hurricane

And you tell me that I do well with titles? I think, that you are just so unique in seeing all these magic things in flowers. You see so much of us, humans, in them! Sometimes it makes me think that you know much more about their world, then you say.... Are you sure you never met a Flower Fairy? :) It is a very expressive picture, very dynamic and dramatic too. Dof, shadows and sharpness of the middle and of the edges make that effect. Hurricane (of emotions, of feelings...)

Very artistic! Love it. Warm regards, Tamara

tamara,  say what you like,  but i still think your titles are the best going in the flower section.  was going to call this one the "eye of the hurricane",  but decided that was like stating the obvious.  this is last rose i worked with,  very small about the size of a american nickel.  is winter here and am scratching to find much that i like to work with.  hope your well and happy!

i really like it now - the whites are so three-dimensional.  best, j

jamie,  this is from my last shoot,  and part of next batch to valentin,  think might print well on the german etching paper.  series was 60 or 70 have down to 4 or 5 now,  but think know the 2  keepers.

Roger, the lights and the shadows work wonderflly well here.  Love the soft and delicate presentation.  Thank you for providing artwork we can aspire to and critiques that are honest and helpful.  Take care.

Best regards Rogger!

PDE

alan,  

speaking of art,  my interest now is focused mainly on the giclee printing method.  most of what i do today is printed on hahnamuhle etching paper,  which originates from germany.  there are many more outstanding papers also available.  the reason i choose the etching paper is because it rolls up into a tube and is easy to send anywhere in the world, at a affordable cost and flattens back out reasonably easy when it reaches its destination.  sending images flat from way down here at the bottom of the world ( new zealand ), can be astronomical in cost.  i know there are still a lot of photographers not aware of the possibilities that present today in the world of printing.  a suggestion would be to find a good print-master , who you get is the key to how your results will turn out.  a good print- master is a artiest, him or her self. the images i like the most are images like this one or images with a multitude of soft colors.  anything prints better as a giclee but there are horses for courses.  i hope some of you excellent photographers who read this will just give it a try,  will guarantee it will knock your socks off.  remember to choose your printer well, ask to see some of their previous prints.  usually when someone excels in their craft they are well known anyway, so fairly easy to find.  the cost depending on who you get can be a bit pricey,  but usually quality always is.  i naturally don't have everything printed in this way, as just could not afford it,  you soon learn what will print up really good and use your experience as your guide. you can also buy the printer and papers yourself and have a go on your own,  but top giclee printers are a bit pricey,  and as i said earlier it's a art unto it's own.

ambassador pierre,

as always a pleasure to here from you my friend!

to anyone who reads the above comment.

i just checked and if you were to google the word, giclee , pronounced,  ( g-clay ) you will finds heaps of information on this method, developed and refined by jack duganne,  the man most responsible for the wonderful prints available to us today.

Roger,

thank you for the advice.  It's very much appreciated.  I will be checking into it and let you know how it goes.  Thanks again and keep on shootin'.

it should really shine in a quality print.  how big can it go?  which camera was it?  best, j

Roger. I have been so busy renovating a property that I haven't had much time to get to P.N and to concentrate on my photography, so must have missed this! Very brooding and hurricanelike with a perfect title! Also like how the 3 stamens are encapsulated within the petal in the centre and again great backlighting work!

Have read your comment Re: Giclee printing and that seems a great way to go - have looked it up and really like the results. I find printing a absolute minefied so it's great to get some advice from someone who has had a number of his excellent works in print! Thank you for your advice Roger and I am sure that I can speak for many that you are invaluable here on P.N. If you ever have the time and patience, I will be in touch some more about printing! Best wishes. Sarah.

It seems that only Roger can give that celestial dimension to a flower and perhaps he is more passionate than most by extracting scent to the intellect.  Excellent as always and very best wishes, BT

Roger,

  Beautiful image with the perfect title.  Thanks for the helpful advice about printing, something that where I live is very hard to find.  Take care, Patsy

jamie, camera was fuji pro 5,  lens 105.  good question,  how big can you go.  i work with 50 x 70 cm images thats the size i do all limited editions in.  have had larger made for exhibitions but not quite sure what their actual dimensions are.  my fuji is 12 or 13  megapixels,  small by todays standards but all i require.

sarah,  have the time anytime to discuss giclee prints with you.  i had another member who read my comment on giclee printing think i was trying to get him to sell his work as prints.  i just reread comment and not sure how he interrupted it to come up with that.  all am trying to do is let people know what is available today in the world of printing.  if someone wants to sell their work more power to them and if they want their work to present at its very best,  giclee is the way to go.  its also the way to go if you just want to keep your work or give to friends or what ever you choose to do with it,  is just the ultimate method of printing,  that i know of anyway.

bachir,  i dont believe a word you say!  but must admit i sure enjoy reading them.  many thanks.......

patsy,  am still in a dream over the wonderful railroad image i found of yours yesterday.  i think i also live in a fairly remote place have a look if you like www.ngaiobay.co.nz  tell you what with a computer the world is at your finger tips.

50 cm = 19.7" = 5906 pixels at 300/inch

70 cm = 27.6" = 8268 pixels at 300/inch

5906 x 8268 = 48.8 megapixel, or about four times your resolution.  that would only require x2 upsampling, which isn't too hard.  do you do that, or do you leave it to your printer?

I made some very big prints from low-res cameras for my first show.  it worked surprisingly well.  best, j

jamie,

i actually do none of my own printing.  reason being today the only printing i require would be art prints which i either sell as art prints or some as limited editions.  for either market it is really important for me that i am selling my very best,  if valentin is doing the printing we discuss each image separately and he will tell me what he thinks before printing.  would be how and how much he can get from the colors that interest me the most.  http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=7867557  this image is one of the first flower images i ever took,  almost ruined the file by playing with image and saving it the wrong way after each play.  but recently i had it printed and ask valentin to just print as large as he could,  what and how he did it not sure but image came back on my standard 50 x 70 size.  there was more mat around than my other images but still looks really good.  this image i get asked lots of times how i photoshopped it to get the effects it has.  the rose is called ice berg.  here because of the temperate climate we live in this rose produces most of the year.  the difference being the pinks and bluish colors only happen in the winter time and they are what giclee printing can just bring out so beautifully. not photoshop!  have never been into printing since converting to digital,  reason being first subject i ever looked at was a rose, and i just fell into it head long,  and immediately realized the possibilities this new digital method offered.  mainly being you could view your work instantly,  and by being gifted that opportunity, that meant you could have control over the light or being more specific know when the light is at it's best.  for me light is the key to my work,  i go after light like you go after blur.  i use back lighting a lot,  but i only use natural light in any of my images.  anyway within a week of buying my first digital camera,  garden art was formed and within a month we were producing both a range of cards and image blocks.  i wanted quality prints back than also, and knew absolutely nothing about printing images digitally,  so we worked with a couple of different graphic designers who set our images up and than we had professional printers do the rest.  i learned about giclee fairly early on,  and while it is expensive comparably, have always done art prints, exhibition prints,  or limited editions with this method.  this method is also done a lot on canvas,  we sold quite a few canvas works and also still today get asked for canvas.  we actually probably sold more canvases than we did art prints,  but have never felt quite right about printing on canvas.  lots of folks like canvas,  but to me canvas is for painting on and paper is for printing on.  

one last bit of information you might find interesting,  my last exhibition which was also my largest, were all giclee prints.  the cost of the framing was over $10.000 but all frames were glassless,  being as all glass except one lost some of the magic of giclee when you put glass over them.  the one that kept everything pretty well was a glass i think they called museum glass.  but it would have cost me an additional $400. per image to have used it,  and when you add that on to the 40% the gallery takes i would have lost money.  and besides i was not totally convinced you still did not lose just a wee bit with this glass also.

roger

i try to control everything, not least so i will be able to replicate a print as closely as possible.  I had some black-and-white, silver-based prints made from digital in germany.  they wanted to lighten them up.  i really couldn't believe that.  when i have black-and-white, silver-based prints done from film, i always make scanned, digital proofs first to show how i want them to look.  i also mark up the proof with a magic marker.

i'm with you about canvas.  i have made a bunch, though.  i printed my graffiti series on canvas - thirteen prints about 1 x 1.5 meters.  it worked well for those.  canvas also makes it natural to go glassless, which makes very good sense, as you say.  best, jamie

Hi

For what it's worth, and just to add to this interesting discussion,  as far as I can find out, giclee today means merely high quality inkjet printing. These printers are pretty common now. Reasonably priced up to 13x19 size. in the $400. range. We have a canon  i9900 with 8 ink cartridges. Great resolution. You can get both dye and pigment printers today. If you want larger than that, you're talking big bucks. A 24 in printer goes for around $5k. That's where it's worth to have a pro shop do your printing.  Hahnemuhle paper is more expensive than even good photopaper, but still in the $4. range for  13x19 as opposed to $1.50 for a good pearl of the same size.

What the cost of having someone else do your printing comes from is their time and expertise.And, if you want big prints, their investment in the equipment.

That being said, I do have a 3' x 6' photo hanging in our kitchen of a scene on our farm that I printed. It is made of 12, 13x19 lapped together- you can't see the seams unless you look really close. Not pro- quality - but still effective.

Giclee was coined to distinguish a fine inkjet printing from a standard inkjet which, at that time, was not very good. Today, all major brands, canon, epson, kodak, have excellent inkjet printers for photos. I'm not talking about the cheap ones or the 'Does it all" types, but the dedicated ones. Look up large format printers in google for info -- BUT, you do have to be willing to work with the machines. They do break- but have replaceable parts, and inks can clog, but generally, they can produce excellent quality prints on any kind of paper you can find.

Just wanted to add this as another option.

Cheers,

Greg

greg & verena

guess as with all technology the prices come down accordingly.  one of my first digital cameras which was a nikon 995, here in new zealand cost $3,200 this is for a camera with only 3.3 megapixel.  had a friend  buy and post from states where was only $1,500 that same camera today am sure you would get for under a $100 dollars here, or in america.
when i priced giclee printers they were very expensive.  the word giclee was coined by a man named,  jack duganne who referred to it as a " fine art digital print ".  here in new zealand some people who used to specialize in printing with the giclee method,  now drop the word giclee altogether,  and just refer to them as fine art prints.  jack duganne is alive and well and still printing as far as i know somewhere in california.  have actually only seen two prints by the master himself,  and he most certainly deserves the title of print master.  i still am of the opinion,  if you want to print in this method,  you should at least once have a good print master do a print for you.  if for no other reason it will show you the possibilities and perhaps  set a bench mark for you to try and achieve.  i personally believe there is a art to printing separate from taking images.  i do not have the time or patience to require these skills.  have checked out most of the considered best print masters here in new zealand,  have found two that i work with.  one is a russian by the name of valentin,  we have a very volatile relationship,  over the years i have quit using him dozens of times,  only to crawl back asking him to print for me again.  he is the only printer who has brought tears to my eyes just from how he printed a image.  he has been my single biggest expense  for probably the last 10 years,  he used to do all our printing from blocks right through to limited editions.  today all he does is limited editions,  cost us $55 for a 50 by 70 print,  with minimum of 10 prints.  if i am going to sell a print,  i just have to know that who ever is buying print is getting the very best work for there money.  and guess it boils down to i realize no matter how much effort i put in,  am just never going to reach the perfection this guy produces.  

greg,  at least this should explain to you why so much of my work is soft in nature.  to me,  giclee and good choice of paper,  work best with soft colorful images,  works best with just about all images actually,  but the ultimate for me anyway,  would be soft and colorful.  glad you added to this discussion.  still looking through images of festival you gave me link to.