November 3, 2011 was a special day at the Texas Capitol for some very special Texas families. Those families were honored by the Texas Department of Agriculture for establishing a ranch or farm in Texas for one-hundred years and for one-hundred-fifty years. The ceremony was held in the Texas House of Representatives chamber. Ron Oliveria of KEYE was the Master of Ceremonies and Commissioner Todd Staples made the presentations. After the award presentations guests were treated to the songs and poetry of the Texas cowboy poet, Red Steagall.  To view all photographs from the event, click here.

“Like many people these days, Paige Hill questions the food that she eats: how it was raised, who grew it, how fresh it is, whether itw production harmed the environment, what distance it traveled to get to her table, whether it is safe to consume.  The East-Texas-born, North-Texas-raised, current Austinite has carried her concern to a different level than most of the rest of us do, however. She has reached back in time to her own roots and those of an earlier era to start a movement of neighborhood farm plots that she calls “Urban Patchwork”. For the full story see Texas Gardner Magazine March/April 2012.

 

 

 

 

In December 2010 I had the opportunity to be a still photographer for a movie trailer, Ride the 9, directed by Blake West and produced by my daughter, Camille. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about the movie making business. Biggest lesson learned was, it looks so easy.  Camille had two full time jobs on the set, make-up artist and line producer. Wow, the operative is “looks” because it is definitely not easy!. I saw them work 18 hours a day and that was doing the fun part shooting and directing. Knowing what I do about post production work, I would say Blake and company put in more time and energy imaginable. Director West was super, allowing me to photograph what ever I wanted. Terrific experience.

For me it was a blast. The best part was that I got to work with my daughter and see up close and personal how the movie making business works. Of course this was just a small sample but I am eager to do more. See all the photographs of Ride the 9 here.

Besides the considering the “deliverables” — the prints, the album, the proof book and online viewing — you are or should be paying for the power of the “E”. There are three E’s that are much more important in your decision making process than the deliverables.

Experience - Education - Equipment

Experience is something that is only acquired by doing the job. It directly impacts the ability to foresee and solve problems. You are getting married once, it’s one of the most important single events of your life. When it is all over, you will have eaten the cake and drunk the champagne but it is the photographs that will be with you for your life. In all likelihood you will not remember much from such an intense whirlwind day. Your photographs should be memory triggers.  The question for you is would you trust an inexperienced surgeon to cut open your heart?  I have over 24 years of experience. The power of the E¹

Education is wonderful and there is no substitute for school learning. We used to study film sensitometry, chemical components and light density responses to film and chemistry. Now days we study computer programs and raw converters. The problem with Education is that it is often conducted in ivory towers where the situations are controlled.  I have an undergraduate degree (B.A. St. Edward’s University) in Photographic Communications and I also have a master’s (M.F.A. University of Texas at Austin) in art photography. I have continuing education from Brooks Institute, Gary Fong, Seth Reznick,X-Rite, PPA, and NAPP.  However, it is Experience that profoundly enhances Education.  The power of the E².

Equipment is where a lot of “photographers” cut expenses. They think they can produce good images with less expensive equipment. Occasionally blind hogs find acorns too! The thing is, NOT all pixels are created equal. It’s true that there are many wonderful point-and-shoot cameras out there that produce good-looking images. The camera manufacturers want you to buy cameras so they load them up with all sorts of whistles and bells to sell them. Some sound good but are of little value. Many of these features most people will never know how to use. A highly paid professional photographer made this statement to me once when I asked something technical about his camera. “I don’t know, I just set it to program mode and shoot.” Program mode is fine but what if it’s not right for the situation? Does your photographer know how to use the equipment? Does your photographer even have the right equipment to do the job?  Let’s face it, there is nothing good in this business that is cheap. I have some of the finest equipment money can buy manufactured by Leica, Canon, Hasselblad and Phase One.  This is where Equipment enhances Education and Experience.  The power of the E³

Good quality prints that aren’t expensive is what this blog is about. Why are my prints more expensive than say Flicker, Wally World or places like that? Once you read this post you will know three things. 1) How to get good prints cheaply, 2) Why mine are more expensive and 3) When to choose one over the other.

The thing is today much of the “mystery” (in other words, skill) of making good prints has gone down the drain. Photo labs used to hire technicians and train them on how to make a good color print on an enlarger. The tech looked at a sample and said, “Hm-m well that’s too red, so I’ll add some green” or “it’s too blue so I need to add some yellow” whatever – they made the decision by visual inspection using trial and error until, in their judgment, it looked good. This process was labor intensive, thus expensive. Additionally, lots of materials and chemistry went down the drain, which also contributed to expensive photographic prints.

Nowadays labs don’t hire technicians, they buy computers that work 24-7 without benefits that don’t need training. These computers read the color numbers in the digital file. Whatever color number is in the file is what the computer will output. No guesswork here. This makes good color file numbers the most important ingredient in modern color digital printing. The old adage, “Garbage in Garbage out” is absolutely true. I spend a lot of post production time making sure the digital image files you get from me contain good color/density numbers. To facilitate my work flow, I capture every thing “raw”. For more information about this see The Raw Deal.

“So” you ask, “all I have to do is get you to fix my image files?” Well yes that would help, but there are some other variables in getting good prints as well. Photographic chemistry is critical. A lab needs to keep its chemistry fresh and to an exact temperature to make sure the color is accurate. Color chemistry is expensive and this is a place where many low-cost labs will cut corners. Have you ever seen a color print that has a peculiar color cast after a while? This is probably the reason. Another way to cut costs is for the lab to use cheap quality paper. Cheap paper usually causes fading after a period of time.

Here’s a tip: Costco is a good place for pretty good cheap prints. I went through digital color printing training with Costco employees in 1998 and I learned that they are very conscious about the importance of chemistry in color printing. I don’t know what sort of paper they use but I would imagine you have some choices.So for everyday use, go with the Pretty Good Cheap Print!

Okay that’s helpful advice so what is it exactly that you make, Alex?  When you want a larger print eight by ten or greater, I make “art prints” called Giclée  (zhee-klay). I use a heavy weight 310 gsm, 100 percent cotton, paper by Hahnemuhle on my Epson 7900 professional printer.  Wilhelm Research says color prints made on this printer will last over 200 years under UV glass. It will no doubt outlast all of us and your great grand children will still be able to see you in full color. Furthermore I use a larger color gamut so that not only will your color last you will have more of it to last.

So for everyday use and small prints, get color and density corrected files from me and go with the Pretty Good Cheap Print, but when you want something for your wall go with my handmade Giclée prints.

Alex

Many people today are asking about a digital photography term called “raw files” or “digital negatives”. Both terms mean essentially the same thing. When it comes to wedding photography, it is the best way to capture images. A good question to ask your potential wedding photographer is, “Do you shoot JPEGs?  If the photographer answers, “Yes”, go find another photographer who shoots raw. You don’t want your photographer to shoot JPEGs. They will look great on your screen but try to print them and you get hammered wasp nests.

First off let’s define what a raw image file is. Raw image data from a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera’s sensor is minimally processed data. So why do you care? When a camera produces a JPEG the first thing it does is throw away 33% of the image data. And that is just the beginning of the problems associated with an in camera produced JPEG. Basically you will get whatever the engineer who wrote the algorithm to produce the generic JPEG. The engineers who designed the algorithms are living in a perfect average lighting world which where ever that is, would certainly not be your reception or church.

Advantages:

1. More image data.
2. Larger color gamut.
3. Color temperature not assigned.

Disadvantages:

1. Larger files, requires your photographer to have more storage capacity and flash cards.
2. Unprocessed raw files must be processed which is more work for your photographer.
3. Photographer must know how to process these files.

Yes they take more time because they are not processed by your camera. Your photographer has to do this, but the difference in results are phenomenal.

Alex

After the cake has been eaten, and the guests have gone home, your wedding day prints are all you have left. They are your keepsake memories. The problem with wedding photography is that photographers, especially the candid journalists, photograph under less than ideal circumstances. Our studio is your church and reception venue.  Different temperatures of light, low light, bright light, abnormal flash functions all contribute to “challenging” image files. Consequently the files captured always need some sort of technical digital wizardry to make good prints. They might look great on your computer but take them to a lab or try to print them and they look like hammered wasp nests.  Some wedding photographers boast, “ALL OF YOUR PHOTOS ON A CD” with a copyright release.” Sound good? This is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The wolf is most of these photographer shoot JPEGs and clients usually don’t know how to make these JPEGs from the CD yield good prints. The couple ends up frustrated and angry. Besides a camera shot JPEG has already some algorithm problems applied that are impossible to fix. Meanwhile, the photographer has already cashed your check and into the next flock.

Don’t expect a photo lab, professional or otherwise,  to be of much help in this day of computerized color numbers. Labs don’t hire people to make prints, they buy a computer to read the color and density numbers in your image file.  Garbage color/density numbers in, hammered wasp nests out. Many of these “photographers” don’t know how to make a good print or don’t want to because of the work involved. In my view it’s a shell game. Other wolves offer a cheap price to shoot your wedding but eat you alive when you want prints. I prefer for you to continue to like me and to send me your friends. With me you get all of  your “edited” images but they are corrected for color, density and touched up using Photoshop. Usually this is about 500. These come with a copyright release to allow you to make prints however wherever you choose.

It is time consuming to edit and correct images but I am quality crazy. I want to be sure that the prints are the highest quality that the file can produce.

Giclée is a feminine French noun that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The word may have been derived from the French verb “gicler” meaning “to squirt”.  Okay so what is a giclée  print?

The Term : The term  “giclee print” is an elevation in photographic printmaking technology. Images are generated from high resolution digital capture or scans and printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The giclee printing process provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction.

The Process : Giclee prints are created typically using professional 8-Color to 12-Color ink-jet printers. These modern technology printers are capable of producing incredibly detailed prints for both the fine art and photographic markets. Giclee prints are sometimes mistakenly referred to as Iris prints, which are 4-Color ink-jet prints from a printer pioneered in the late 1970s by Iris Graphics.

The Advantages : Giclée prints are advantageous to artists who do not find it feasible to mass produce their work, but want to reproduce high end art quality photographic prints. Digitally archived files will not deteriorate in quality as negatives and film inherently do.

The Quality : The quality of the giclee print rivals traditional silver-halide and gelatin printing processes and is commonly found in museums, art galleries, and photographic galleries.

Alex and Giclée: I use this process to make all bridal portraits and prints that are larger than 8×10. I make them on my Epson 7900 printer using Hahnemuehle fine art photo paper.  I find the quality of this process really shines in larger format prints. When you are in my studio ask me to show you the difference giclée printing can make.

On one of the coldest evenings in 2011 Desiree Kniker and Derek Bohls held their reception outside! Dez was determined not to allow the weather to prevent her dream wedding from becoming reality! After beautiful and traditional wedding at church, Dez and Derek joined their wedding party and guests at event center in Austin. Music DJ RJ provided music and coordination for the event.  To view all of Dez and Derek’s photographs click here.