Printing Fine Art Prints and Books for Pleasure or Profit

 

- Get the Original FREE too!

An OctOPUS Blog by Daniel Roberts

Gallery prints and posters made from fine art or historic photos can be an amazing form of personal expression.

-        You can get them FREE from Public Domain sources

-        They can be printed in any format from a 6x4”/A6 postcard up to a 60” wide mounted picture.

-        They can be mounted or bound in an album.

AND, importantly for you

-        They can be sold.

Topics

• The limited edition gallery print
• Sources of Fine Art
• Historical Photos
• Paintings
• The Copyright Question
• The Digital Printing Process 
• Image and colour
• Printing
• Mounting
• Protection
• Archiving
• Want our paper?

  The limited edition Gallery Print

Always sign, date and number your limited editions.

Sources of Fine Art.

Print poster designs using historic photography or a work of fine art to use as decorations or give as gifts. These unique poster prints will add character to any home or business and can be created at an affordable cost. A vintage frame and a black and white historic photo will look elegant, while an old advertisement in a plain black frame will look fun and artistic. Start searching for photos under public domain that you can use for your next poster print project.

I am indebted to Tony Laidig for giving a very good list – available to those who subscribe to his “Public Domain Secrets”.  Here are just a few entries

Historical Photos

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ammemhome.html - Library of Congress American Memory site (Check copyright information for the separate items before deciding to use them!)

http://www.fromoldbooks.org - Collection images scanned from various old books that are now in the public domain

Art

http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/contents.asp  -  Images of the works ofmore than 2,600 realist painters many in the public domain, check catalogue for dates of works and artists.

http://www.visipix.com/  -  The largest online fine art and photo museum, with 1.3 million entries.

The samples shown are from Visipix.

The Copyright Question

However, is it legal to reproduce the work of the photographer?  Residents of the United States enjoy a freedom in copyright law known as public domain. Public domain isn’t exactly easy to understand, but for the purpose of this article we do not need to understand it in great depth. The concept of public domain states that copyrights must be renewed after a certain period of time or the copyright protection lapses allowing it to enter public domain. This means that we can’t legally print poster art of all historic photos, but only those whose copyright protection has lapsed and have entered public domain.

In the UK and elsewhere we are more restricted.  The following applies to the UK, but rules are similar in most other countries.

In the UK, the copyright laws work differently than those in the United States. The general rule of thumb concerning copyright for literary works is that the copyright expires 70 years (many other countries this is 50 years) after the death of the author or creator of the work. So if a work was published in 1930 in the UK, and the author died in 1934, the work would have passed into the Public Domain in the UK in 2004.

A number of savvy internet marketers who are based in the UK have been using a simple method to get around this US-UK copyright dilemma. The “secret” is simply this: Keep all the elements of your Public Domain-based products based in the United States. The way you would accomplish that is to have your website set up as a .com and hosted on a server in the United States. Also, use a United States-based payment processor (like Clickbank or PayDotCom). You’ll also want to make sure you mention that your product is in the Public Domain in the United States and that copyright restrictions may apply in other countries. Adding a line or two to your disclaimer should take care of it. By taking this approach, you can avoid most of the copyright issues mentioned above entirely. Of course the safest bet of all when using works from the United States is to stick with content published before 1923 (or before 1928 if the copyright wasn’t renewed). Then, thanks to the rule of the shorter term, your content will definitely be in the Public Domain and no further actions should be necessary.

The above considerations apply whether you distribute physically or electronically.

When you are printing a poster with a historic photo, be sure to check on the status of the photographers copyright on that image. Copyrights for older artwork may not have been renewed and the artwork might have entered public domain. To be sure, do the proper research before reproducing a famous photo or painting.

If you are concerned about the legality of using historic photos to print poster designs, you can choose to use public resources like the library of congress. American memory is a collection of photos, videos and advertisement in the library of congress that pertains to U.S. history and has fallen under public domain. Many of these photos can be freely used in your poster print without having to worry about copyright restrictions. Such photos will display a small caption allowing the use of the artwork.

There are two ways to recreate artwork that is under copyright protection. A common example of copyrighted art being reproduced in a legal fashion is the Mona Lisa. Mona Lisa poster prints are sold in many retail poster vendors. This is accomplished by paying the Louvre Museum in Paris a small fee for reproduction. However, a more common method is to print a reproduction of a reproduction of a famous work of art. This may seem confusing, but we can better understand this concept through an example. If I were to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris with a high-end professional digital camera and take a picture of the Mona Lisa, that photography work is mine. I could then turn and copyright my work or let it enter public domain. If it enters public domain, another person could use that digital photo file to print a Mona Lisa poster print for personal use. However, this becomes complicated with famous paintings and we recommend that you only reproduce artwork that is officially under public domain.

under public domain.

Modifying the Image

Of course the image is right to start with.  The style is know, the colours are known and normally you would reproduce them faithfully.

But you might want to change to provide a different point of view.  For example on the Mona Lisa:

-         Changing the lighting  

-         Greyscale mono

-         Adding a frame

-         Cut and paste the main part and give a different background

-         Outline

-         Expression

-         Brush pastels

-         Fresco

-         Gaussian Blur

-         Glow edge – colour

-         Glow edge – mono

-         Neon glow

-         Photocopy

-         Pencilled (mono)

-         Watercolour

                     The list could go on

The Digital Printing Process 

Giclée prints are produced in the finest tradition of printmaking when the pressures individually rather than lithographically where editions of less than two hundred prints are simply not cost effective  Giclée printing enable the artist to obtain  a much smaller run economically letting them experiment and profit from their creative work. 

At OPUSalbums.com we promote Innova papers for fine art (giclée) work.  In particular we recommend the following digital photo papers:

IFA-14 – Smooth Cotton/Rag High White Photo Art Paper 315gsm

 IFA-11 – Smooth Cotton/Rag Natural White Photo Art Paper 315gsm

IFA-12 – Soft Texture Natural White Fine Art Photo Paper 315gsm

IFA-15 – Soft White Cotton Fine Art Photo Paper 280gsm

IFA-13 – Cold Press Rough Textured Fine Art Photo Paper 315gsm

IFA-08 – Canvas Textile Effect Paper 315gsm

If you are ambitious you might also try Innova’s Polycotton Fine Art Matte Canvas (IFA-33).

Image and colour

You should not need to change the image.  However if you do need to then open your scanned artwork into an image manipulation program (e.g. Photoshop). You may then  alter the image in a number of ways such as cropping, rotating, resizing, adding text and changing both the contrast and colour balance. It is a good idea to always work on a copy of the scan, in case you make any errors.

If you have a good scan all need to do is crop any furry edges from the scan,. It is advisable at this stage to print the image as a guide to see what results you get - what you see on the monitor is rarely a true representation of what will print.

Always be aware that:

a) Printers and inks will have different colour ranges or gamut. Different printers will print the same image differently.

b) Monitors have different colour configurations and will represent the image differently and vary according to the ambient light.  You should therefore have a screen calibration system such as the Pantone Huey for your monitor.  Even better use a monitor/printer integrated system such as the ColorMunki.

Printing

a) When using Innova digital papers it is best to use a purposely created ICC profile.  The profiles for most papers we see on the popular printers may be downloaded from www.opusalbums.com/iccprofiles

b) If you want to use the printer settings, the best paper setting is generally Photoquality Inkjet or Watercolour Paper.   However, try different settings to get a result you are happy with.

c) If you are using a desktop printer, it is advisable to only feed one sheet of paper through the printer at a time. You may have to guide the heavier sheets into the feed position by hand. Printers that feed the paper from a tray at the bottom will generally take papers up to a weight of 210gsm – most of our papers are heavier than that.

d) Within your page set up menu you can set the printed resolution of the printed output from 600 – 2800 dpi, depending on your printer type.

e)  If longevity is important then use a pigment ink.  However dye based inks, which are liable to fade and are not waterproof generally produce a more brilliant image.

f) Always make sure you print on the coated side of the paper. Usually you can feel the coating on the paper surface. It is also a good idea to blow any coating residue from the surface of the paper before printing to avoid white marks later on.

g) Only handle the paper by the edges, try not to touch the surface too much.

h) If you are using a wide format printer, you will probably be printing more than one image at a time, and therefore be using some kind of RIP (Raster Image Processor) software.

The advantages of using a RIP are:

• more precise colour management provided by inbuilt colour profiles
• More economical use of paper as the RIP positions images optimally.
• Less strain on the editing computer (as the RIP generally runs on a dedicated machine).

  Most wide format printers will take all our weights of paper and boards. Also check the core size of your roll holder as many of our roll sizes have a 3" core as standard.

Mounting

For exhibition and display, prints are mounted or matted  on  a  stiff  board.  The  difference  between mounting and matting is the way in which a print is attached to the board. When a print is mounted, it is stuck on the face of a mounting board. When a print is matted, it is attached to the back of the board and the image is placed behind a cut opening. When matted, a print is often taped into place, thus the matt can be temporary. Generally, prints that are framed are matted. In both cases, the board enhances the picture by providing a broad border as well as protecting the edges against damage.

Protection

You can protect your print by laminating.  We feel that this distracts from the look and feel of the print.

We prefer to use the Hahenmuehle protective spray.  The Hahnemuehle protective spray offers incredible protection for your valuable ink-based images. This odourless spray seals the printed surfaces and protects them from dirt, fingerprints and moisture. It increases the water-resistance of printouts and protects images from fading caused by UV rays.  The protective spray is fast-drying and does not turn yellow. It is completely transparent and has no influence whatsoever on the original colours of the paper.

Making an Album or Photo Book

OPUSalbums.com has a number of solutions.

Our most popular solution for printing fine art or photos is the OPUS Photo Art  Photobook range - professional quality albums designed to last a Lifetime.  In A4, A3, 12x12in (30x30cm) or 8x8in (20x20cm) these have hard durable and elegant museum board covers.  Each album has 20 sheet of double sixed archival, giclée, acid-free paper - soft textured natural or smooth high white.  In order for you to be able to change the contents these albums have post screw binding.

For more permanent binding there is the thermal bound Pics Book or the staple bound Pics Book Junior.   These have the advantage that you can have a larger selection of paper and even canvas.     

Archiving

Fine Art Trade Guild specifications require that for fine art printing all papers must be acid free and between pH 7-9.

All of our Innova Art papers and our Olmec 230gsm archival paper fall within this range.

Want our paper?

Visit Http://www.opusalbums.com/paper

Or if you prefer to buy through eBay – http://stores.ebay.co.uk/photo4biz

Acknowledgements

For information on Copyright – Jay Jenson     Tony Laidig (Public Domain Secrets)

For the guide to Giclée printing -  Innova Art

For the pictures - Visipix

Summary

For the Full article please visit our Blog at OPUSalbums.com - Printing Fine Art/Historical Photo Posters and Photo Books for Pleasure or Profit

Poster and page prints made from fine art or historic photos can be an amazing form of personal expression.

-        They can be printed in any format from a 6x4”/A6 postcard up to a 60” wide mounted picture.

-        They can be mounted or bound in an album.

AND, importantly for you

-        They can be sold.

Print poster designs using historic photography or a work of fine art to use as decorations or give as gifts. These unique poster prints will add character to any home or business and can be created at an affordable cost. A vintage frame and a black and white historic photo will look elegant, while an old advertisement in a plain black frame will look fun and artistic. Start searching for photos under public domain that you can use for your next poster print project.

There are a number of good sources of public domain photos and works of art.  Some of these are given in our full article.  Tony Laibig (The Public Domain Expert) provides some very good lists.

The copyright issue is vitally important.  This is avoided by going to the public domain.  In this legal issues vary country by country.  We have reviewed how those of use in the UK (and other countries) can benefit from the more open environment in the USA.

Finally the quality of printing and presentation is fundamental to producing good results and satisfying customers.  Selecting the right paper, using the right settings, mounting and protecting – or putting into albums is needed to get the best results.

OPUSalbums.com provides a full range of papers for printing fine art or art photography.  Select from the Textured Fine Art, Cotton/Rag Photo Art papers or Canvas.   Alternatively put your prints into Photobooks from the OPUS PhotoArt or the Pics Book ranges. Protect your photos with Hahnemuehle spray.

These products are also available from Printalot.org or on eBay at Photo4Biz

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