Digital BW, The Print

At the recent AIPAD (Association of International Photography Art Dealers)
show in New York, the Lightjet prints were labeled either "Chromogenic
 print" or "C-print" and the inkjet prints were labeled "Pigment print."
There may have been other designations but I didn't find any others.  From
my very limited experience, it appears that the decision as to what to call
these things has already been made, and as expected, by the top dealers and
curators.

My observations have been limited though and I might be wrong.

Olaf

I think we're asking the wrong question: Not, "What should we call these
prints?" but "What are these prints called?" I've been making silver gelatin
prints for decades, without caring what they were called. The dealers and
the museum curators started calling them that and that is what they are now
called. The names they currently use for digitally produced prints are
"Pigment Print," "Archival Pigment Print," "Chromogenic Print,"  "C-Print,"
"Kodak Endura Print,"  "Fuji Crystal Archive Print," and maybe a few more.
The top dealers and curators decide what these prints will be called.

At art fairs and frame shop galleries, anything goes. You can call your
prints anything you like. But at the top galleries, where prints go for
$1,000 and $10,000 and way up,
You will not find fanciful names like "Giclee" or "Epson Desktop Digital
Inkjet." I will happily leave the naming to the people who have to sell the
work to the rich collectors who make this whole game possible.

As far as we are concerned, I think "Pigment Print" and "Chromogenic Print"
will do very nicely for just about everything we do.

Olaf

Olaf Ringdahl wrote:
> As far as we are concerned, I think "Pigment Print" and "Chromogenic Print"
> will do very nicely for just about everything we do.
> 

I probably have misunderstood what you mean here, as I don't see how 
"chromogenic print" applies at all to digital printing.  One definition 
I've found says:
> Chromogenic print
> Also called "dye coupler prints." This term represents the majority of the color prints made today. Part of the material that forms colored dyes upon development is included in the emulsion during manufacture. During development, the silver image is bleached out, leaving only the dye image. These prints are commonly referred to as a "Type C Print" if made from a negative and a "Type R Print" if made from a transparency. Introduced in 1936.

Can you help clear up my confusion about this?  Thanks.

	Walt

Walt

Good question. You wrote, in part,

I probably have misunderstood what you mean here, as I don't see how
"chromogenic print" applies at all to digital printing. One definition I've
found says:
Chromogenic print
Also called "dye coupler prints." This term represents the majority of the
color prints made today.

This is true but it is also true that any print made on photographic paper
and developed by traditional RA-4 process is a chromogenic print. The term
applies only to the paper and the process of its development. Whether it was
exposed by enlarger, contact printer, laser (LightJet), LED (Lambda) or any
other means, is irrelevant. The print is, by definition, a chromogenic print
just as any print made on silver gelatin paper and processed traditionally
is a silver gelatin print no matter how the paper was exposed.

When we see color prints on a gallery wall that are labeled "chromogenic" or
"C-print," we have no way of knowing whether they were made from digital
files or color negative film. It's a little different for black and white
photographs because the label "Chromogenic" suggests that the print was made
from a digital file, not directly from film, since chromogenic black and
white prints have less perceived value than gelatin silver prints, although
I think that perception is changing fast. I have seen chromogenic b&w prints
going for prices well into the thousands - and this is for modern prints by
contemporary workers, not vintage prints by famous masters.

I have also seen inkjet prints, called "Pigment Prints," going for up to
$5,000, and selling out.

So, whether you go the Pigment route or the Chromogenic route, the prospects
look good for digital workers. I don't think it is necessary to search for
more descriptive or more respectable names for what we make. In the end, I
think it will all boil down to "Pigment print" and "Chromogenic print." I'm
content to leave it at that.


Olaf