All Fine Art Printers are not created equal! If you see a printer that asks for your images to be uploaded as 8-bit jpegs in the sRGB colorspace? You might wish to rethink that printer. This is typically a high volume print factory and not someone looking to print the highest quality Fine-Art Print.
The Most Important Step
The most important step to awesome fine art prints is file preparation within a proper color-managed workflow.
a. This means your systems should be set to edit your Photographic Raws in the Adobe RGB 1998 color space, 16-bit tiff file format, and using a calibrated monitor.
b. Not all Monitor Calibration devices are created equal. I recommend the Xrite i1 Display Pro
c. Don’t worry if you’re not set up this way currently – I can still assist you.
The Proper Paper.
All prints do not belong to one paper. We have adopted the Canson Infinity line as our main paper supplier. Canson is the leading Fine Art Paper Mill, located in France and founded in 1557. Currently, Canson manufactures 22 different Fine Art Papers and Canvas. For more on Canson’s 460+ years of history, Click Here. Our secondary line is Moab, also part of the Canson Infinity Family. Our third paper mill is Hahnemühle, which has been in existence since 1886. I also stock Awagami. A beautiful handmade Japanese Washi Paper. This paper is highly specialized and seldom seen as an option with any print lab. With our Boutique Lab experience, you obtain a very large choice of Fine Art Papers that will enhance your art with a signature all it’s own. I stock the entire Canson Infinity Line. Within the four paper mills I mentioned, and others, I stock over forty different papers to choose from.
Custom ICC Profiles
Custom ICC Profiles are created between our monitor, the specific printer, the specific inks, and the specific paper. This results in a very specialized “prescription” for proper prints. A good analogy would be like a prescription pair of glasses so that your eyes can see correctly. Not all printers are the same, even from the specific model and manufacturer. We are dialed in perfect, using custom ICC profiles created on the Barbieri Spectro LFP. This profiler is considered the creme de la creme in the color management industry. Very few labs use this technical and expensive profiler. We consider ourselves very lucky to be one of them. Our Lab is also completely dialed in with proper lighting, humidity levels, and as dust free an environment as possible.
The Proper Printer
The proper printer should have archival quality pigment-based inks. Not Solvent type printers like the “big-box” boys use. We have adopted a line of Professional Photo Printers we now consider to be the finest. Through the years we have learned many a hard lesson when it comes to printer manufactures. We now use the latest and greatest equipment out there with a 12 color Lucia Pro Pigment Ink System which is far superior to other manufactures 8 or 9 color systems. The dynamic range and up to 200-year archival quality will blow you away. The prints will be the best you’ve ever seen and held!