The Process of Making a Fine-Art Inkjet Print or "Giclee".

First an artwork is captured or scanned (see the digital capture section for a full explanation).
The image is carefully cropped and cleaned ( scanned film requires significant cleaning). Then we begin the process of proofing.
Proofing ( color correcting) an image is a skilled and nuanced activity, which requires both an intimate knowledge of the
software involved as well as an artistic eye. We proof an image on the medium on which you intend to make your final print.
Once we are satisfied with the proof we ask the artist to come in to the studio and approve the print for final output.
Only when you, the artist are perfectly satisfied with the proof, and sign-off on it, will it be printed.
Giclee, is a term coined by Jack Duganne from the early days of digital printmaking, to describe a fine-art quality ink-jet print.

" I'm not a professional photographer, can you print my digital photgraphs ?"

Absolutely Yes ! Although we offer specialist fine-art print services, we are more than happy to print your digital photographs.
Modern digital cameras usually have sufficient resolution (megapixels) to print good quality images. We can print your images
on either a matte finish paper or one of two gloss/satin papers. All our papers are acid-free, archival, cotton rag papers.
If you approve the print on sceen without going through a detailed proofing process, we can reduce the cost to you by 30%.

Please see our pricing page for more details.

What media can I print on ?

The fine-art digital printing realm has seen an explosion of archival papers and canvas in recent years. We have tested and come up with
a range of papers and canvas we use, which we feel are some of the best available today.
Watercolor Papers: We use Crane Museo Max, Epson Someset Velvet and Espon textured Fine Art. Epson Enhanced Matte (also known as premium presentation matte)
All of these are premium archival, acid-free, cotton- rag papers. In addition the Crane papers do not use any optical brighteners to enhance the white point of the paper.
Gloss Photographic Papers: We use Crane Museo Silver Rag, Hahnemule Baryta Photo Rag, Espon Exhibition Fiber and Harman Gloss FB
All of these are premium photographic papers which demonstrate incredible dynamic ranges, color accuracy, D-Max, Perfect Neutrals and a range of surfaces to suit your needs.
Canvas: We have settled on Breathing Color Brilliance Chromata White Matte Canvas as our only canvas.
Significant testing has shown this to be a beautiful, very slightly textured, extremely stable canvas with excellent color characteristics.
Other: We are also able to print on fabrics, adhesive backed vinyl and vellum. The list is not exhaustive, so please call us to discuss
using any of these or other media.

Digital Color Management

A digital file is a set of numbers which contains the color information of every pixel in an image. However these numbers are interpreted differently by computer monitors and printers.
The science of how you translate this color information from one device to another is part of what is called color mangement. In addition every single medium or substrate (eg. paper or canvas)
will print the same digital file differently.
As a result each medium needs to have its own individual "profile"or tag to tell the printer how it should render colors for that particular medium. Profiles or ICC Output Profiles are often created
by companies like Epson or paper manufacturers, but these tend to be generic and not as accurate as a carefully made custom profile for a unique printer and medium setup.
Another dimension to color management is how you instruct the printer to behave; the software which does this is called the printer driver. Most printmakers will use generic drivers provided by equipment manufacturers. At Barry Norris Studio we have invested a significant amount of time and money to test color management software and implement an industry leading color management solution.
We custom make all of our profiles as well as our printer drivers in-house. Consequently our prints display the greatest possible color accuracy, shadow detail, black density, color saturation and smooth transitions in tones. This means you get superbly accurate fine-art prints which look much like your original artwork.

Archiving and Asset Management.

As soon as we print an image for you we automatically archive the digital file with all of our adjustments in an array of hard drives in a mirrored raid configuration with an offsite copy at all times,
making it very unlikely that your image could ever be lost. We will also prepare and send files for adverts, catalogs etc. All of these services are provided free of charge to our clients.

Equipment.

We have worked with every generation of wide format Epson printers using Pigment Inks. We currently print on Epson 9800 and 11880 printers using Epson Ultrachrome K3 and K3 Vivid Magents pigment inks. We expect to start printing with the newly released Epson 9900 early next year.

Is my artwork protected ?

Prints on paper should be treated like any orginal watercolor, photograph or pastel. They should be mounted or framed, behind glass and out of direct sunlight. Prints on canvas are typically stretched
rather than framed. As a consequence they are more vulnerable to damage. The canvas we use is a very durable and largely waterproof canvas, however it is still vulnerable to dirt and scuffing
or scratching. This is why we laminate all of our canvas prints with a film laminate specially created for this purpose in a heat- vacuum press which melts the fine laminate into the surface
of the canvas, while preserving its texture. The laminate comes in either a satin or matte finish.

Can you drymount prints, stretch canvas or frame art. ?

We offer a full drymounting service on archival foamcore. We can also stretch your canvas prints for you. See pricing for details .We do not offer any framing services but can recommend excellent local framers.

File submission

Please submit files in TIFF, RAW or JPEG format at 300 pixels per inch (commonly called dpi). For otherr formats like PSD, EPS, AI, INDD or PDF please call first.

For pricing please click here