Digital BW, The Print

Steve, you wrote:

> > create a texture change or gloss to matt difference between margin
> and image
> > then it has sense.
> > The sealing of the paper itself has an advantage when the paper
> will stain
> > from air polution if exposed without glass. Hahnemuhle coatings
> have that
> > problem.
> >
> > Ernst
>
> I'm not sure sure there's any real aesthetic advantage to printing
> to the edge of the image, and staining, dirt, moisture etc. are much
> more of a concern. Are we fairly sure at this point of the long-term
> integrity of these coatings? I remeber Paul Roark posted something
> about that, but the details escape me right now.

Spot varnishing? (I'm Dutch) is an accepted aesthetic technique in the
graphic industry.
With inkjet printing you will see more graphic industry conventions transfer
to photography.
I've printed a meadow landscape with poppies etc. for an artist, almost
invisible, slightly more yellow the text 'goed zijn' (being good/well) is
printed in the middle. That would have been more complicated in conventional
colour photography and it wouldn't have blended in as nice. Transparent
masks, duplicates etc. Ten years ago the artist probably would have chosen
an offset proofprint to get a similar image quality.

Could well be that the reverse of spot varnishing is of interest to us. Seal
the margin of the print with a  invisible matt coating to keep out the dirt
while the image isn't changed by any varnish application.

It is hard to tell how long the coating's internal bond and to the substrate
will last. The Hahnemuhle coating is something to worry about. The first
Hahnemuhle coatings were used on papers that Lyson distributed for Iris
printing.  About 5/6 years old now I guess. Any sign that those prints show
problems ? The use of exhibition papers like German Etching is of course
different than the use of wedding pics. It is also hard to say whether a
varnish will improve the paper/coating bond, if the varnish doesn't get to
the paper at all it may be worse. Especially with less flexible varnishes.
Flaking resistance / internal coating bond will almost always improve with a
varnish.

Ernst