Touching up a spot on a large print

<p>I just got back from the printer some large prints that I'm about to have framed for a gallery show in three weeks. These are matte prints on heavy weight inkjet paper from a professional (small, local) printer who specializes in exactly this sort of thing. This is the first time I've used this printer.</p>

<p>On one of them, a 36x18" color print that has a bit of noise due to looking directly into the sun at a wooded area, I discovered a small, white spot that is not in the image file. I wouldn't have noticed it except it's in a relatively solid, dark area (a tree trunk). The spot itself is roughly 1mm wide and considerably less tall. There is no profile when viewed on edge (zero thickness), and when you look at the reflection of a light on the matte laminate, you can tell that the spot is beneath the laminate. My wife wouldn't have noticed it before I pointed it out to her, but now she sees it clearly.</p>

<p>This print is destined to be matted and framed under glass next week.</p>

<p>Is there anything that can be done to make a tiny white spot on a dark background a little less noticeable, without making the situation worse? It seems like such a minor flaw to have the whole image reprinted, but it's something that I noticed (perfectionist that I am), and if I paid $400 to hang this in my living room, I'd be mildly annoyed. I suppose if I were hanging it behind my receptionist at the office, it wouldn't bother me at all. If I can't touch it up, is something this small worth reprinting? I have a tendency to be pedantic about such things, and I don't want to be unnecessarily picky. I do want to make a good impression in my first gallery show, though.</p>

<p>I'll try to attach a small version of the image. The spot is in the dark tree trunks toward the right of the image.<br>

<div></div>

<p>You can touch it up with a pen.</p>

<p>What sort of pen? I need something that won't discolor over time, and I'd prefer that it not reflect light differently than the rest of the matte surface finish.</p>

<p>If I were you, I'd go back to the printer and have them provide a good print... If the flaw is not present in the image file, it should not be present on the print.</p>

<p>What a gorgeous shot, Ben. Do you know what paper it is on, and/or what process was used? Epson wide printer, Fuji Frontier, ? You can probably use a watercolor based pen, but it does depend on the process and paper. You're not going to just draw it over. You want to "dot" it on, so you want a really fine pen or brush. If you live in a big enough city with a pro shop, I would get a set of colors. Look at FreestylePhoto.biz to at least see what you need.</p>

<p>I second going back to the printer. </p>

<p>Thanks, Michael. I know that it was done on inkjet photo paper, not "true" Fuji (etc) paper, but to my eye, it's indistinguishable. The paper comes on a 60" wide roll and is fed into a similarly-sized printer, but I don't know the brand of printer.</p>

<p>Looking at FreestylePhoto's web site, is a "SpotPen" what I'm looking for? There's not much of a description. My city is about 250K people, and we do have one dedicated camera store, plus any number of art supply stores. I'll call around tomorrow & see what I can turn up. The printer is closed on weekends, so I've got a couple days to explore my options.</p>

<p>Try a Picma Micron by Sakura. Any good art supply store will have them. They seem to adhere to anything and they recommend themselves as "archival." I use .01 for signatures on baryta gloss but that's pretty fine...you probably want .05 or thicker.<br>

If you really mean your print is laminated I suspect the only thing that will work is the fine end of the Sharpie "Twin Tip" permanent marker. Should be available from Staples or Office Depot.<br>

Obviously, if it's laminated no water-based product will adhere. If it's not actually laminated I think Picma would be perfect, but it won't work well on plastic (lamination)</p>

<p>If the spot is invisible at two yards -- to someone who does not know of it -- maybe it is best ignored. Clearly the printer's responsibility, of course.</p>

<p>Before you return it to the printer...</p>

 

 

<p>Sometimes it's just the contrast that makes a spot show. If you can't find a color to match, just try a touch up with a regular pencil. It'll darken the spot, and since it's in a speckled area, you probably won't see it.</p>

<p>Peetr</p>

 

<p>I've had a set of SpotPens for years, they come in handy for just the kind of thing you're talking about. If the SpotPens you mention are the same ones I have, they consist of a set of ten pens containing what the manufacturer calls "photographic retouching dye" ranging in tone from almost pure white to various shades of gray to almost pure black. I originally used them on fiber base paper in the darkroom and they're made for b&w prints but they've worked well on color ink jet prints on the few occasions when I've used them that way (I make my own prints and so I usually just reprint rather than spot). I wouldn't try them on a large area but in your case, with such a small spot on a dark background, I think one of the ten should fix the spot.</p>

<p>Would be interesting to hear how you resolved the problems and what result you got...<br>

Good luck!</p>

<p>After closer analysis, I discovered that a certain shade of brownish-yellow always had a weird, harsh mottling effect throughout the entire image. Adjacent areas of a slightly different color were nice and smooth. Even my wife replied "ewwwww" when I pointed it out to her. Because of that, I had the printer redo the image. She wasn't able to get acceptable results from her equipment, so she had to outsource it. I'm not sure where she sent it, but the results were excellent. No white spots on this one.</p>

<p>This printer (Brixen Imaging in Lincoln, NE) provided great customer service and prices, and I prefer to use local businesses when I can, but two of the three large prints I had made contained significant problems. I don't have time to deal with that sort of thing on a regular basis, so I don't believe I'll be using them again. Also, the two prints of the same image that she produced on her photo printer and her large format printer had dramatically different color (the large format was much darker), so obtaining perfect color on a print may be a crap shoot.</p>

<p>The other problem I mentioned was that the 48x24" loose canvas I got (different photo) came back as 48x23.75". The image was exactly 2:1, and the print appeared to include the entire image, so something was apparently miscalibrated between her computer and printer. I had to cut down my stretcher bars to match the shorter height before I could mount the canvas.</p>

<p>Thanks for update.<br>

Hope you can find a better printer for the future...</p>