The Costs Of Prints?
Starcap 50
A few weeks ago, I started a thread on this newsgroup inquiring about some
ideas about how to go about selling a friend's paintings on the internet.
This friend is a naturalist whose paintings depict settings in such places as
the Amazon Forest (which he has visited many times) with a surrealistic
quality.
A partner who wants to work with me on this project wants to try a different
approach then merely trying to sell his originals.
What he wants to do is to take photographs of these paintings and take them to
a photography shop which will make prints of these paintings, and then enlarge
these prints to the original size of these paintings (or close to it), then
display images of these prints on the internet, and then offer the prints for
sale.
In other words, we are now placing priority upon the selling of quality prints
of his paintings. We will announce that the originals can be sold, but only
by "private consultation" or something like that.
We would like some advice as to how to go about doing this. Here are our
questions:
1) Can a regular camera be used to make acceptable photographs suitable for
making high quality prints? Or would a digital camera be preferred? We want
these prints to come out with the best quality possible.
2) How is the cost for making one print determined? Is it based upon square
inches or square feet of the enlargement of the print?
3) As a basis for comparison, what would be a reasonable price for making a
high quality print of an oil painting, enlarged to the original size of that
painting, which measures, say, 4 feet by 3 feet.
4) Can you recommend a nationally recognized photography shop which does
this kind of work?
Once we take the pictures of the paintings, we will take them to the
photography shop, where we will ask for the pictures to become digitalized on a
compact disk.
With this disk, we will display images of these paintings on the internet and
display the sale prices of the prints as well.
If we get any orders for these prints, we will get them done at the photography
shop. What we want to know is a reasonable cost per square unit (inches or
feet) for making these prints and whether a digital camera is preferred.
Any and all information and suggestions will be deeply appreciated. Thanks in
advance.
Very Sincerely,
Dennis
Erik A. Mattila
Dennis, search for an IRIS printing service in your area. "IRIS" is a
digital printer manufactured by Scitex, but there are other brands that
are competitive. You will pay an initial set-up fee, which includes
digitizing the original artwork and color correction, and then a per
unit price which is very reasonable. Prices vary wildly, so it pays to
shop around. With current inkjet technology, you can get an end product
with better archival attributes than chemical (photographic) reproductions.
Another good thing about this is the "print on demand" feature. Once
your art is scanned and corrected, the digital file is available to use
again on a per-unit price only. So your initial investment is much
smaller, plus you don't have a large inventory that you would have to
pay taxes on.
Erik
>
>
Neil Maxwell
>
>1) Can a regular camera be used to make acceptable photographs suitable for
>making high quality prints? Or would a digital camera be preferred? We want
>these prints to come out with the best quality possible.
Some feedback on the gear question:
There are digital cameras that are competitive with most film cameras
on quality now. Optics and lighting are much more of an issue than
the actual capture medium, and art lighting is an artform in itself.
Ultimately, a lot depends on how much you want to enlarge; once your
enlargement and sharpness needs get out of the 35mm/digital arena (and
3 ft may be a problem, depending on the art and print technology),
medium format film is about your only option.
Film cameras throw in additional variables - film type, developing,
scanner - that don't exist with digital, and add a lot of complexity
to the situation.
If you're not already a film photo buff, I'd start with a good
digital, like a Canon 10D or Nikon D1X, knowing that you could switch
to a same-brand film body if necessary and keep your large investment
in quality glass. A Canon 300D or Nikon D70 would also do for less
money.
At a rough guess, you could get started for $1000 in a camera body,
$1000 worth of lens(es), and $1000 worth of lighting. You could
easily double those numbers, too.
Neil Maxwell - I don't speak for my employer
Inchy Lahda
>Dennis, search for an IRIS printing service in your area. "IRIS" is a
>digital printer manufactured by Scitex, but there are other brands that
>are competitive.
I thought the IRIS process had been largely
replaced by the GICLEE one? I see ads all the
time for print shops that advertise Giclee
printing. I know it's a generic term,
but that's what the ads say. They don't mention
the specific printer normally.
As for asking about photographing the art work,
if you have to ask, then you need to ask a
professional print shop, or a professional
photographer to do this for you. Many print
shops prefer to take their own photos for such
things as posters and advertising art. They
already have the camera setup for doing so, usually.
Dr. Slick
>
> What he wants to do is to take photographs of these paintings and take them to
> a photography shop which will make prints of these paintings, and then enlarge
> these prints to the original size of these paintings (or close to it), then
> display images of these prints on the internet, and then offer the prints for
> sale.
>
>
> questions:
>
> 1) Can a regular camera be used to make acceptable photographs suitable for
> making high quality prints? Or would a digital camera be preferred? We want
> these prints to come out with the best quality possible.
Hi. I'm doing the same sort of thing, making prints of my work.
I've found that the 4x5 transparency format is the best for medium
and larger paintings, used with Tungsten lights. This will set you
up for any sort of reproductions you may need.
If you don't want to get into large format photography, get
someone who
has experience photographying ART to do the job.
>
> 2) How is the cost for making one print determined? Is it based upon square
> inches or square feet of the enlargement of the print?
>
> 3) As a basis for comparison, what would be a reasonable price for making a
> high quality print of an oil painting, enlarged to the original size of that
> painting, which measures, say, 4 feet by 3 feet.
>
Talk to your local Giclee printer. I've found that after getting
my
24"x30" paintings back printed on canvas (not stretched), that the
cost was about $60-70 or so each.
If you plan to sell on Ebay, i wouldn't stretch them on bars, as
the
shipping costs are greatly reduced. Try to have the buyer do that
locally.
> 4) Can you recommend a nationally recognized photography shop which does
> this kind of work?
>
> Once we take the pictures of the paintings, we will take them to the
> photography shop, where we will ask for the pictures to become digitalized on a
> compact disk.
>
The alternative to the 4x5 transparency is the very high
resolution
digital cameras that some Giclee printers have. The file size for
each painting
is huge, like a gig or so. Sometimes it's actually an older large
format
camera with a new digital "back" that has a CCD sensor where the film
used to be.
Anyhow, ask more questions from your local Giclee printer will
get you farther along.
Slick
Dr. Slick
> In article <4087FF0E...@oco.net>, emat...@oco.net says...
>
> >Dennis, search for an IRIS printing service in your area. "IRIS" is a
> >digital printer manufactured by Scitex, but there are other brands that
> >are competitive.
>
> I thought the IRIS process had been largely
> replaced by the GICLEE one? I see ads all the
> time for print shops that advertise Giclee
> printing. I know it's a generic term,
> but that's what the ads say. They don't mention
> the specific printer normally.
>
the industry standard for Giclee printing, which
is really just a fancy term for ink-jet printing
with archival inks and paper.
Some of the other printer like Epson and such
are getting quite popular.
Slick