. So if I seem like I'm all over the place, it's because I am.
 
Also, the reason why I'm asking about where to get images from is that I read somewhere that some publishing company is offering a print-on-demand service. I think the company was called Bright Star or something like that. I was wondering if anyone else was doing something similar.
 
Do you need the really large format printers or can you use the 13"x17-19" size for giclee?

I've been thinking of upgrading my printer when my Epson C84 stops working.
 
Sure, a giclee is pretty much whatwe say it is. Basically an inkjet print, hopefully done to high standards. I have an 13" wide Epson 2400 that does great prints, second to none in quality. My wife uses it to make prints on Velvet Fine Art Paper which look simply ravishing, some of best looking prints in any medium that I have ever seen, you can't even get that paper bigger than 13 x 19.

Compared to my 7800 we pay about twice as much for the same coverage with the tiny 2400 cartridges, and it seems like we are constantly replacing them. But no gripes about quality, the quality of the 2400 prints is equal to any top quality printer I 've seen.

I think the 2400 has been superceded by something newer, I'm sure it's at least as good.

Not sure if the 2400 can print canvas, however. If that's what you're interested in you'd better talk to Epson, their tech support is great.
 
the shop that I am associated with does giclee printing, (they are a graphics shop), but they do alot of art reproduction for local artists. I in turn do benefit from this, I get alot of corporate jobs that they print, do alot of canvas stretching that they print, etc. because we are at the same location. Are you looking to do your own work or do you print for other people? I think these services can go together well, depending on your market...
 
Well I run mine with a Windows XP PC over a USB port, have had no problems at all. I notice on the Yahoo "Epson Wide Format Forum" that Mac people seem to have more trouble with it than PC people, may have to do with the Mac Epson drivers being less well developed at this point.

I was thinking of getting a Mac, but Apple has lately been turning into the robber-baron of computing. My perception of goodbuy/badguy has swung strongly in favor of the far more open and egalitarian PC platform. I have done a lot of Photoshopping on both platforms. As I can see there is no extra fairy dust associated with the Mac version, in spite of what Apple would like you to think. If you have wires coming out of your ears, go for the Mac...if not, a PC will serve you well and obsolesce a lot slower.
 
Epson 2400 on canvas

I use the Epson 2400 with canvas and get great results. The is no profile for the canvas :shrug: but I use the watercolor paper profile and it works great. Canvas stertches well and seems to not need restretching. I am using the roll canvas from Epson and the only con that I can see is that patience is needed in loading the canvas. If you can schedule printing multiple canvas prints at a time you will probably do it more often!!!


Tom
 
Did you get this figured out?
If for some reason you are still looking let us know the maximum size your are wanting to print. Epson has some new offerings and HP has the Z3100 series that is excellent as well. Wilhelm testing has the inksets from the Z3100 series rates as longer lasting than the newest Epson pigment sets.
 
You will all probably laugh, but when we have the occasional Dig. Custom delay for revisions and whatnot, or a customer who is in a super hurry, I have printed very nice looking prints on my $100.(?) Photosmart HPD7360 with Vivera inks and HP Premium Pus paper. Not bad at all!
 
After doing some checking with friends who have done this successfully I have some more considerations you might look at.

If you don't match paper and inks you invite premature ageing and fading of prints. The wrong combination can take a 100 year expected life and change it to less than two years before noticeable fading occurs.

How many fine art papers will you offer and carry? This gets expensive at times. Good paper is not cheap and carrying it takes more space. Handling it wrong and you get a wrinkle in the paper. Fail to brush the surface of some papers and you get 'paper dust' that then falls off on display, leaving white spots on the face of the print.

Then you have the ever changing supply of papers. Get used to one that works great and the factory 'improves' it and your results suddenly change. A few years ago Crane had an excellent paper that tested to 100 years plus life expectance but was not considered an inkjet paper. Crane tweaked it to be more 'inkjet friendly' and the life of the images dropped to the two year range.(according to Henry Wilhelm, formost testing lab for image permanence)

Then there is the inkset usage. Clogged heads. Drying inks. Minor glitches or splotches that ruin a print. You cannot depend on 'one sheet, one print'. You will need to factor in the waste paper and ink cost. Easy to do but some I talked with said it took them some time to really get a handle on it and their tech reps were not too accurate with it before they purchase and usually estimated it too low.

Doing your own printing will give you some great options. Just make sure the profit is there, whether in the prints themselves or the other services you can sell.

It is not difficult to get good looking prints with many of the newer printers and papers. Before jumping in try to see on site, hands on demonstrations of the printers you are considering. Right now HP has longer lasting inks with a greater color gamut than Epson. Canon has long life estimates... but that is in dark storage. In the light Canon is way behind the competition. That will probably change but for now they are playing catch up. Epson has many good printers and good inksets. HP is the current leader in the rating for how long the inks will last on paper.

Good luck in your search.
 
I am getting out of the framing end (will outsource it all) to concentrate on the giclee and original art selling end - 14 years of framing and retail was enough. You just have to do the math, look at the margins, the type of time spent (marketing over the internet vs one at a time educating vs Michael's advertising and the 50% permanent reactions by the independants here), and when I can fit a framing job like I can print (keyboarding) then I'll reconsider framing again!! Let someone else worry about that fleck of dust under the glass after the archival paper backing is on (grrr!!). Smiles all, Steve.
 
Have been doing some printing using papers from http://www.breathingcolor.com and they do look good. Was put on to them by a friend using their work for his gallery prints. Papers only come in rolls so I cut them down for my printing. Very good DMax and clear colors. 100% rag papers that don't yellow. The canvas really looks nice, especially when coated with their Veneer which I apply using an airbrush.

It is worth the trouble and cost to order a sample roll of the paper/canvas and see how good your prints can be. The quality is high and the prints look good. If you use the veneer coating be sure to wait 5 hours or longer for it to fully dry like they say. If you don't, you are asking for trouble.
 
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