Terminology

8 Bit Color - 8 bits of color per channel each 8 bits represent 256 levels of color so in an RGB image there is 3 x 8 bits (3 x 256 = 16,777,216 possible colors)

16 Bit Color

Chine-collé is a special technique in printmaking in which the image is transferred to a surface that is bonded to a heavier support in the printing process. We use this process in digital combination prints where we can print in full color on rice paper which is then bonded to a heavier paper with an etching.

CMYK - Cyan Magenta Yellow and BlacK

Conversion profile

Digital File
A digital file is a file that a computer can recognize and is made up of tiny dots of color. Each dot is mathematically expressed as one of three (RGB) or four (CMYK) colors. For example a pure red dot in RGB would be described as 255, 0, 0 and pure yellow would be 255, 255, 0. If all three numbers are the same the color is grey. (see scanners)

DMAX

DPI
Dots per inch. Often used to describe the size of a digital file for printing

Giclée - see IRIS print and Giclee page

ICC Profile - See profiles

InDesign
This is a page composition program from Adobe which directly competes with QuarkXPress. If you are using this program to prepare your files it is recommended that you export each page as an EPS.

IRIS Print
IRIS was a manufacturer of dye based CMYK printers, invented in the late 1980's in the 90's they became the pre-eminent digital Fine Art Printer for almost two decades. The word Giclee was specifically introduced for IRIS printers. Sadly IRIS printers are no longer made and have been mostly replaced by Epson printers in the fine art market place. Because IRIS used dyes rather than pigments the prints are more susceptible to moisture damage. Early IRIS prints were not archival but archival inks were introduced in 1993/4. (See also Giclee)

Pigment Print
Modern Epson printers use pigments rather than dyes which are much more durable and water resistant. To get the best results with pigment based inks the paper has to be coated with a microscopic receptor. We often call our digital prints "Pigment Prints" to define the process.

Profiles - Printer Profiles - ICC Profiles
Printer profiles are used to attempt to make the printer match a color calibrated monitor as closely as possible. Most printer and paper manufacturers provide profiles to use with their printers/papers. In some cases we use these but most of the time we use our own custom profiles. We make these by printing a color swatch on the printer and measuring the colors with a speoctrophotometer. We then mathematically compare the colors actually printed with a constant and adjust it. We may do this many times to fine tune the profile. The final ICC profile is used with the specific  printer and paper combination. 

QuarkXpress This is a page composition program which directly competes with Adobe InDesign. If you are using this program to prepare your files it is recommended that you save each page as an EPS file.

RGB - Red Green Blue

PPI - Pixels Per Inch see DPI

Scan / Scanner
A scanner All scanners are not equal, sadly and there is a reason we spent over $17,000 on our film scanner. We can scan negatives, transparencies and photographs from 35mm and up. We have other scanner to scan flat artwork from 4" x 5" to 4 feet x 6 feet. When we scan an image the scanner recognizes the image scanned in dots per inch. Our scanners can scan anywhere from 300 to 4200 dots per inch which means that every 10 to 100 microns a new part of your image is measured (that's every 0.003" - 0.00025") - yeah, that's a detailed scan! The resultant files can have up to a billion bytes of information. The better the scan the better the print!
Useless facts: a human hair is between 40 and 120 microns, a red blood cell is 6 - 8 microns

Watercolor Paper

Editions
What is an edition and how many should you print

Color Management
Some tips on getting good results

Giclee
What is a Giclée
Everything you wanted to know and more!

Galleries