What is an Inkjet, Pigment, Iris and Giclee Print?

Question:

What is the difference between  Archival Inkjet prints, Pigment Print,

Iris

Print and

Giclée

prints?

Answer: Nothing! They are all the same printing process.

We call our prints Archival Inkjet prints. However, they are also known as a Giclée, Iris or Pigment prints. Giclée is just a fancy word for "spit ink". Pigment prints get there name from the archival pigment inks used. Iris prints were named after the printer used which was manufactured by Iris Graphics. Ultimately, they are all the same. Some labs or galleries like to use fancy words to charge more money or make it sound more specialized.

Image Courtesy of

Stephanie Goode

Now that we have demystified the print names. What are some things you should be asking? The most important question to ask are the following.

Is this paper archival?

One of the papers we prefer is Epson Hot Press Natural.  It has a smooth natural white surface with a high Dmax, beautiful tonal transitions and no optical brighteners. This paper is acid-free,

lignin

-free, 100% cotton fiber, 330gsm weight paper. They are printed on an Epson printer with "

Epson UltraChrome K3 with Vivid Magenta

" inks.

Another paper is Canson Platine Fibre Rag. It has a pure white surface with an extremely high Dmax and no optical brighteners. Internally buffered to resist gas fading. This paper is acid-free,

lignin

-free, 100% cotton fiber, 310gsm weight paper. They are printed on an Epson printer with "

Epson UltraChrome HDR

" inks.

Image courtesy of

Brenda Bancel

Does the paper contain optical brighteners?

Optical brighteners

are chemical compounds that absorb light in the

ultraviolet

and violet region (usually 340-370 nm) of the

electromagnetic spectrum

, and re-emit light in the blue region (typically 420-470 nm). Basically, they make paper brighter in the sunlight. But over time they can degrade and this will affect the your image and makes it non-archival.

Are the inks archival?

We have two different printers which use two different types of inks.

Epson UltraChrome HDR

and

Epson UltraChrome K3 with Vivid Magenta

. They are both pigment inks with high pigment density and feature a resin coating for each particle for more stability to produce prints of an even surface and gloss and that are highly stable on a wide variety of media including fine art, specialty and plain paper. These inks can deliver twice the density of our conventional pigment inks. As a result, they reproduce a larger gamut of color and deeper blacks.

Transformation Tuesday

Restorations are an everyday event here at Panopticon Imaging. We figured we could share some of the transformations we have worked on. It always bring a smile to our faces when we can bring these old family pictures back to life. #TransformationTuesday

Yeah, You Missed It

YEAH, YOU MISSED IT! which opens next Friday features the work of Panopticon staff member Nick Schietromo! Make sure to see it before it's too late.

Mills Gallery at the Boston Center for the Arts

April 17th and 18th, 2015

Curated by Robert Moeller

Opening Reception: Friday, April 17, 6-9pm

About the Exhibition:

And perhaps, that’s the point. You missed it. This exhibition continues to explore the very temporary placement of art in both traditional and nontraditional venues. The show, part of an ongoing series, features a rotating group of both artists and curators, organized by Robert Moeller, who work together to program very brief pop-up exhibitions. These can range from informal backyard events to the embedding of new work into an existing art collection in someone’s home for an evening. This exhibition at the Mills Gallery, lasting only two days, has in its title the most likely response to questions about its brief existence: Yeah, you missed it!

Digital Printing in a Digital World

Are you a Commercial Photographer, Fine Art Photographer or Novice Photographer? Here at Panopticon Imaging we would like to make the printing process as easy as possible.  When you visit our website you can upload all of your files/images directly here!

The "Upload Files" tab will transport to our Hightail account.This makes it super easy to upload numerous larger files to us!

Once we have your files we can review the paper options. We are more than happy to help you select papers. Want to stop by the office? We love visitors and we have 2 books you can look thru and feel the paper's weight and textures. Canson and Epson papers are our preference for their archival natures however, we can use any paper of your choice.

Want to print large or panoramic images? We can print up to 44 inches wide by however long your image is. We offer standard print prices along with square inch pricing to give you the most value for your image.

Want to make sure the colors or tones are spot on? We can provide test prints & strips for a small fee. Just like we did for Emil Cohen's Portraits in Provincetown series. Stop by, email or call and we are here to help with your printing needs.

Staff Intro: Paul Sneyd - Captain of the Ship

Paul Sneyd has been a Master Printer for over 35 years. His darkroom career began in 1977, when he joined Jet Commercial Photography. During the next 10 years, Paul was the sole printer for Jet's five commercial staff photographers. In 1987, Paul became the master printer for Panopticon Gallery of Photography, one of the oldest photographic galleries in the United States. He would spend the next 20 years printing for Panopticon's many reputable artists and exhibitions before becoming the owner of Panopticon Inc. in 2007.

Throughout the last 35 years, Paul has printed for and worked with many local and national photographers including : Harold Feinstein, Isa Leshko, Stanley Forman, Agnieszka Sosnowska, Paul Ickovic, Asia Kepka, Bradford Washburn & Ernest Withers, among many others.

He has produced images for and has working relationships with a large sum of New England galleries, including the Boston Public Library, Focus Gallery, Griffin Museum of Photography, Harvard Law School, Museum of Fine Arts, North River Arts Center, New Bedford Whaling Museum, Panopticon Gallery, and the South Shore Arts Center.

Paul has been happily married to his lovely wife Patty for 24 years. They have two wonderful daughters and many dogs. He is an avid fisherman, red wine drinker and all around great guy!

Lindsey Beal - Lost Art of Daguerreotypes

Rhode Island based artist, Lindsey Beal brought some of her recently created Daguerreotypes into the office for framing. She made these photographs while at a workshop at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Also, she teaches at Rhode Island College and New Hampshire Institute of Art. Daguerreotype, an alternative process, has become a lost art form due to the labor involved in creating them. The process was first created in 1839, the artist polished a sheet of silver plated copper, treats it with fumes that makes its surface light-sensitive. Then the plate is exposed in a camera.

Ms. Beal reviewing her work with owner, Paul Sneyd.

 Liz framing Ms. Beal's daguerreotypes

Handmade Wood Frames

We now have these beautiful, handcrafted frames made locally. Bring in some of your beautiful photographs and we will frame them in these amazing frames! All are made custom for our clients. Natural woods, dove tailed, stain and spline options which are meticulously assembled for your next project.

Where is Rockland?

Why Rockland? We reached maximum capacity at our location in Hingham and desperately needed to expand. Rockland had the perfect building for us at the perfect price. We renovated an older building so we could make room for all of our darkrooms & printing rooms and expand our services. Renovations took about 8 months but it was worth it! We moved from Hingham to Rockland in the spring of 2013 and couldn't be happier.

So where is Rockland?

It is just 22 miles south of Boston! You can get to us via Route 3. We have full directions on our website. We also offer weekly deliveries into Boston. Don't worry if you can't make it to us. If we can't deliver it to you, you can upload files directly thru our website and we can ship everything back to you!

What kind of town is Rockland?

Rockland is a small town just south of Boston and was recently (2013) listed as one of the top ten places to live by the Boston Globe. Rockland also has two old factory buildings that have been converted into Artist space. One is the E.T. Wright Building a former shoe factory and the second The Sandpaper Factory. Not to mention it is home to Paul's favorite place to eat Bella's Italian Restaurant. He recommends #35 on the wine list, it is a nice Chianti. Rockland Rocks!

Fun, Funky and Strange Darkroom Tales

We have three working darkrooms here at the office. Each serving a different purpose. One for darkroom printing, one for film development and the third for creating new negatives from digital files. Needless to say, we get asked a lot of questions about printing and developing and get out fair share of  interesting requests. First, this is the oldest film we have ever processed. The roll states "Develop before 1915". Sad to say there were no images present, it was actually never exposed.

Next up is the Circular Glass Plate Negatives we got asked to print. These images were taken with concealed vest Camera! Similiar to the ad below. "No Tourist, Artist, or Student, amateur or professional, should be without this camera". We agree.

The wonderfully creative Matt Gamber never lets us down with his darkroom requests! He created his own paper negatives using vintage television sets. From his series "This is (Still) the Golden Age" he captures still from such TV shows as  "Price is Right" and "The Lawrence Welk Show".  Mr. Gamber is represented by Gallery Kayafas located on Harrison Avenue in Boston, MA.

We always have plenty of 8x10 film on hand to assist you make your digital files turned into negatives. FILM IS NOT DEAD!

Restorations: Turning old photos into New Treasures

Our staff handles all levels of photographic restoration and has extensive knowledge in digital photographic repair. We can restore any print to beautiful condition even if it has been damaged by time, water, mold or environmental conditions.

Shadowbox Framing

Here at Panopticon we get asked to frame a large variety of objects. From seashells to sports jerseys, World War II propaganda posters and don't forget coffee mugs! These hand-painted masquerade masks were a first and were brought in by a long term clients of ours. We had a custom shadowbox built and Bruce went to task arranging the items for display. We couldn't be happier with its seamless display!

Elizabeth Ellenwood: Of Light and Line

Elizabeth Ellenwood is a talented photographer & employee who we are very proud of! This video of her and her work is spectacular and she has an upcoming exhibition at the Danforth Art Museum which opens Saturday, March 14th. The exhibition runs from March 15th - May 17th, 2015. Below is some information about the exhibition that we are very proud sponsors of.

About the Exhibition

Elizabeth Ellenwood’s photographs are distinctly rooted in place and the everyday, and her process and treatment of subject matter emphasize the importance of the elements of photography.  Ellenwood’s work is indebted to photographic history—modernism, constructivism, and the angular planes of The New Topographics—yet she creates a distinct new interpretation of the often overlooked elements of the everyday landscape.  The elegant simplicity of her compositions highlights the way in which she negotiates natural light, line, shadow, and richness of tone. Nuanced views of outside wires, building façades, and the billowing of a curtain reveal modernist sensibilities and experimentations with form that complicate otherwise familiar spaces to produce a new view on traditional subject matter.

Fiber Printing at Panopticon

Guggenheim Fellow Cheryle St. Onge's beautiful silver gelatin fiber prints are all printed and ready for shipping. So delighted to have the opportunity to work with such a great artist and wonderful portfolio!

30 under 30 Exhibition

We are very proud of our staff Elizabeth Ellenwood and Nick Schietromo! They have been curated into "30 under 30" exhibition at the Vermont Center for Photography. Ms. Ellenwood will display some of her beautiful architectural black and white darkroom prints. While Nick Schietromo's portfolio prints are vintage images which he scans and digitally glitches. Such different work but both thought provoking and well executed. Can't wait to go to the opening to see the entire exhibition. The opening is this Friday, March 6th and you can meet them and view their beautiful work.

Exhibition: March 6 – 29, 2015 Opening Reception: Friday, March 6th – 5:30 to 8:30pm

Vermont Center for Photography Joshua Farr, Gallery Director

info@vcphoto.org 802-251-6051

49 Flat Street Brattleboro, VT 05301