Digital BW, The Print

Well I was staying off this one.. but... :-)..
Display lighting is all over the place.. In some cases I'm asked to dial work in for a clients lighting.. truth is I'm both flattered and honored to do that as to me they seem to care.. Most don't. They settle for second or third best..  Then we have to look at what we do.. well I do with me anyway.. I have to reproduce a clients painting and I'm a cradle to grave guy so when I'm done the piece is ready for the wall or they take the work and wrap it up themselves..

First this old man has a few strong opinions.. dialing a piece in with less the 4000k starts cheating the process. I use 5000k as for me that is about the maximum level of color and saturation I see in reflectance.. I fully realize this is to some degree subjective but all the artists I work with honestly try to paint in a 5000k environment.. so that's the space I want to reproduce them in.... and yes some of the artists fall short.. but they are by and large far better at it then those doing displays..
 
As far as museums turning their lights down to 50 lux.. ...and halogens yet... well yup they do that but it's at a price.. first the piece isn't visually correct and halogens self destruct when their voltage is lowered...so after a short period of doing this and they turn them back up they will not get what they think they have..

I'm not really a fan of halogens personally.. but they work ok if you replace the bulbs on a schedule just like any other fine lighting.. 

A comment to the group.. When you buy a light especially one that's dialed in for a value.. It needs to be checked so that you know when to replace the bulbs.. or that you got what you think you bought.. This is going to sound brutal but in my neck of the woods I'm the only one that has a meter that will measure light values.. It appears that we assume that when we buy a light it is what they infer or it stays at it's rated level forever.. 

Ok now I'm going to get weird.. but I mean well....ok?  Most light solutions ..aka these neat little light boxes etc allow you to compare a piece of art or a print to our screen image.. This is a good thing ...but .. when your doing repro's you might be wise to have a solution that will allow the viewing of the original next to a proof in the same light so you can see the variance in reflectance. Greytag Macbeth used to have a trick fixture that was / is way kool.. It had three different light sources in it.. It was a typical recessed type fluorescent fixture that would / could mount recessed in a ceiling...They just modified it. It holds (4) 4 foot special daylight fluorescents and two other types of bulbs ...8 of each.. using three switches you turn on any light source or combination there of.. So it would work between 3400 and 6500 at several increments..  Except for the cost of the bulbs (their not cheap) you can build this set up cost effectively.. I bought my first one  (didn't know better) and built my second one.. We light an entire wall with them mounted on an angle hung from the ceiling.. (Yes I have trick paint on the wall).. You could hang one over a viewing table but we did a wall  set up as we have three work stations that can use them this way in the room.. plus this is where a client buys of their prints.. 

Anyway for me ..regardless of what the rest of the world is doing I need a consistent light system that will keep me and my clients in the same box.. Of all the crazy things I've done to try to make a difference I think this one is right at the top of the list..  When looking at a print critically we need to look close yes but we also need to step back so we can feel it.. Doing that takes a bunch of light.. Anyway my thoughts on it....

jimbo
 


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ernst Dinkla 
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2011 9:33 AM
  Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Lighting for printing area


    
  On 12/01/2011 04:54 PM, Mike Finley wrote:
  > but in Europe our masters are trying to remove tungsten lighting from
  > the options, which may make it more difficult.

  Not the halogens yet. There were no normal tungsten lamps usable for 
  color critical work so nothing is lost that way. The example I gave for 
  the musea at 50 Lux was based on halogen lamps. At a light level that 
  low you can not do color critical work but there is no alternative if 
  the display conditions are like that. Above 500 Lux color critical work 
  is possible but then you switch to 4000/5000 Kelvin at least.

  I have yet to see LEDs that measure without spectral spikes. Good 
  compact fluorescents are often better, like the True-light versions. 
  Best however are Solux lamps. Here in Europe the Osram Decostar 51 Cool 
  Blue 50W are a good and cheaper alternative. Specs say 4500K but I 
  measure about 4000K at best, continuous spectrum though.

  -- 
  Met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst
  http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

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