Photomontage

[habakuk]

I was able to sell yet another pair of my shots. To visualize the final framing and hanging on the wall, I usually mount the pictures inside a virtual frame of the proper color, dimension and even with a simulated matte. This is how it looks.



I just wanted to share that with you.

cheers
®

[eob]

Congratulations! Did you sell them as one unit to the same buyer or as separate works? Both are great and they do belong together. I bet you could find a third similar and worthy shot and sell them all as a triptych...

Yes, virtual framing and matting in this particular context makes sense...

[aprilS]

Congratulations!!!

They are a beautiful pair.

I've also begun "virtual framing" before ordering all the pieces parts for presentation. It gives me much more confidence in the investment of materials.

[habakuk]

Thank you. I sold them to the same customer. I was able to sell quite a number of my shots recently and very often two pieces together. I also provide the framing and stuff. I have now a pretty good connection to a local framing specialist and this is a big advantage. Good service, price and consultation.

I sold 10 photographs, two really huge (like: 35x47"), six in 16x24" and two smaller ones after my exhibition "Anderswelt" in Bern. After that, I sold a couple more to people who have seen the pictures that I sold previously. All in all I can be very happy as I haven't done any effort in advertising.

It's a satisfying feeling to see people enjoying the framed shots well enough to provide them a nice place in their home.

cheers
®

[eob]

Way to go, Roland! I am happy for you.

May I ask, which technique was used to print those big prints? Or, simpler, what kind of printer was used?

[aprilS]

May I ask, which technique was used to print those big prints? Or, simpler, what kind of printer was used?

I'd also like to know, as I'd be terrified to print that large. Did you step up in test prints to gauge how well the image would hold up...?

[habakuk]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think they used a inkjet to produce those prints. They certainly do up to 80x60cm...
And no, April, I was much more adventurous... I ordered a few test prints at various print shops and picked the one that I liked best in terms of color accuracy, media quality and service. Then I ordered a print in a smaller size and checked that it works ok. Then I simply went for the big size. The price was rather moderate.

The main problem is to handle those huge shots... framing is inacceptably expensive, especially if you want really good glass. So I chose to glue them onto a polystyrol plate. In fact, I let that do someone who does that professionally. But even then, the difference in the dilation/expansion coefficient of the paper and the polystyrol made them bend inapproprately when hanged in the sunlight. So I also had to glue a thin wooden cross to the rear of the plate.

All in all, the print certainly isn't really very high quality. I also had to few pixels to produce a fineart print in this size. But when looked at from a good distance, the print really worked very nicely. See the attached snapshot.



cheers
®

[aprilS]

I want to spot clean the wall.

But I remember that image of the leaves at the door -- one of my favorites -- and like these 3 in sequence (warm surrounded by cool).

Thank you very much for the additional information about printing large. Even going up to 16x20, with a hinge mount and breathing space behind the glazing, I've been distracted by some slight rippling visible when seen from an angle. Depending on the weather...

And here I thought variable conditions for digital display were difficult!

[ilchkai]

Congratulations Roland!

how did you deal with increasing the pixel number - you said there was too few... or did i understand correctly that you didn't increase the resolution?

[habakuk]

Oops. Missed some replies here... Well, kai, I had to increase the pixel count, yes, just to have enough for printing in that size. However, once viewed from a proper distance (which is quite a few steps), it worked nicely. It was much more the limited sharpness of my travel zoom lens that was a limiting factor. Scaling up and sharpening in LAB mode does help greatly - but only if the raw material is really crisp, which wasn't the case for the red shot.

I am sure some fineart printer would not like this product very much - but it was a very acceptable compromise between quality and cost. The customer who bought the shot didn't complain at all...

cheers
®

[Simon]

I worked for a day at a portrait company and they had a really interesting way of printing. they had a pronter that ised regular photographic paper and a printer with an LED "head" which exsposed the paper in lines like and inkjet squires ink. Then the paper id developed and fixed and out it comes. This was a very large and proffessional machine

[habakuk]

I think this is called "Lambda printer" - three lasers exposing the photopaper. I've seen prints from Lambda printers and they are quite nice, especially in big to huge formats.

cheers
®