Getting ready for the exhibition, I've been printing up a storm the
past week or two.
The HP 7960 has done yeoman service to print announcement postcards
(for the hundred or so I need, it's cheaper than I've found as yet to
print decent quality color at a print service), business cards,
exhibit tags, all manner of collateral things. I'm surprised at the
quality I'm getting out of it as well as the economy ... I've hardly
touched the two color cartridges, barely touched the black ink tank,
and used about 1/2 of a grayscale cart to output everything so far.
It's operated flawlessly and quickly. The only hitch I've encountered
so far has been the juggling of paper due to the u-turn paper path,
particularly for the announcement post cards. I've been unsuccessful
at making a custom paper size that would print the cards in one run,
so each sheet (two cards per sheet) gets run through two times to
print the addressing information on upper and lower cards, and then
once again to print the announcement on both.
The Epson R2400 is making the final presentation prints. It also has
operated flawlessly and with extreme consistency. I've consumed one
whole set of ink carts in the making of perhaps 160 prints from 5x7
to A3 in size. I'm very glad I bought this printer.
I did some testing with Fine Art Velvet vs Epson Enhanced Matte
papers. There's no question whatever that the Fine Art Velvet is a
nicer paper, producing a more brilliant result, but I found that with
suitable minor adjustments to the tonal curve I can produce results
that are so nearly as good on Epson Enhanced Matte, once you put both
behind glass with a matte, that I am producing the show prints on
EEM. (My plan is to provide Fine Art Velvet prints on orders rather
than for the exhibit itself.)
This allows me to use automation more effectively since I can stack
load the printer for the show prints and reduces production costs
substantially. I wrote actions for Photoshop which automate printing
three different sizes of prints for the whole set. I must be getting
lightheaded at having this stuff come out because I'm getting a
thrill out of seeing a very nice, fully finished stack of 20 custom-
cut 5x7s pop out of the printer in a half hour or so.
I produced three sets like this so far and have been using one of
them to help organize and arrange the photos. And let me tell you,
there is such a huge difference between looking at a nice print and
looking at a photo on even an excellent computer screen. The tactile
qualities of the paper, the micro interaction of the surface texture
with the ink and image, the dynamics of handling the print ...
Although I love looking at photographs on a good computer screen,
there's simply nothing like a good print. And an modest size print,
something in the 5x7 to 11x14 range, is a much more intimate viewing
experience than the big ones too.
fun stuff. I'm in the bomb run now, waiting for the clouds to clear.
There's a lot of work yet to do before Sunday when I do the
installation, but it's all getting done in an efficient manner
without rushing. This is fun.
Godfrey
- "Ramsey" - http://www.gdgphoto.com
