With so many print choices available today it is often difficult to choose which substrate best suits your image.

Photographic or ink jet is a big question. If one chooses ink jet, then the choice gets bigger. We encourage you to come into the Colour Factory where we can discuss a variety of paper surfaces and print some tests. This will help you choose the best paper surface to suit your work aesthetically and conceptually. Ultimately how it looks once PRINTED is what’s important.

Stickers have eroded the plastic and damaged the negative over time

At the Colour Factory we have recently been required to scan a client’s negatives that have been in storage for some time. Difficulty was experienced when removing the negative from the plastic sleeve, and once removed, we noticed an obvious indentation on the surface caused by the red dot sticker that had been left on the sleeve for several years. The glue in the sticker has eroded the plastic and subsequently damaged the negative.

This is a reminder for us all to be careful of what our negatives come into contact with whilst in storage. Negatives should always be kept in plastic sleeves such as polypropylene or acid free paper. The plastic protects the negative from dust, harmful substances and damage caused from handling. Generally, if kept out of contact from environmental factors that lead to its deterioration (such as humidity) negatives will last ‘indefinitely’.

Interestingly this project started with digital and has ended in analogue. The outcome is a mural chromogenic print of overwhelming proportions. STELARC commissioned Graham Baring to take his portrait and assist in creating the image below. Scott Livesey on behalf of STELARC, came to us with a high resolution file, which we wrote to an 8 x 10 inch negative in order to produce an analogue projection print.

Projection printing has become a unique area of expertise and still produces the highest value print in terms of archival and aesthetic quality and collectability.

Colour Factory Director, Phill Virgo, has 30 years experience in mural printing, including over 30,000 black and white photographic enlargements, and 120,000 plus colour photographic enlargements.

Inside the Colour Factory darkroom, several massive Durst enlargers are on tracks, moving back and forth to create the enlargement size that is projected onto the wall.

STELARC’s work, printed by Colour Factory, will be on exhibition at Scott Livesey Galleries from August 5 – August 29, 2009. The artwork is a three-part panel; the entire size is 4.2m wide x 2.7m high. It was a pleasure working with STELARC and the staff of Scott Livesey Galleries, who shared with us their knowledge and expertise in the field of fine art.

At the Colour Factory we enjoy a challenge and take pleasure in collaborating with artists and galleries to achieve their creative vision.

Let’s talk about Kelvin…
Degrees Kelvin (K) is a value for expressing the colour of light. The relationship of colour temperature to colour perception is not obvious due to the remarkable ability of human vision to compensate for wide variations in the spectral distribution of light sources. Tungsten (or incandescent) light gives off a warm, yellow-orange hue (2700K-3300K). Fluorescent cool white light gives off a cyan-green hue (3500K-4000K), daylight fluorescent is the closest to ‘white’ daylight (5000K) with a blue hue and warm white fluorescent has a magenta-orange hue (2700K-3000K). Depending on the time of day, daylight may appear to be different colours. Daylight is 5500K-6500K. Since ‘white’ light covers a broad range of color temperatures, how is our perception of a work of art affected by the choice of illumination? Is there an ideal white light, i.e. is there a preferred colour temperature for viewing works of art and should the artist take this into consideration when printing?

Considering you do not always have control over the type of lighting your photographs will be viewed in, it is difficult to know what colour temperature to print to. A gallery may have tungsten, fluorescent, or a mixture with daylight. You may also want to exhibit the work more than once under different lighting conditions. The general trend in the past has been to print your work to daylight (5000K) as it is ideal in terms of excellent colour rendering. However, museums and collectors will generally exhibit work under tungsten as it is the least damaging to photographs whilst rendering accurate colour, and it is more commonly found in the home.

The ability of light sources to render colour accurately is crucial in museums. The standard measure for this is the colour-rendering index (CRI). Conventionally a CRI of 100 represents daylight. The best source of light in this respect is Tungsten Halogen with a CRI of 99. We are already aware that tungsten halogen is quite different than daylight, so far as it is much stronger in the red-yellow end of the spectrum. However, it does share with daylight a continuous spectrum, which is a key factor in human response to light. The only other light sources in the range of CRI 90-100 are some fluorescent lamps. These do not have continuous spectra (Lux and Kelvin are not continuous). However, they do get reasonably close to the response of the eye. At present Tungsten Halogen is the first choice for lighting museums, with high colour rendering fluorescent second.

Let’s talk about Lux…
Lux is a measurement of the light intensity falling on a surface. A problem with natural light is that all visible light is not equal. The amount of fading of an artwork caused by a 50 lux of UV filtered daylight is not equal to the amount of damage cause by a 50 lux of filtered UV fluorescent light, and neither is equal to damage caused by 50 lux of UV filtered incandescent light. The more violet and blue the source contains the more damage occurs, since these are the highest energy visible light wavelengths. The higher the colour temperature, the more violet and blue is present. Incandescent has the least. Fluorescent has more then incandescent, but it depends on the colour temperature of the lamp. Daylight has the most, and will cause the most damage even if lux levels are equal.

It is interesting to also note that due to the interaction of the rods and cones in the human eye, the colour of different light temperatures will appear different depending on their intensity. Basically the higher the Kelvin value, the higher the lux needs to be, to appear white to the human eye. It is the amount of light which triggers a larger visual influence of the cones for higher illumination and rods (blue sensitivity) for lower illumination. ie. Daylight and fluorescent needs to have a greater lux then tungsten to appear white.

This reinforces that tungsten is the best choice of light to exhibit and view work under as it has accurate colour rendition, consistent output and the lowest amount of damaging UV rays in the lowest output.

GALLERY LIGHTING:

* 150 lux (or less) is considered o be appropriate for viewing (exhibiting) photographs
* Incandescent (tungsten) is the most archival lighting to view artwork.

The Colour Factory has checked the colour temperature and lux of its lighting, and have the option for you to view your tests and prints under (UV filtered) white daylight fluorescent 5000K, 220 lux and will shortly be offering museum standard tungsten halogen at 2700K, 150 lux.

As part of these green print options, Latex Ink will be used instead of UV and Solvent options, as well as providing the customers with a choice of using a range of biodegradable and recyclable products.

High qualtiy and large format printing are just some of the Colour Factory’s many services.