fine art Scanning + Reproduction

We Offer Peace of Mind for Artists & Photographers
In consultation and collaboration with you, your fine art editions will be perfected and printed
​to produce the finest prints, to match or exceed your highest expectations.
  1. Image Capture - Photographing Your Artworks
  2. ​If you  provide the scans / digital photographs
  3. ​Fine Tuning the Image (Pre-Press Work)
  4. ​Approval
  5. Final Printing

The Process

 

1.
Image Capture - Photographing Your Artworks: Your best option is to send or bring us your artwork so that we can do the photography. It will be handled professionally and photographed with care and precision. At the heart of our digital photography studio is a Better Light Super 6K-HS high-resolution 4x5 digital camera back, with a maximum file size of  618 MB, 9000 pixels x 12000 pixels x 6 bytes per pixel, coupled with a Wista 4x5 view camera and German lenses, resulting in a stunning digital capture of your artwork. Flawless prints can be made 4 to 5 times larger than the original with no loss of sharpness and no pixelation.
Another important advantage of having the original here is that we can carry out the colour corrections with the original to refer to, ensuring complete accuracy.


Related Article: Perfect Reproductions [or Why Use a Specialist Photographic Studio to Reproduce Your Art?] Detailing the process step-by-step, explaining techniques and equipment.
 

2.
If you  provide the scans / digital photographs: Your best alternative is to find another professional photographer working with a large format (4x5 or larger) view camera with a digital back, or transparency film that we can then scan.

However we are often sent 35mm digital images which will usually require some enhancement in PhotoShop (up to an hour's work) to achieve a presentable fine art print up to about 36"x 24". This skilled work involves, for example, the separation/lifting of shadow tones, removal of digital fringing and the elimination of colour noise and pixilation whilst sharpening the details. Whilst the result cannot be compared to those achieved with our Better Light Scanning Back, our many clients who have taken this route have always been delighted with the results.

It's important that the photographer is experienced in the reproduction of fine art, if so they should be able to provide us with a correctly exposed colour chart plus the inclusion of a grey scale or 18% gray card within the image area, which will greatly enhance our ability to achieve correct color matching. If possible we encourage you to put us in touch with your photographer prior to the shoot to give us the opportunity to discuss these and many other technical issues. Digital image files should be saved as Tiffs with the correct ICC colour space for maximum colour gamut, Adobe RGB.

Whilst we don't recommend that you have your artwork scanned on a flatbed scanner (click here to find out why) we can of course work with scans made in this way.

Although not essential, supplying a hard copy that you have approved for colour reference will be helpful, saving us time and you money.

3.
Fine Tuning the Image (Pre-Press Work): Necessary adjustments to the density, contrast, saturation, color balance, etc. as required plus cleaning up of dust, scratches and any other unwanted elements. If you would like enhancements or changes to any specific colors or other image qualities, the image can be manipulated to your specifications. Throughout this process one or more test strips/proofs are made, on one or more production media. These are included in the "all-in" price. (Price List.)

4.
Approval:  A 72 dpi 'soft proof' is always sent via the internet, full-size for 'on-screen' inspection. A final hard proof can be sent to you if required. You then have the option to sign-off on the approved test, otherwise prints produced without sign-off are done so on the understanding that they are supplied "as is" and cannot be unreasonably rejected.

5.
Final Printing: Depending on the quantity of prints ordered and other work in-hand, it can take anywhere from 2-14 days to process a printing order, depending on the nature and size of the order. Further details can be found under each of the appropriate price lists and turnaround time will be advised at the beginning of a job.
Related Articles:

Collecting Your Paintings for Reproduction

We can arrange for a courier to collect your paintings wherever you are in Canada, or if you are an artist living on Vancouver Island, one of the Gulf Islands or in Vancouver or on the Lower Mainland, please contact us to discuss collection of your paintings if you prefer not to ship them.

Pickup & Drop Off:
  • Vancouver and the Lower Mainland
  • Comox Valley
  • Nanaimo
  • Victoria​

additional services

backup discs /memory stick of master files

Scanning of Transparencies + Negatives

certificate of
authenticity & biography

Images for Websites + Other Uses

Archiving

We archive your image files for safekeeping and your peace of mind. This saves you from having to upload them every time you need a print and saves us from having to prepare them for printing again, thus ensuring consistent results every time. For professionals this is an invaluable service not provided by the average print lab!

'print on demand'

"Print-on-demand" means that you will never have to worry about covering the costs of production of inventory that needs to be stored for future orders. Order the prints you need, when you need them.