Printing and signing

[dave lackey]

My apologies if this is a thread somewhere else but I looked and did not find anything, so, here goes...

Printing. I don't do printing and have no desire for a gallery, exhibition or anything of the nature. That is just me. Archival? Meh...why should I care at my age?😛 It is not likely that I will be "discovered" and/or remembered by anyone so it means little.

What I AM interested in is the occasional print that my bride would like to have framed and, of course, my family who request or will receive a framed print as a gift. My only requirements being that the final framed artwork is professional looking for 8x12 prints, either color or black and white.

My meager printing is handled locally, so no problem there. But there are a number of questions:

1. Glossy? Semi-glossy? Other?
2. Border around the print ?, which, I presume changes the opening of the mat sizing.
3. Black or "silver" frame?
4. Mat color?

and the big one...

Given the nature of the prints, such as motif and the reason for gifting the print in the first place, I would like to have a slightly wider area below the image to write the title, a short salutation (for lack of a better term), date of the gift, and, of course a signature.

Has anyone done something similar?:angel:

Now that I am contemplating a fine writing instrument in the form of a fountain pen, I am curious if that is a reasonable pen to use. If so, is there an ink that is either acceptable or typically used for signing prints?

For that matter, how do most folks sign their work?

Thank you in advance for your usual patience and kind responses.🙂

 

[f16sunshine]

I only ever write on the back of prints.
Some may find it pretentious to sign the front.
My reason is simply... I don't want to have any distractions.
Think of this way. When you gift a book to someone you write on the inside.
Not on the cover. 🙂

 

[dave lackey]

I only ever write on the back of prints.
Some may find it pretentious to sign the front.
My reason is simply... I don't want to have any distractions.
Think of this way. When you gift a book to someone you write on the inside.
Not on the cover. 🙂

Andy, I would normally agree with that back signing. But this is family and with grandkids, etc. it would be near impossible that they ever got to take the frame off the wall to read the presentation "gift" statement. It wouldn't be so bad for them to be reminded of a personal touch without having to ask Mom to remove a frame so they could read it...😛

Pretentious? I think not. I do believe there is a way to present the title, etc. even if it is a separate plaque maybe. I just want to see what others are doing for some ideas. Again, I don't care to exhibit, have a gallery, sell, or anything else. Certainly no pretense on my part.🙂

Incidentally, I have a cherished photo above my desk, where I sit at this moment, from my very good friend that was done the way I described and I can assure you I love reading that every single day. By the way, my friend is "what you see is what you get", a very kind individual who is the least pretentious photographer I have run across in a long time. I am good with that.:angel:

 

[mfogiel]

Even for this modest output you'd be better off with an Epson SC600 rather than with a lab.
At this point you could print on fine art matte' paper like Hahnemuehle Photo Rag, or Epson equivalent, on which you can actually write with your pen. On semi-gloss or glossy surfaces you can only write with marker pens, some of which can be permanent.
For matting& framing, again the best solution is DIY, take a look at Logan cutters and find a mat supplier, then cut your own to taste. I like gifting matted prints, with the back closed by plain mat board - this way people can just get a frame of their liking. As to mat colour, for me what works best is white with a hint of cream ( muted white). If you care for the output, it does not pay to be lazy.
Re: writing under the photo - I use a simple stamp to apply at the back, where I date when the photo was taken, when the print was produced, and sign. That's enough.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

http://crawfordphotoschool.com/framing/index.php

Read this, Dave. It's how I do my framing.

 

[daveleo]

Whatever works for your family and friends will be fine.
For that purpose, I ocassionally add a semi-transparent "signature" with a note. Below is an example.
(This was my Aunt's favorite photo of mine, she passed away and I gave a print to her son, Ron.)
.

 

[oftheherd]

Prints used to be signed on the outside mat, just under the photo. Signature on the right, title and/or print number on the left. I see no problem with you doing that. Or even a small note if you add space at the bottom of the mat. It is yours and that way personalized.

 

[x-ray]

Dave I sell and show a lot of work in galleries. In fact I have a gallery in Atlanta, Thomas Deans Fine Art. My x-Ray art is printed on cotton rag and always signed on the lower right front with a few exceptions where it's on the left lower corner due to composition. My B&W documentary is printed both digitally and on silver gelatin. On the digital prints they're on Candon Arches Platine with a wide white border and signed in black fine point marker on the bottom right. I'll have to look up the brand. Not all markers are suitable and I always use a very fine point. Platine is a fiber base that looks much like air dried glossy silver gelatin. Any information on the image is written in pencil on the back. With fiber base air dried silver gelatin if un mounted, I sign it on the back in pencil and write the information about the image on the back in pencil. If mounted, I mount on 4 ply acid free museum rag and sign the lower right corner just under the print with a pencil. It's usually a #2 with a slightly rounded point. Any information is written on the back of the mount with the same pencil. I usually matte the print of mounted and use a 4 or sometimes 8 ply acid free museum rag board. I never sign the mat.

This is the traditional method in the gallery world.

I'd have to disagree about printing and matting yourself unless you're willing to go through the learning process to do it right. If not you're wasting your money on a printer and supplies. Is your monitor profiled? It's important if you're printing. Do you know how to apply printer profiles. It's not hard but you need to take time to learn. To do printing right takes time and the willingness to learn.

Matting, It might be me but I have two matte cutters and never gotten what I'd call a professional looking job. It's just too easy and cheap to have them cut or order pre cut matted. There are plenty available from cheap pulp mattes to 8 ply archival rag.

 

[michaelwj]

Dave I sell and show a lot of work in galleries. In fact I have a gallery in Atlanta, Thomas Deans Fine Art. My x-Ray art is printed on cotton rag and always signed on the lower right front with a few exceptions where it's on the left lower corner due to composition. My B&W documentary is printed both digitally and on silver gelatin. On the digital prints they're on Candon Arches Platine with a wide white border and signed in black fine point marker on the bottom right. I'll have to look up the brand. Not all markers are suitable and I always use a very fine point. Platine is a fiber base that looks much like air dried glossy silver gelatin. Any information on the image is written in pencil on the back. With fiber base air dried silver gelatin if un mounted, I sign it on the back in pencil and write the information about the image on the back in pencil. If mounted, I mount on 4 ply acid free museum rag and sign the lower right corner just under the print with a pencil. It's usually a #2 with a slightly rounded point. Any information is written on the back of the mount with the same pencil. I usually matte the print of mounted and use a 4 or sometimes 8 ply acid free museum rag board. I never sign the mat.

This is the traditional method in the gallery world.

I'd have to disagree about printing and matting yourself unless you're willing to go through the learning process to do it right. If not you're wasting your money on a printer and supplies. Is your monitor profiled? It's important if you're printing. Do you know how to apply printer profiles. It's not hard but you need to take time to learn. To do printing right takes time and the willingness to learn.

Matting, It might be me but I have two matte cutters and never gotten what I'd call a professional looking job. It's just too easy and cheap to have them cut or order pre cut matted. There are plenty available from cheap pulp mattes to 8 ply archival rag.

I'll second x-ray's comments - get someone else to do it all - it's a PITA to do small quantities. I do a bit for friends/family. Slightly off white mat (I believe the colour is Arctic?), minimum of 7 cm on all sides for an 8x10. Signed and dated (date of printing) in pencil on the bottom right border of the print (not on the print) so that it is under the mat - title on the bottom left. Any other details I put in the top left of the back of the print. Sometimes, I put the title on the back of the mat just for the interest of the recipient, but rarely. When viewing, no signature or title is visible.
I generally use a wood frame at ~18% gray equivalent colour (for B&W).

Enjoy,

 

[CameraQuest]

Different photographers have widely different views on this subject.

As a print buyer, I know I will pay more for a photographer printed image. Indeed that may make the difference whether or not I buy at all.

For a newbie or relatively unknown photog, I won't buy the print unless the photog has archivally analog printed it themselves and supplies a certificate of the archival printing on the back.

Likewise I will not invest my money in a digital collector's print, period. In my opinion digital prints makes for poor long term investments. I don't care what anyone says. My money is not going there. This viewpoint does not go over well with the photogs selling digital prints. Not a problem. They sell what they want, I buy what I want.

I love the way Jim Marshall signed his prints. He printed the image with a larger white border. Left hand side front below the image is the event. Right hand side below the image is his signature and the date of the print. I want that information on the front because I want it visible in the frame.

Again, different styles for different photogs and different buyers.
Whatever YOU like for YOUR prints is the RIGHT choice for YOU.


Stephen

 

[Wenge]

I learned/taught myself to frame my flies in 1988 and over the next 25 years did a ton of framing for clients with my home-made (mostly) cherry-milled frames I made in the garage. The shadowbox, mats, design, mounting, glass, alot of work and time.

Now with photos I'm finding less is more; thin black, matte sectional frames from the Hobby store, a piece of foam core backing, Lustre paper, no mat, no glass, edit: signed on reverse in pencil both on photo paper and on the reverse of backing.

 

[gdmcclintock]

"In my opinion digital prints makes for poor long term investments. I don't care what anyone says."

While I prefer silver gelatin over pigment prints (and platinum/palladium over silver gelatin) for black and white photographs, contemporary pigment inks produce higher quality color prints than traditional chromogenic processes.

 

[jarski]

Shame this wasn't about printing and singing as I misread the title 😛

 

[daveleo]

Yet another thread that's lost it's way I guess 😛

 

[Godfrey]

...
Printing. ...
requirements being that the final framed artwork is professional looking for 8x12 prints, either color or black and white.
...
1. Glossy? Semi-glossy? Other?
2. Border around the print ?, which, I presume changes the opening of the mat sizing.
3. Black or "silver" frame?
4. Mat color?

I do my own printing; I use print services only for the rare occasions when I need something printed with image area larger than 13x19 inches. I do my own printing because printing is every bit as important an aesthetic and quality choice as camera, lens, exposure, and image rendering, and because I've almost never been satisfied with the quality of photos that I sent out for printing.

...
Given the nature of the prints, such as motif and the reason for gifting the print in the first place, I would like to have a slightly wider area below the image to write the title, a short salutation (for lack of a better term), date of the gift, and, of course a signature.

Standard gallery matting/framing style includes an extra inch of space (or more) below the image area for signature and other provenance. If you're framing without matting, you need to offset the border to make this happen.

This is another thing that it's hard to obtain from a photofinisher but easy with a print service or your own printer.

...
Now that I am contemplating a fine writing instrument in the form of a fountain pen, I am curious if that is a reasonable pen to use. If so, is there an ink that is either acceptable or typically used for signing prints?

For that matter, how do most folks sign their work?

It's very rare to use a fountain pen to sign on photographic emulsions or with any treated photographic inkjet papers, or even on all-cotton fine art papers: the nib and fountain pen inks are not designed for that. They tend to run and blot, and/or not dry properly, and/or not adhere to the paper properly. Fountain pens and inks are designed for writing on writing papers, sheets and bound journals.

- For signing B&W prints on matte or lightly textured fine art papers, I use pencil with a soft lead, sharpened and worn to a medium point.

- For signing B&W and color prints on semi-gloss, gloss, or other treated surface papers, I use a Staedtler pigment liner 0.7mm tip pen, which uses an archival, waterproof once dry, and lightfast ink.

I normally sign on the front of the print, outside the image area, including the following provenance:

Location-year — print#/edition_size — title — signature-printed year

Any other provenance goes on an archival label affixed to the back of the print. My prints include a light finishing border to the image edge so that they look nice when framed without matting.

Printing like this gives me or any recipient of the print the option to not mat, to mat with a full-reveal border and show all the front-side provenance, or to over-mat and cover the front-side provenance and border trim depending upon the intended display use of the print. Whomever is framing the print can then pick whatever frame style, color, material, and complementary mat color, as needed.

Prints I frame for exhibition and for my own walls (rare) are usually framed in black-finished, thin wood with white full-reveal matting; a typical gallery style. If the finished, matted and framed photo is intended for sale, the backside provenance label is affixed to the back of the finished, framed print so that it is accessible for viewing when the print is off the wall.

G

 

[dasuess]

I am all digital, even my previous film work which is scanned. I do all my own printing, but use outside services for matting and framing - much less hassle for me.

I do all my prints with a generous border, but sign them on the back in pencil. Before I print an image, I use my printer to print a block of text on the black of the paper in the lower right corner. Info in the text box includes title, copyright notice, image number and date it was printed. My signature goes below this text block. I normally overmat the prints.

 

[photomoof]

For a newbie or relatively unknown photog, I won't buy the print unless the photog has archivally analog printed it themselves and supplies a certificate of the archival printing on the back.

I own only traditional prints, the important ones from Metro Pictures in NYC, none of them have anything but an edition number, signature and date. I don't ever think of them as investments, I don't even insure them.

I know how some of them were printed, but I have never seen a certificate on the back of a print.

All work begins to disintegrate or needs restoration -- it's just reality. Those Mark Rothko paintings do flake off. 🙂

It is interesting to realize that million dollar photographs will not last forever.

 

[robert blu]

i usually print myself my photos, at least the "selected" ones (inkjet on matt cotton paper most of the times). Satisfying to have full control but it took times, efforts, dedication etc to learn the process. Do not sign, sometimes write a short note with date and place on the back with a pencil. I'll consider it for a new series I'planning.
For your info about which pen here is an interesting read. And here about a stamp, a search through the TOP site can give you a fees idea about.
Ciao, robert