look of a print!

[niall_church]

I've just seen my first digital print from a negative (B&W),and it !looks kinda

strange,almost 3D like!

Is this normal,and is it true that if digital prints get wet they are ruined!

Niall

[dave_powell2]

Hi Niall,

 

I can't answer your first question, since I haven't encountered that look. But some digital prints will run when wet. It all depends on how "permanent" the paper and inks are that were used.

 

For example, I can't let water touch the prints that I produce on my old Epson printer, because its inks are neither permanent nor archival. But a friend with a more recent Epson printer produces prints that won't run...just like the ones that your local film processors provide. You can always print out a small sample, and see what happens!

 

I've actually seen an exhibit of ink-jet prints that were deliberately distressed...including sprayed with water, with water dropped onto them, scoured with a Brillo pad, and even output with the printer in an oven! (The latter actually produced a very surprising result...the B/W print looked normal until the oven was turned on, half-way through the image. At that point, all of the tones inverted!)

 

Sincerely,

 

Dave

[niall_church]

I should add that the print I was looking at is called 'Calm Waters'

by Richard Vanek!

It was a free print from him,very good picture,it's just the look of it that seemed strange!

I think they are some sort of archival inks and papers!

But,it seems printer do give a different look to negative prints,if you know what I mean!

[godfrey]

What "look" a print has is a matter of how it is rendered in image processing and what paper

type/inks are used to print it. You can produce anything from a print which is

indistinguishable from a darkroom wet lab to something which is far different with a good

image processing system and the right papers.

 

Godfrey

[jtk]

....some inks are easily damaged by moisture (eg HP Designjet), other inks are more resistant than traditional photo materials (eg Epson's pigments..don't know about the inks in their older machines).