Web presentation of platinum print

[Pete Suttner]

I need to submit a digital file of a platinum print to a local gallery and silly me thought I just needed to scan the print. Beautiful tones but lousy image. Too much paper texture and loss of resolution. Beautiful print but I don't know how to communicate it digitally...

How do you folks out there prep your pt/pd files for web site presentation? I have digital files of all my prints for inkjet but an inkjet is not a platinum print. I realize the print you hold in your hand isn't going to ever be the one you see on a monitor, but the requirement is a digitized image. Seems like a conflict of interest.

Anyway your input is welcomed - Pete

[Vaughn]

Rephotographing with a digital camera gives a better result than scanning, I have found.

[Pete Suttner]

Like I said: "silly me", I sold my digital equipment to finance the pt / pd.

[Peter Gomena]

A digital camera with a polarizing lens will knock down some of the texture. A complete, polarizing copy setup would be ideal. Short of that, use really soft, even light to light the image. Scanners do create problems with paper texture. It's unavoidable in some cases.

[sanking]

You have three choices and none of them will show your platinum print as it really is.

1. Scan the print.
2. Simulate the look of the print by adjusting color balance of your digital file in RGB.
3. Photograph the print with a digital camera.

Sandy

How do you folks out there prep your pt/pd files for web site presentation? I have digital files of all my prints for inkjet but an inkjet is not a platinum print. I realize the print you hold in your hand isn't going to ever be the one you see on a monitor, but the requirement is a digitized image. Seems like a conflict of interest.

Anyway your input is welcomed - Pete

[Vaughn]

Like I said: "silly me", I sold my digital equipment to finance the pt / pd.

Swing a cat and you'll hit several friends who own digital cameras!

[Pete Suttner]

Adjusting the the color balance in RGB works quite nicely, somewhat less impactive the twirling the kitty. The discussion so far is helping me define my question(s). If you have a web site what do you do to get your images there? I'm also questioning the ethics of representation. Haven't been down this path before. Looking for ideas.

[paulr]

I think the best results are possible by scanning the negative and then duplicating the tones of the print through photoshop curves adjustments. It's more work, but you're not losing a generation, not dealing with paper textures, and you can use the tools to completely nail the color and the tonal range. I stopped scanning prints ages ago.

[sanking]

Adjusting the the color balance in RGB works quite nicely, somewhat less impactive the twirling the kitty. The discussion so far is helping me define my question(s). If you have a web site what do you do to get your images there? I'm also questioning the ethics of representation. Haven't been down this path before. Looking for ideas.

I do not have any issue with the ethics of how one shows a digital file of their work. However you choose to show the file it is still a digital file, not a real print. It would be entirely different, of course, if one chose to represent real prints made by some other process, inkjet for example, as platinum prints.

Sandy

[Tyler Boley]

He Pete.. remember I discussed this briefly the other day for how to present my ink color in my images on the web? Now may be the perfect opportunity to take it to the next step for a handcoated process with some digital steps.. Can you mail me a 21 step chart printed entirely with your process beginning to end? I'll make a qtr profile from it and off we go.. if you already have the ability to do that there.. here's the way to go. For anyone interested actually.

create a 21 step (more if you like) neg using your entire calibrated workflow, one of Roy's that come with qtr are obviously perfect.. if you don't want to waste time and materials just stick it on the edge of an image neg you are going to print anyway... be sure to do any adjustments to it you'd normally do to an image for a linearized neg to print workflow.
Make the pt/pd print. Measure and create a qtr profile.. while you are at it make an RGB qtr profile too... that might be the one you need. Simply drag your measurement file to one utility then the other. Once done, open one of your image files.. if it's a grayscale ASSIGN your new qtr profile, if it's a desaturated RGB file (which lightroom users will probably have) ASSIGN the RGB version of the profile. You'll see your pt/pd hue pop into place. For web, now convert to sRGB and all is good. If you want to maintain the softer blacks of you prints, use Relative Colormeteric here and don't check black point compensation. If you want to maintain the lovely look of both your paper base hue, and your softer blacks, and also the slow subtle overall gradation, use Absolute Colormetric for this conversion.

The beauty of this method is that it's created from the real LAB values in your process, not a simulation with curves or whatever, or the inacuracies and problems of copy photography. All of the B&W work on my site is presented this way.
Anyway, Pete, if you don't do this kind of work there, just send me one, I've been wanting to do this for a long time. Was good to see you up here, your work is gorgeous, as before..
Tyler