Digital BW, The Print

Contrary to my initial post John, I agree with you on each and EVERY 
point in this post. As far as I'm concerned, this isn't boring at all. 
It's one of the central issues of printing anything, particularly art. 
It's what drew me into the fray with EPSON over 6 years ago.

Perhaps I should have taken the original post I commented on with the 
intended note of wry sarcasm on "very secret" it now, given your other 
posts, would seem to have carried. Apologies for that.

But this issue is very much NOT boring. The fact is a print done by a 
skilled printer  and/or the original artist, has a very different value 
than one done from the file today (witness the reprintings of Ansel 
Adams' images). To take an extreme case, imagine a preservationist, 
through some future process, could determine exactly what an Egyptian 
tomb painting, the images at Lascaux, or  the Sistine Chapel ceiling, 
looked like five minutes after the pigments had air-dried. Assume also 
that one could now produce copies so perfect that they were no different 
from those originals at a microscopic level (in philosophy that's often 
called supervenience). Would the new prints be as valuable as the 
originals? Certainly not. Why? The person or persons who did the 
originals, their historic value, event the importance of where they are 
located makes their value quite different.

Having the originals files ready to reproduce a new print is not always 
the same. Even a printing technique that is technically better in every 
purely objective term may not produce a print with the same overall 
synergistic value that an older technique might. Philosophers often 
speak of beauty in this regard (a perfect nose, added to perfect eyes, 
and a perfect moth, etc. does not produce a perfect face) calling it 
organic unity. For art, lithographs, intaglio, etc. this same principle 
is obvious. For photography, using Kodachrome to photograph Southwestern 
deserts springs to mind.

In any event,  having the original file isn't the same. Even today, I 
have prints, which for reasons of organic unity I preferred when made 
with older inkjet technology.
  

john dean wrote:
> I'm not going to prolong the agony of this conversation any longer
> beyond this because the fact is, it is only a major concern for a very
> tiny minority of inkjet users like me, and it is obvious that for most
> photographers these days, ultimate print longevity is way down the
> list of priorities. I don't plan to be a martyr about it, if every now
> and then I become really preoccupied with it.
>
> Though to answer you, the arguement that as long as one has a digital
> back up file all is cool in the world and let the prints shift as they
> may over time if they need do and, that we as consumers of the product
> have no control over that side of things, is not a philosophy that I
> could afford to ascribe to. People pay me to be concerned about these
> things so they don't have to.
>
> The files are always twice backed up, for sure. But, when a gallery or
> art buyer for say a corporation buys a series of prints or someone
> purchases a limited editon portfolio, there is no telling where it
> will end up. For instance I've done prints for people that are now in
> China,France,Spain,Egypt,and Mexico. If one print shifts color or
> fades within a group not only does the entire body of work come into
> question, but the reputation of the gallery or art buyer as well as
> the company where it was produced comes into question in a big way.
> This is especially true if one of the sellng points of ones work is
> its relative permanece over other, cheaper processes that these days
> are ubiquitous in the market place. Photograhic work changes color
> differently than other artwork in that it doesn't usually fade
> gradually or subtlely most of the time. Usually the change is ugly,
> obvious, and fairly quick and changes the whole character of the work.
>
>   

-- 

 
Keith Krebs

"Just some guy," caretaker of the Multiverse's largest EPSON printer 
User Community (highly recommended by Vogon Poets and MegaDodo 
Publications), at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EPSON_Printers/
and  the Multiverse's largest Canon printer User  Community at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Canon-printers
"For the rest of you out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together 
guys"

 

****************************************************************
CONFIDENTIALITY & COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
This e-mail message, including attachments and contents, is © Copyright, 
Keith Krebs, 2001-2007, All Rights Reserved. It is expressly for the 
sole use of the intended recipient and may contain confidential and 
privileged information. Absent the express written authorization of the 
author, any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, transfer, or 
distribution is explicitly prohibited and taken at your own risk. If you 
are not, or are unsure whether you are, the intended recipient, please 
contact the sender immediately and destroy all copies of the original 
message. Violations will be prosecuted to the FULL extent allowed under 
applicable civil and criminal law. Imagery published or distributed in 
violation of these conditions shall be subject to a $1500/image 
liquidated damages charge, in addition to any applicable Copyright 
violation penalties.

POV IMage Service Banner
****************************************************************
{ The P.O.V. Image Service Website is still at http://www.p-o-v-image.com/ }





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]