Finishing Your Fine Art Prints On Canvas

(my latest post on the Pro Photography blog)

Making prints on a softly textured canvas can provide a pleasing, painterly look to your images. Printing on canvas can also eliminate the need for an expensive frame and matting, remove glass as a barrier to viewing, and provide an additional step in the creative process.

However, canvas prints typically require some sort of finishing treatment. You should definitely plan to apply some sort of liquid coating or spray to provide protection against display hazards. After the coating has been applied, you can brush on some clear gels that will enhance the surface texture of the print and make it look more like a one-of-a-kind piece of painted art. (more)

Santa Fe Workshops: Fine Art Digital Printmaking, Feb 28 to Mar 6, 2010

February 28 – March 6, 2010, Santa Fe, NM

FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR MORE DETAILS AND REGISTRATION

Our third year! Make your photographic vision come to life in this Advanced Photography Experience/Digital Lab workshop.

Join two accomplished photographers and fine art printmakers, Jack Duganne and David Saffir for this exciting, hands-on journey from a photo shoot on-location in the Santa Fe area, through high-intensity classroom sessions in image processing and editing, all the way to printing your new color or black and white images on brand-new state-of-the-art HP pigment-based inkjet printers.

We will spend most of our time in the digital lab, and travel out for a photo shoot or two during the week.

Topics will include, but are not limited to selecting vantage points and times of day for shooting, options in image composition, use of on-camera controls to enhance image quality, choice of digital file formats, importing and evaluating your images, processing images to maximize quality and artistic impact, and creating exhibition-quality color and black and white prints. We will wind up our week with an image critique and discussion of preparing for success in print competition.

On the last day, we have a festive evening reception and dinner – AND prints from the class will be shown on exhibition.

This is a work-group style class, with frequent one-on-one work. This limits the workshop to a dozen or so participants, so enroll early and reserve your spot.

Prospective students are requested to bring an open mind and their film or digital camera for a week of exploration and learning. Use of a camera tripod is strongly recommended. Film processing and scanning will be available. Applicants should have a working knowledge of Photoshop. Bring a portfolio box too, because you’ll want to take these images home.

About the Instructors

David Saffir is an internationally-recognized, award-winning photographer, author, and printmaker. He has taught in many venues, including the West Coast School Super Sunday, WPPI, Clear Focus Studios, the Hasselblad PowerPro Tour, HP Dreamcolor Seminars, and the Arles Photo Festival in France (Recontres d’ Arles).

He is also the author of Mastering Digital Color”, published by Thomson Course Technology. He is one of the principals of the Artists’ Showcase of Santa Clarita, and past president of the Santa Clarita Valley Photographers Association. He has written numerous articles for Great Output, Rangefinder, AfterCapture, Professional Photographer, Digital Imaging Tech, and others. http://www.davidsaffir.com

Jack Duganne is an internationally-recognized photographer and a world-renowned fine art printmaker. He is one of the founders of Nash Editions, and now heads Duganne Atelier in Santa Monica, California. He has taught advanced classes throughout the US, and in Europe. His web site is http://www.duganne.com.

Join us in Santa Fe for a week of photographic creativity and camaraderie!

Best regards,

David and Jack :)

Link to Santa Fe Workshops Registration

or telephone: (505) 983-1400 ext 11

My Web Page

Home At Last

Back home after four weeks of traveling. Been to Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, New York, and now back to California. I feel very lucky to have met so many interesting and talented photographers, artists, business people, curators and archivists, and others. The Tour 09 events hosted by a range of manufacturers (Canon, HP, Epson, Mamiya, and X-Rite, among others) and Digital2You taught many lessons, which I’ll share soon.

Pro Photo East was a bit smaller in scope than last year – but I’m sure that the number of photographers I talked with during various activities increased – and the intensity of interest in digital imaging and new developments has not diminished in the least. The HP exhibit was absolutely packed on every day – breaks were few and far between. I particularly enjoyed the evening session on Friday, where we heard presentations from photographers Joel Meyerowitz and Thomas Hoepker, and Eileen Gittens, president and CEO of Blurb.

Lot of new developments seen and experienced, and I will be posting info about these in the coming week. Some of the things in the hopper include print finishing, canvas mounting, new cameras, imaging software, a cool new printing rip, latex-based printers, medium format imaging, raw processing, and color management.

Last night our plane sat on the runway for almost four hours, waiting for a break in a very intense rainstorm.  I was quite glad to touch down at the LA airport later that night, however late, and return to Santa Clarita.

More to follow!