All the prints we sell are produced to the highest standards using the most appropriate printing methods which show off each individual image to its best. Most of our prints are produced by us in our London studio although a few are sourced directly from the photographer. Here is a brief description of each print type we offer - if you require further information please get in touch.
Giclée Print
A Giclee print is the most common way of producing collectable prints in the digital age. It is produced is by scanning an original negative or optimising a digital file.The image is then out-putted on various mediums using archival inks. Fine quality coated papers are used to make delicate, beautiful archival prints.
C-Type Prints
A traditional C-type print is a colour print made in a darkroom from a colour negative or transparency. It is produced on light sensitive paper using a chromogenic process. Before digital technology, these were the prints we all received from the pharmacies from our holiday films. C-type prints are archival and are still preferred by some photographers and collectors to digital art prints.
Traditional Darkroom Print (Hand printed from the original negative)
A traditional dark room print is hand printed by a master printer in a darkroom from the original negative. In a world of digital printing, hand printing has become both different and special. Putting a Black and White or colour negative into an enlarger and “making” a print by hand gives a crafted and individual feel.
Our printers will apply their skill and interpretation to make the best prints from your negatives - prints are individually enlarged, dodged and shaded for the best results.
Digital Darkroom Print
A digital black and white darkroom print printed from a digital computer file and is a form of a digital c-type print. The difference being that the machine has been specifically adapted and profiled to print onto designated black and white fibre/resin paper, thus giving the richness of monotone grades and very deep blacks.
A machine exposes the photo sensitive paper with lasers, then, the paper is developed and fixed in traditional chemicals.
Silk screen
A screen is made of a piece of porous, finely woven fabric (originally silk, but typically made of polyester since the 1940s) stretched over a frame of aluminum or wood. Areas of the screen are blocked off with a non-permeable material to form a stencil, which is a negative of the image to be printed; that is, the open spaces are where the ink will appear.
The screen is placed atop a substrate such as papyrus or fabric. Ink is placed on top of the screen, and a fill bar (also known as a flood bar) is used to fill the mesh openings with ink. The operator begins with the fill bar at the rear of the screen and behind a reservoir of ink. The operator lifts the screen to prevent contact with the substrate and then using a slight amount of downward force pulls the fill bar to the front of the screen. This effectively fills the mesh openings with ink and moves the ink reservoir to the front of the screen. The operator then uses a squeegee (rubber blade) to move the mesh down to the substrate and pushes the squeegee to the rear of the screen.
The ink that is in the mesh opening is transferred by capillary action to the substrate in a controlled and prescribed amount, i.e. the wet ink deposit is equal to the thickness of the stencil. As the squeegee moves toward the rear of the screen the tension of the mesh pulls the mesh up away from the substrate leaving the ink upon the substrate surface.
Lith Print
A lith print is created using a photographic printing process that uses standard black-and-white photographic paper with lithographic developer (often heavily diluted standard developer) to produce a print with dark shadows and soft, bright highlights.
The effect has been described as 'creamy highlights and hard shadows an appearance not unlike a charcoal drawing'. Tones, colors, and subtle hues different from standard black-and-white print can be achieved.
Lightjet C-type Print
This mode of printing contains elements of both traditional darkroom printing and digital technology. The original negative is scanned, or a digital image adjusted, and the resulting image is outputted onto photographic paper by means of laser light.
The prints have the same archival value as traditional photographic RC prints or C-type prints on plastic based papers, with the advantage to some collectors of being called 'photographic prints'.
Lambda C-type Print
This mode of printing contains elements of both traditional darkroom printing and digital technology. The original negative is scanned, or a digital image adjusted, and the resulting image is outputted onto photographic paper by means of laser light.
The prints have the same archival value as traditional photographic RC prints or C-type prints on plastic based papers, with the advantage to some collectors of being called 'photographic prints'.
Iris Print
An Iris printer was developed in 1985. It is a large scale printer used to proof print before going to press. It was used because of its perfect colour matching. It is basically a large format inkjet printer. Artists began to use this printer because of its good colour rendition and because of its large format, which for it's time was hard to find. A drum is loaded with a material to print onto. This can be almost anything, paper, canvas, cloth. The drum rotates and the inkjet heads have a continuous ink flow passing through that delivers the ink. The machine produced high resolution, colour accurate reproductions.
Vintage Fibre Based Print
A fibre based print is a paper base coated with a light sensetive emulsion consisting of silver halide salts suspended in a colloidal material.
A "vintage" print is one that the photographer made within a certain short time of taking the picture. The idea is that it's supposed to be more authentic, because it reflects how the photographer was working and visualizing at the time. It will have been printed using old traditional methods, in the darkroom using chemicals. The negative will be placed in the enlarger and used to expose the photo sensitive paper.
Vintage Resin Coated Print
A resin coated print consists of a a paper base supported between two layers of polyethylene. This makes the paper unable to soak up liquid, making the paper a very quick method of printing, because of these layers, the washing and drying times in the process are greatly reduced.
A "vintage" print is one that the photographer made within a certain short time of taking the picture. The idea is that it's supposed to be more authentic, because it reflects how the photographer was working and visualizing at the time. It will have been printed using old traditional methods, in the darkroom using chemicals. The negative will be placed in the enlarger and used to expose the photo sensitive paper.
Lenticular
Lenticular printing is a multi-step process consisting of creating an image from at least two existing images, and combining it with a special lens. This process can be used to create various frames of animation (for a motion effect), or simply to show a set of alternate images which may appear to transform into each other.
The combined lenticular print will show two or more different images simply by changing the angle from which the print is viewed.
