A hybrid photography workflow at a high level

Given a basic hybrid photo workflow, we start with inspiration, select equipment that has some synergy with the burning thought and capture the image to film. We make some more decisions about the analog to digital conversion – selecting a film developer to which settings to apply while scanning. Finally we manage the new asset and export it for the web or print. Its this last step that I have been so dull on.

Photo technique magazine has had a great series of articles that got me thinking about how part of the hybrid photo journey is going to have to deal with the print – and there are so many options! There is everything from turning the digital image into a negative and doing traditional wet prints, to alternative processes to digital chromogenic prints to inkjet. Then you realize on the last one – inkjet – there are even more ways to craft the print!

The Modern Alchemist: Collodio-Chloride Printing-Out Paper, Bill Westheimer, November/December 2011

The Artisan Approach to Inkjet Printing, Wendy Erickson, January/February 2011

Creating Digital Paper Negatives by Chris Woodhouse, March/April 2010

Chromoskedasic Printing by Christina Z. Anderson, May/June 2010

There is of course the injet substrate decision – is it going to be a canvas or Hahnemühle photo rag or some other destination? Are you printing or are you sending it out to someone else? Good printers can be expensive, not to mention the inks and papers and the likely spoilage of these consumables. If you send it out will they get what you are looking to do or is it fire and forget.

The November / December 2011 issue of View Camera showcases an article by Jon Cone, The State of the Art in Black and White Inkjet Printing. A form of that content appears to also be available at The Agnostic Print. What you learn is that Piezography K7 rocks Epson’s Ultrachrome K3 inks. Its not even a close call. So those photo finishing houses offering you an expensive black and white print on Hahnemuhle are giving you less than your image could be. It is true that the printer manufacturers need to contend with creating amazing color prints and to that they focus. However, if you want the best in black and white printing and thought the latest Epson did the trick you have some work ahead of you. The good news is that Piezography has done most of the work for you. What is clear to me is that going down this path is a rabbit hole I may not emerge from. Consider all the work it takes to just create the image, add the hybrid photo approach and now print making to the process. How can you not want to be the print maker when it has so much to contribute to the end product?

Regardless of  how the print is made, it seems to me that part of closing the loop of hybrid photography is getting the image out of the machine and into the world. The journey expands to what it takes to gain satisfaction from the print.

So, if mailing off your prints is not something that is palatable, you need to find someone local. Luckily for me, there are two labs walking distance from where I work on Madison Avenue – Duggal and LTI. They both do great work, but I like the people, vibe and price at LTI. I have no doubt Duggal does a great job for their higher volume clients, but I always felt out of place walking in there and everyone always seemed too busy. LTI is a further walk but they make the time to get your order right without taking any longer than necessary. They service some big names and do not make me feel insignificant. I am after all an amateur, but I do not know anyone that wants to be treated less than professional.

My basic order is often as follows:

• Process, print, scan.
• Push 1 stop.
• Glossy with white border.
• TIFF format.

I figure, prints are not much more than contact sheets and they are larger and easier to review. Even though I have an Epson Workforce 600 All-in-One printer, my time is worth something, so I rather they scan them with their machine. They provide the images on FTP or CD which makes archiving easy. Pushing a stop is usually to compensate for over exposing and wanting to bring back some of the highlights. Until recently I did not have a film scanner, so their scans were my digital originals, hence the file format being TIFF. Regardless of the photo labs quick scan quality, why start out with a JPEG!