Reviews

Professional Photographers of America Magazine Has Published A Review of The Booksmart Fine Art Metals.

Booksmart Studio Metal Media Adds Shine, Depth, and Unconventionality

By Stan Sholik

To read the full article online visit the link here.

Below, see the text excerpt only.

As photographers strive to set themselves apart from their competition, many find offering a unique look to their clients for their prints is a brand-enhancing way to stand out. Booksmart Studio is providing just such an option with inkjet printable aluminum. Photographers with a compatible inkjet printer can create samples, portfolio pieces, and final prints for clients as easily as they create inkjet prints on common media. The look is unique, often three dimensional, and is sure to set your work apart from your competitors.

The five available surfaces of inkjet printable media are, left to right, Satin White, Matte Silver, Satin Silver, Brushed Silver, and Satin Gold.

Five different surfaces are available for the fine art media aluminum sheets that are coated to accept most dye and pigment inks. Satin White has the look of smooth luster paper and is best for images with high detail and saturated colors. Satin Silver has a very fine grain structure that also lends itself to detailed images, and the surface reflects light back through the image making it almost three dimensional when viewed from certain angles.

The Satin White media has the look of smooth luster paper with
high sharpness and saturation. I muted the saturation somewhat
when making this print.

The surface of Satin Gold media is similar in reflectance to Satin Silver, but has an appearance somewhere between brass and 24k gold. This tends to mute saturated colors, and I found it perfect for a bridal portrait where softness is a virtue. Booksmart’s Matte Silver media also provides a muted look, but without the three dimensionality of Satin Gold. Matte Silver also appears somewhat yellowish under certain lighting conditions, but far less so than Satin Gold.

This photo doesn’t begin to do justice to the Satin Gold print that
is far more beautiful. As light reflects from the print at different
angles, the depth of the photo changes from two dimensional
to three dimensional.

Brushed Silver is the final surface option and it is my personal favorite. With the texture of brushed aluminum sheet metal, it’s probably not the choice for romantic portraits or for weddings. But the infrared landscape photo I printed on it is just amazing, as is a commercial still life. The illusion of depth is outstanding, as is the ability to hold a deep black and clean white.

An infrared image printed on Brushed Silver appears positive in
some areas and almost negative in others while retaining the
surface pattern of a brushed aluminum sheet metal. Blacks are
deep and rich, and whites are clean with good detail.

All of these media have an adhesive backing protected by a peel off sheet. This makes mounting easy. Two different thicknesses are available, 0.005 inch foil or 0.020 inch sheets. Any printer that has a straight pass-through will print on the media. I printed 8.5×11-inch sheets of the 0020 inch media on an Epson Stylus Pro 3880 and a Canon imagePrograf iPF6400 using ICC profiles provided by Booksmart Studio. The Epson printing was totally straightforward.

The 24-inch Canon isn’t designed to print on media this small loaded from the front. A quick call to Canon tech support brought the suggestion to tape the metal to an 11 x 14-inch sheet before feeding it into the printer and that worked perfectly. Prints from both printers are gorgeous, each with its look even with the same image.

Satin Silver has a very fine grain surface that results in an accurate color reproduction of the original image with excellent detail. As with Satin Gold, light reflects back through the inkjet layer producing a three dimensional look at certain angles.

The Matte Silver media has a slight yellow cast that adds warmth
to the image. The same file is used for this print that is used for
the Satin Silver print. Differences in reflectance account for the
variation in density, but the color difference is a result of the
different color casts of the media.

Care is required in handling the metal sheets, both before and after printing. To avoid oily fingerprints that would interfere with printing, cotton gloves should be used when loading the printer. Gentle handling is also required to avoid bending corners or warping the sheet, which would prevent it from feeding properly through the printer.

After printing, the surface should be coated or laminated after allowing the print to dry for 20 minutes. Booksmart Studio recommends two or three coats of Clearstar AFA Semi-Gloss coating followed by two to eight coats of Clearstar AFA Gloss coating to reach your desired gloss level.

More information is available from the Booksmart Studio website. A sample pack of 8.5×11-inch sheets of 0.020 inch thick media is available from Booksmart Studios for $49.30. Packages of sheets of a single type are available in sizes from 8.5×11 inches to 20×80 inches. Visit the Booksmart Studio site for pricing.

By |January 20th, 2013|Categories: Featured, Fine Art Metal, Reviews|Comments Off on Professional Photographers of America Magazine Has Published A Review of The Booksmart Fine Art Metals.

Check out this review of the Libro Collection and Tutorial for creating portfolios

Booksmart Studio created four sets of portfolios for Joey L, each set consisted of two books and were contained in a custom clamshell box (pictured below) with all having his logo debossed on the cover. The portfolios were created utilizing our Libro Elite portfolio system with Leatherette bookcloths and debossed on the cover with a magnesium die created of his custom logo. The clamshell box had a combination of Leatherette on the cover and Asahi Japanese Silk book-cloth for the shelves. Joey has written a review of the Booksmart Studio Libro Collection and a great tutorial on creating a portfolio along with the importance of a portfolio book rather than an iPad portfolio.

joey_l_portfolio-e1307123711538

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clamshell Box Holding Two Libro Portfolio Books

 

To read the full review please visit Joey L’s website at http://www.joeyl.com/blog/creating-a-photography-portfolio/

 

By |June 3rd, 2011|Categories: Libro Collection, Reviews|Comments Off on Check out this review of the Libro Collection and Tutorial for creating portfolios

Booksmart Studio Acquires a Canon ipf8300

Highest level printing technology available now at Booksmart Studio

Booksmart Studio is proud to announce the acquisition of a Canon iPF8300 to add to our selection of wide-format fine art printers. Booksmart Studio now owns both Canon iPF8300 and the Canon iPF6300, which is used for smaller prints. The reason Canon printers are the preferred printer for Booksmart Studio is due to their wide color gamut, deep blacks, and 16-bit tonal gradation for all color channels. The Canon iPF8300 has an improved D-Max and color gamut with an improvement in their 12 color ink system. The Canon iPF8300 Lucia EX inks have a 20% wider color gamut and higher D-Max than the Epson 9900 and the HP Z3200.

Booksmart Studio still has the range of Epson & HP printers in our studio. However, we are now printing 75% of our work stricly on the Canon iPF series printers due to the nature of their quality. We have the ability to use the HP Z3200 & Epson 9900 printers if your work demands the use of these printers. At Booksmart Studio we always try to match the artwork & photography with the correct paper & printer combination that maximizes the aesthetic of your work.

 Canon iPF8300

Full Description of the Canon iPF8300

Built for ultra high quality imaging and exceptional performance, the imagePROGRAF iPF8300 44″ large format printer is equipped with an array of professional features. The re-formulated 12-color LUCIA pigment ink system increases the achievable color gamut by approximately 20% from the previous imagePROGRAF 12-color series. A large 80GB hard drive, sub-ink tank system, Gigabit Ethernet support and Accounting Manager feature make this a premier solution for the fine art, photography and proofing markets. To fully utilize on the dynamic color range of the LUCIA EX ink set, a high-precision printing mode delivers quality a step above the previously available highest quality mode. And with the Print Plug-in for Photoshop, now with support for Adobe CMM, users can process images in 16-bit. For more control over the final output, the Media Configuration Tool expands on Canon’s array of media options, allowing users to input profiles for third party media. By combining Canon’s technological achievements, the imagePROGRAF iPF8300 achieves consistently breathtaking, durable and long lasting prints.

Current Selection of printers at Booksmart Studio

Canon iPF91000 (60″ wide)

Canon iPF8300 (44″ wide)

Canon iPF6300 (24″ wide)

Canon iPF6100 (24″ wide)

(2) Canon iPF5000 (17″ wide)

Epson 9600 (44″ wide)

Epson 7880 (24″ wide)

Epson 4880 (17″ wide)

(3) Epson 4800 (17″ wide)

(3) Epson 4000 (17″ wide)

Epson 3800 (17″ wide)

HP Z3200 (44″ wide)

HP Z3100 (44″ wide)

By |April 12th, 2011|Categories: News, Reviews|Comments Off on Booksmart Studio Acquires a Canon ipf8300

The Fine-Edition Book with Eric Kunsman of Booksmart Studio™ Photokina 2006

One of the most important aspects of the digital photography revolution was the ability to create books of your own images without the need for a publisher, or even the need to have a press run. In this interview with Eric Kunsman of Booksmart Studio, we discuss the rise of the fine-edition book. In the past, an artist didn’t have too many choices if they wanted a book of their work, but with the advent of digital imaging technology, everyone from photographers to scrapbookers are creating their own books, and in the fine-art realm fine-edition books are allowing artists new ways to reach their collectors, and audience.

Recorded at the Photokina Conference in Köln, Germany, in October 2006 by Harris Fogel. Posted 11/26/06 (11:07)

Photographs by Harris Fogel ©2006

For more information visit: http://www.maceditionradio.com/index.php?module=Pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=3&pid=68

By |December 6th, 2006|Categories: News, Reviews|Comments Off on The Fine-Edition Book with Eric Kunsman of Booksmart Studio™ Photokina 2006

Libro Collection.com

If you are looking to purchase a Libro Portfolio or have Booksmart Studio produce your prints for your portfolio. Please be sure to visit our dedicated Libro shop website at http://www.librocollection.com.

Inkjet Metal.com

If you are looking to purchase Fine Art Metal or have Booksmart Studio print on the fine art metal. Please be sure to visit our dedicated Inkjet Metal shop website at http://www.inkjetmetal.com.

Fine Edition Printing.com

If you are looking to work with Booksmart Studio to produce your Fine Edition Inkjet Prints for an exhibition or just start an open edition. Please be sure to visit our dedicated Fine Edition Printing shop website at http://www.fineeditionprinting.com.

Custom ICC Profiling.com

Order your custom ICC Profiles now. Please be sure to visit our dedicated Custom ICC Profiling shop at http://www.customiccprofiling.com.
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