by Garrison Frost

For years, photographers and artists looking to sell inexpensive yet high-quality copies of their work were always faced with a few problems. First of all, the printing technology was such that to reduce the cost of production, artists were forced to print in bulk, which required a substantial outlay of cash. Furthermore, once something goes to a printer, it’s never clear what’s going to come back. This is particularly true with screen printing, offset printing and lithography. The upshot of both of these factors is that unless artists were willing to pay a lot of money up front and give up artistic control, it was hard to produce copies of their work that could be sold at a reasonable price.

This all changed with ink jet technology, which in the last few years has given both photographers and artists an opportunity to print small numbers of high-quality prints relatively inexpensively.

James Danis, a South Bay photographer who sells his work at fairs and out of his own gallery in Redondo Beach, says that he likes using the ink jet printer not just because it enables him to market his prints inexpensively, but because it gives him opportunities not otherwise available in the darkroom.

“I chose to go to the ink jet because I can get tones that I previously could not consistently get in the darkroom even though the resolution is less,” he said. “Also the ultra black I get in the matte finish is unobtainable in the darkroom. I particularly like matte.”

Are ink jet prints as good as darkroom prints? That depends. Someone who knows what to look for can tell the difference with their nose to the picture. The only difference on the wall might be the price.

Danis said that he likes the ability to perfect a particularly well-adjusted picture file for future use. He also like the consistency of the ink jet. Darkroom printing is an art — and everybody has good and bad days. There are downsides, though.

“Disadvantages include cost — quality ink and paper as well as the equipment — and time,” he said. “It takes considerably more time to make an ink jet print than its equivalent in the darkroom.”

Palos Verdes artist Steve Shriver works mostly in watercolor. By scanning his art and printing on a high-quality ink jet, he is able to produce low cost prints of his work.

“I love the artistic control over my output machine,” Shriver said, adding that he first became interested in producing prints this way when color photocopy technology came into vogue.

Shriver is different from many artists who use the computer to produce prints. While he does enjoy the computer’s ability to faithfully render work he has done by hand, he also likes to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the technology.

“I think there are kind of two approaches — the faithful reproduction of originals done in some hand-made way like the watercolor editions I do, and then the digitally-produced or manipulated image that really tries to adapt to the medium,” he said.

For example, Shriver said that he is continually trying to find a way to achieve the color saturation that one finds with certain kinds of etchings using the ink jet.

Both Danis and Shriver work with higher-end Epson printers. Shriver’s rig is a refurbished Epson 1200, which he bought online for $250. He then added an aftermarket bulk ink system for another $125.

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