Here are some of the most common questions that seem to come up from our customers about Giclee printmaking:
Why are Giclee prints more expensive than standard photo lab prints?
The Giclee process is time intensive and requires expensive museum quality paper and archival inks.
What is distinctive about Giclee Printmaking?
Giclee prints are produced on heavy weight fine art papers which impart a rich look and feel that cannot be duplicated on standard resin-coated photographic papers.
Where should Giclee Printmaking fit into my product line?
Giclee prints are best suited for wall portraits and should be your premium, most expensive product. Because of the distinctively rich look of the Giclee portait, it can meet the needs of your more discriminating, "high-end" customers who enjoy purchasing the very best that their money will buy.
Can you suggest some descriptive phrases to use in my marketing materials?
First, let me say that marketing begins with your attitude about your craft. The following words and phrases will only be as powerful as your own passion for creating something beautiful for your clients...here is a selection in no particular order that you can mix and match to whatever suits you:
classic, gallery, exhibition, fine art, museum quality, watercolor paper, rag paper, fiber paper, artist's canvas, richly textured, archival inks, distinctive, timeless, heirloom, salon borders, elegant yet understated, a masterpiece of photographic craftsmanship, hand-rendered in finest detail and vivid beauty, classic beauty of black & white , subtle tonality
For those of you who would like to contribute to this list, simply leave a comment with your suggestions.
Do I need to prep my digital files before submitting them for Giclee Printmaking?
The bulk of our customers have chosen to stay off the Photoshop "learning curve" and feel it is more cost effective to simply upload their straight-from-the-camera images and let us do all the work (just like the old days of film when you sent in your neg and the lab did the rest) We can also accommodate customers who are ICC profiled and wish to supply "ready-to-print" files.
How do I communicate what work I want done?
As with any custom printmaker, the basic adjustments are automatically made to our best judgment to make the finest possible print, according to the photographers known style and taste and the particular type of image to be worked on (ie, subject, lighting, etc.); no specific direction would be required. This would include adjusting for proper contrast, density, color balance, skin tone, and sharpening, plus light facial retouching, local burning and dodging and removal of distracting elements. Specific directions would be needed for size, cropping, special effect, BW or sepia conversion, border style, heavy retouching, paper choice/finish and mounting, along with any changes from the photographer's default style.
So where does the "Printmaker's Vision" fit into all of this?
The workflow described above is typical of our day-to-day fulfillment of orders for the photographer's customers, and we would be printing to the photographer's own "creative vision" and established style, not injecting our own ideas into the work. Our vision as printmakers comes into play when consulting photographers in developing new product styles, producing print samples for the studio and especially in competition printmaking (most of the examples in the "creative vision" posts are comp prints) .
Do Giclee Prints require any special care?
Just like any piece of fine art, they should be kept from direct sunlight, extreme heat or humidity. Classic gallery-style display, matted and glassed with a simple frame will provide protection with an elegant look. Larger prints may be hung without glass protection by choosing our DuraFiber Media Option which provides a waterproof, scuff-free finish.
I trust this has been helpful. For those of you not familiar with the look of Giclee prints, I can send you printed samples of the various surfaces we work on...just shoot me an email with your mailing address.
You may find this post helpful as well: "Giclee Paper Choices and Applications"
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1 comments:
A very informative post. I had never heard of giclee, much less learned how to pronounce it, until attending a local art show last year. I purchased three on paper right then. I know you're more into the photographic end of the visual arts but the idea of putting a digitally-prepared painting on canvas just seems a bit deceptive to me. And putting a photo on canvas just doesn't make sense.
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