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Do galleries and museums accept giclée prints? Many galleries deal in giclée prints as they can resell items that are "hot" many times. Museums have displayed prints for many years. This depends more on the reputation of the artist. What are giclée prints worth? How much can I sell my giclée prints for? How do they add value to my original? Giclée prints are sold for at least several times to many times what they cost the artist. When you sell your original, you are still selling your limited edition at a fairly good percentage of the original's selling price. How does "print on demand" work? What do I pay for up front? How long will you keep my files? Is there a charge for keeping them? Will future prints be the same as the first prints in an edition? What is a typical edition size? You order the work "up front" and determine how many you need for distribution and show. You pay for the number of prints, the proofs and archived match print and any setup charges including digital capture. For future runs, you only pay for the prints you order and any ancillary charges... unless it has been more than a year. It is possible we may have to go back and recalibrate to match to your archived match print and you would have to pay for that. If you have not ordered anything in a year, we can not guarantee that we can archive your file. It is a good idea to keep a CD or hard disk copy of all your own files as a backup. Are giclée prints the same as Iris prints? Giclée prints are sometimes mistakenly referred to as Iris prints, which are 4-color ink-jet prints pioneered in the late 1970s by Iris Graphics. Are my 35 mm slides suitable for reproduction? Can you scan artwork directly? What are the advantages of having Swanson Images create the digital files from my original artwork? Is it safe to send my original artwork to you? Can I get a CD with copies of my digital files for my own use? Can I get slides of my digital scans? This depends on the quality of the 35mm slide and the size of the reproduction desired. Sometimes it is not a good idea...other times it will work well for small prints. Small artwork can be scanned directly. Mostly we use a very high end digital camera to capture the image. Swanson Images capturing your artwork gives us quality control from the beginning. Sending artwork to us is as safe as the carrier you send it with. Once it is with us we take the greatest care with it and will not keep it any longer than needed. It is recommended that you archive the digital files we create to make your prints. We have a very reliable source for making slides from the digital files. Can I send you my own digital files? We are happy to work with your files, though sometimes we may have to charge for extra work calibrating and matching the files to our system. They must be the highest quality files, though, to guarantee good results. Can you make a giclée print from an image I took with my digital camera? Certainly, if it is of a high enough quality. Can my web image be copied and reproduced? Very unlikely, the resolution is too low and usually not suitable for print. How large should my digital files be? This depends on the size of the reproduction desired. We do not like to work with much less than 15 megabyte files for smaller prints and prefer at least 30 megabyte files for good sized ones. What format should I use? Save your files as TIFs with LZW compression (to save space) or flattened Photoshop PSDs. LZW is a lossless compression that does not degrade the image quality. On the contrary, JPG compression is a lossy compression. Avoid opening and resaving JPG files as this may degrade color fidelity and image sharpness. What color profile should I use? Compose your color files in the Adobe RGB 98 workspace. A printed RGB color output swatch is available on request. Why convert and work in RGB instead of CMYK? RGB has a broader gamut that more closely matches the number of colors in paintings. CMYK is for production on offset printers. How do I color balance my image in Photoshop? This can be a complex process that requires a great deal of practice and study. This can't be answered here. How do I properly sharpen an image in Photoshop? The un-sharp mask filter is the way to do this, though you must be careful not to over-sharpen. Can a giclée print convey the texture of my original? Only in so far as the properly textured media is chosen. One must be careful not to chose a conflicting texture to the original, since, when capturing the image, some of the brush stroke/paper texture of the original is captured. This, though, is largely an esthetic choice. Artists who work in oils or acrylics with heavy layers of paint may want to convey the look to their prints. To reproduce this impasto effect, the artwork is specially lighted to create highlights and shadows on the relieved paint. The lighting effect is captured via professional photography. Simply scanning the work will not capture this depth of texture, rather, the image will render flat. How large of an image can you print? Our printers can make prints up to 44" wide. What is your match print proofing process? Where is your studio located? Can I come work with you in person? How do you handle proofing if I can't be there in person? After capture, the image is studied on the screen and when ready a proof print or strip (in the case of very large prints) is made and compared to the screen image and to the original work. This is repeated until the closest match possible is achieved. We are located in beautiful Weed, California, under the watch of majestic Mt. Shasta. Artists are more than welcome to participate in the matching process by appointment. When the artist can not be here in person to approve proofs, then we ship the proofs to you, and you send them back with your approval or comments. Do photographers print on watercolor papers? How do you choose the right paper for my print? Can you print on canvas? Can I stretch canvas giclée prints? Can I add to giclée prints, over-painting or enhancing them? Yes, photographers use all sorts of papers to reproduce their work. Choosing the right papers requires some study on your part and experience. We will help you make the best choice. Canvas is very commonly used for reproducing artwork.. even photographs. The canvas we work with can be stretched. Giclée prints are ideal for overpainting and multi-media art work. Do I need to copyright my work? If you are going to sell your images for advertising or have any concern about your work being "stolen" you should register it with the copyright office. It is a good idea in any case. If your work is published this becomes very important for you protection. To learn more about copyright go to www.asmp.org for more information. How long will my prints last? What sort of coating or protection should I use? Under optimum circumstances, these giclée prints will last from 40 to possibly hundreds of years. For the best information on this subject go to www.wilhelm-research.com to learn more about the tests that are done on these and many other kinds of papers. |
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Home | Business Printing | Photography Services | Limited Edition Giclee Printing | Scans & Imaging | Links & Resources Swanson Images - ArtistiControl PO Box 26, Weed CA 96094 530-938-0600 bob@swansonimages.com Image © Carol Wilder. All rights reserved. Website materials © 2005 Bob Swanson. All rights reserved. |