Larry,

So, really what is the attraction? Obviously cheap is part of it, but you could and can get cheap from film. I can understand if you are a portrait/wedding photographer the rationale for some using a web print service to let clients order and pay directly for print reproductions.

But from years of experience using the best pro labs and even with premium custom services, I see nothing attractive about getting machine prints or advantageous when you can make your own prints and obtain exactly the results you want, and that will also look better (not cheap) and last longer. I believe the great advantage digital has provided is it allows much greater creative control as well as the satisfaction of having your own "darkroom" something in the wet days few could afford.

Hi David,

It fills a need for inexpensive high quality prints (8x10s for $1.50) that I don't have time to make myself. I'm not a wedding or portrait photographer. But as a one person business, I sell approximately 4000 prints per year from four web sites and from doing about 20 art shows per year. Photography has never been about printing for me and this is an extension of my philosophy. I try and keep an inventory of my best selling photos but still have to make the 20 minute drive to Costco at least once a week. And it's not only about the printing. I also pay to have mats cut and shipped to me in bulk so I don't have to spend the time doing that either. All of this frees me up to run other computer related businesses so I have multiple streams of income.

Larry,

Thanks for the explanation. Glad you can make something like that work for you. Although not my cup of tea, I have kept abreast of what other photographers are doing locally. At least on a local basis I think there are some significant differences between where you are and here on the California coast.

When Chris and I interviewed Henry Wilhelm two years ago, we had already published an article in a 2002 issue of eDigitalPhoto about using the Fuji Frontier, and Henry (at the time) referred to a Frontier print as the standard by which all digital prints should be judged. Ethan Hansen of Dry Creek Photo collaborated with us. He had been profiling all the Noritsu and Frontier printers in the country for photographers looking to make color accurate inexpensive proof prints when shooting on location. Costco has since hired him to profile their entire chain twice a year.

With the proper image prep in programs like Photoshop, the digital mini lab opens the door for photographers to get inexpensive high quality prints made in a "print on demand" situation with no initial investment.

Rich Seiling says in West Coast Imaging Newsletter of June 1, 2005 www.westcoastimaging.com that Fuju Crystal Archive prints when compared side by side with prints from the Epson 9600 were consistently picked by his customers. He repeated the test. "The results were surprisingly conclusive. "The new Fuji papers have stunning depth, clarity and color purity, resulting in prints that have the three-dimensional tactile quality that is unique to photography." These were prints made on the Chromira vs Epson 9600 Ultrachrome on Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper. Detailed description of the test is at the West Coast Imaging website. I think I know why. It has to do with the intensity of dye colors and luminance when light is filtered thru the glossy emulsion. This gives better D max black and better tonal range wheras pigments on the surface disperse alot of light. Read Photo Techniques More Mastering Digital Photography page 30- Dye-or Pigment Based Inks? by john Paul Caponigro and Jeff Dorgay. They discuss lower tonal range, D max black, and color intensity. One might improve the Epson print by laminating it. I have laminated type C matt prints and been shocked by the increase in D max black, lower tonal range, and color intensity.

There is no objective comparison here in this discussion, even though "customers prefer" because it is a matter of subjective individual taste. Snapshooters in America like a glossy, exaggerated contrast and saturation look because that is what they are used to and think is good. Some people also watch commercial TV and think it's good entertainment!

I'm an old fuddy duddy who grew up with real fiber-based papers and have revered the classic masters like Weston and Adams whose prints now bring thousands of dollars each, and those who have maintained those craft standards and use traditional quality printing media even today, whether B&W or color. To me anything that is or looks like plastic is cheap and looks cheap, what one old friend calls throw-away prints.

It may seem elitist and snobbish, but I really don't care; mass produced, machine-made prints on plastic have little value because little of human value is put into them, not just because the material looks crass and glitzy to me. I don't go to Las Vegas for aesthetic and artistic inspiration, nor do I think the dazzle really inspires much more than superficial awe in anyone. Take a look at what kinds of visual values those same people put into their homes to live with day in and day out.

So, I ask what kind of taste should apply to what we admire as good photographic image quality? It really is a matter of taste, and also maybe what kinds of image qualities please the eye, day in and day out maybe hanging on the wall of where we live.

David,
I'm with you. I like other than glossy. Rag and matte are good. May I ask what you like? Thanks

There is a wide range of choices in inkjet printing media, in part because giclee printing has a significant history, and is also based on closely related art papers (watercolor) that go back centuries. One of the paper mills that makes currently popular fine arts paper in Germany has been in operation continuously for several hundred years. Many of these producers products are pricey, like the Liege Concord Rag hot press paper. And of course Hahnemhule PhotoRag and Schoelenshamer Velvet also have great response to ink producing a high Dmax and have a texture, look and feel that exudes richness and refinement.

However, recently American companies like Moab Paper and Premier Art have come onto the scene with 100% rag archival quality (not ISO rated) that are more affordable and compete well in surface, texture, weight and feel with the classics. Moab Entrada performs very well with all of the Epson pigment ink printers, as does Premier Art Hot Press, and a very unusual new Premier Art Luster Rag which has a printed finish that resembles an air dried double weight glossy silver-based wet darkroom paper like most fine arts photographers have used for years. There are some others that should also be considered as top performers like PermaJet Alpha Fine Art distributed by Jobo Fototechnik.

Even some of the cellulose papers that are much less costly perform pretty well with Epson pigment-ink printers, Like Moab Kayenta.