Fine art print questions

STRiDOR

Hi, I'm curious to find out how many folks here print their own work vs using Bay Photo or EZ print?

Also, for fine art prints do most folks sign their work? How does that work when ordering through a printing service? Do you have the print delivered first to you so you can quality control the print to your standards before signing and sending it to your customer?

I'm currently building my site and I am trying to decide how to best handle my Fine Art prints.

Personally, I believe I would want to inspect and sign each print, but I'd love to hear what established photographers here have been successfully doing.

Thanks.

Joser

Sign Prints

STRiDOR wrote:

Hi, I'm curious to find out how many folks here print their own work vs using Bay Photo or EZ print?

Also, for fine art prints do most folks sign their work? How does that work when ordering through a printing service? Do you have the print delivered first to you so you can quality control the print to your standards before signing and sending it to your customer?

I'm currently building my site and I am trying to decide how to best handle my Fine Art prints.

Personally, I believe I would want to inspect and sign each print, but I'd love to hear what established photographers here have been successfully doing.

Thanks.

Great question, I recently order some prints and in comparison to my home printer(Epson 2400) the prints I received were wash out, garbage. I would consider doing a test run to see the result.
joserojaphoto.com

STRiDOR

Thanks for replying Joser. That's interesting that you had a bad experience printing. May I ask who it was with? Bay Photo? EZ Print?

I'm surprised not more people have commented. I would have thought that many people here would have already been down this path. I'd still love to hear from some more folks to learn from their experience.

Cheers.

Art Scott

STRiDOR wrote:

Hi, I'm curious to find out how many folks here print their own work vs using Bay Photo or EZ print?

Also, for fine art prints do most folks sign their work? How does that work when ordering through a printing service? Do you have the print delivered first to you so you can quality control the print to your standards before signing and sending it to your customer?

I'm currently building my site and I am trying to decide how to best handle my Fine Art prints.

Personally, I believe I would want to inspect and sign each print, but I'd love to hear what established photographers here have been successfully doing.

Thanks.

I currently print all of mine......I have been using the same processors for a very long time.......they have processed fim for me and now digital.......they are pro all the way......one of the Nations premier aviation photogs (Paul Bowen )uses the same processor, so I figure my stuff is in good handswink

I also sign all my prints......i just figure that all artists sign their works and i do it in a prominent place (usually 1 1/2 inches up from left bottom and left side) using a non acid pain pen usually in gold, sometimes in silver and few times in black.........

Plus if I am selling or have a piece up for sell i want all to know who the artist is....that includes wedding photos and portraits.....all hand signed........all photos going on the net are going to be digitally signed also (using a tablet and a PS action).........................

STRiDOR

Art Scott wrote:

I currently print all of mine......I have been using the same processors for a very long time.......they have processed fim for me and now digital.......they are pro all the way......one of the Nations premier aviation photogs (Paul Bowen )uses the same processor, so I figure my stuff is in good handswink

I also sign all my prints......i just figure that all artists sign their works and i do it in a prominent place (usually 1 1/2 inches up from left bottom and left side) using a non acid pain pen usually in gold, sometimes in silver and few times in black.........

Plus if I am selling or have a piece up for sell i want all to know who the artist is....that includes wedding photos and portraits.....all hand signed........all photos going on the net are going to be digitally signed also (using a tablet and a PS action).........................

Thanks Art, this is useful information. Out of curiosity, who do you print with? Also, what kind of additional handling time do you have when prints are sent to you first, and then off to your customers?

Cheers,
Nordin

Art Scott

STRiDOR wrote:

Thanks Art, this is useful information. Out of curiosity, who do you print with? Also, what kind of additional handling time do you have when prints are sent to you first, and then off to your customers?

Cheers,
Nordin

My printing company is called Douglas Photographic Imaging .....they are here in Wichita........my lead time is around 2 weeks.........The do not offer all the "stuff" / gifts that Bay and EZ prints offers...for that I have used Cafe Press for several years.....and for my NON american customers that need to pay with Something other than US $ I use RED BUBBLE................

Douglas Photographic Imaging is less than 1 mile from my house...so a lot of lead times are not needed to have photos sent to me first.......I actually take the file to them and itis ready in less than 5 days and I ship off to cistomer the same day i get it back........normally

Miguel Delinquento

I print my own work up to 12x18 output, and then use a friend's large-scale Epson for the big stuff.

I take printing very seriously and have been practicing it from darkrooms or digitally for over 30 years. So I cannot help myself from doing it myself.

That said, I've seen some excellent output from Bay Photo that another friend has had produced and would not hesitate recommending them.

I sign my prints, bottom right side on the print, though I've signed mats as well. You can size your print with an extra 1/2-in bottom border for signing. A pro custom lab will follow your directions.

M

STRiDOR

Miguel Delinquento wrote:

I print my own work up to 12x18 output, and then use a friend's large-scale Epson for the big stuff.

I take printing very seriously and have been practicing it from darkrooms or digitally for over 30 years. So I cannot help myself from doing it myself.

That said, I've seen some excellent output from Bay Photo that another friend has had produced and would not hesitate recommending them.

I sign my prints, bottom right side on the print, though I've signed mats as well. You can size your print with an extra 1/2-in bottom border for signing. A pro custom lab will follow your directions.

M

Thanks Miguel, this is all good to hear.

I have been printing my own work on an Epson 2200 (Us model is the 2300) for a few years now. I'll need to give the photo labs a trial run, but I was unsure how many people who sold their work as fine art actually let customers directly order. I'm still leaning towards having all orders shipped to me so I can inspect the work, and then ship it out.

Art Scott

STRiDOR wrote:

Thanks Miguel, this is all good to hear.

I have been printing my own work on an Epson 2200 (Us model is the 2300) for a few years now. I'll need to give the photo labs a trial run, but I was unsure how many people who sold their work as fine art actually let customers directly order. I'm still leaning towards having all orders shipped to me so I can inspect the work, and then ship it out.

Don't you have some very good labs in Santa Monica??
That is where i would start.....some where near home.

here is a link to the contact page for Peter Gowland a fairly famous Santa Monica Photogrpaher.....he or his wife Alice maybe able to guide you to a great processor/printer.........

STRiDOR

Art Scott wrote:

Don't you have some very good labs in Santa Monica??
That is where i would start.....some where near home.

here is a link to the contact page for Peter Gowland a fairly famous Santa Monica Photogrpaher.....he or his wife Alice maybe able to guide you to a great processor/printer.........

I probably do Art, I really hadn't been thinking locally (I don't know why, might be because I've moved around so much) and was really only thinking of printing personally or online. That's a good idea though, I'll look into it. And thanks for the link!