Red River Paper Blog

Red River Paper Pro Monday - Helen Glassman

2009-11-09T08:00:00.001-06:00

Red River Pro

HELENE GLASSMAN

©Helene Glassman

The Photographer

Helene Glassman has been a professional award-winning photographer and teacher for more than 25 years and her company, Imagery Photography, is a renowned portrait-event and fine art studio. She is a PPA Certified Professional Photographer and holds the PPA Master Photographer degree as well as the PPA Craftsman Photographer degree. Helene conducts workshops on portraiture lighting and posing, and on the art of making and marketing custom designed greeting cards using Photoshop.

The Client

A greeting cards and wall decor self-assignment.

The Assignment

“Shooting scenics is not something I do as much as shooting flowers, table tops and human interest for my greeting cards. This image is out of the ordinary for me. I love trying to create images that are challenging and different from the portraits I photograph each day.”

The Execution

“This image was photographed from the 31st floor restaurant balcony of The Hotel in the complex at Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. I was balancing my camera on a concrete post to stabilize it while watching a storm roll in over the mountains to the desert floor north of the city of Las Vegas. I bracketed my exposure to make the most of the beautiful dark clouds and sky against the night lights of the Las Vegas strip. It was shot with a Canon 5D using a 24mm-75mm f-2.8 lens. I usually am in manual mode controlling both shutter speed and f-stop myself.”

Post Production

“The image was processed in Photoshop and I used layers to lighten and darken certain areas to enhance it.”

The Output

“I printed this image on my Epson 3800 printer using Red River Ultra Pro Satin 13x19 paper and also printed greeting cards for sale on 60lb. Polar Matte and 60lb. Premium Matte card stocks. For many years I used labs to print my cards until I discovered Red River greeting card stock at a photographic convention I attended. I loved the quality of the paper as well as the many varieties that were available such as River Linen and Greenpix 100% Recycled Photo Matte, both of which I also use. “

Contact

Helene Glassman's web site is at: www.imagerybyhelene.com. Her e-mail address is heleneglassman@me.com

Clear Bags Clear Boxes for Inkjet Printable Greeting Cards

2009-11-05T10:13:00.002-06:00

Proudly display your inkjet note and greeting cards. Whether you are selling cards or sharing with friends and family, add these great products to your next Inkjet Printable Greeting Card order.

Clear Display Bags

These high quality bags fit one folded card and one envelope. Available in A7, A6, A2, and Red River's Pano size. Shop Now

Clear Display Boxes

These boxes are a unique and economical way to display up to 10 cards and envelopes. They ship flat, are one piece, and are very easy to assemble. Shop Now

Epson Stylus Pro 3880 ICC Color Profiles for Red River Papers

2009-10-30T00:36:00.000-05:00

ICC color profiles for the Epson Stylus Pro 3880 are now available for Red River Paper's line of compatible premium photo quality inkjet papers. Download the 3880 profiles from Red River's extensive profile library here.

Genuine ink tanks for the Pro 3880 are available here

Shop for Epson 3880 inkjet papers here

Have questions about the new Epson 3880? Ask us. We've got one up and running!

2009-10-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

Guest Post from the Digital Story

By Derrick Story

Halloween can be a frightful experience with a compact camera. How do you get good shots under the most difficult photography conditions?
Your best friend, regardless of the camera you're using, is a setting called Nighttime Portrait or Party. You'll find one or both of these in your Scene modes. They are perfect for evening Halloween shoots, whether you're outside trick or treating, or inside at a spooky gathering.

In this podcast I tackle Halloween shooting and provide tips for every type of camera, from simple compact to DSLR.

Listen to the Podcast - CLICK HERE

Fine Art Printing with Red River Canvas Texture Notecards

2009-10-25T21:27:00.000-05:00

Guest Post from The Digital Story

By Derrick Story

Fine art notecards are such a satisfying product to create. They are beautiful, functional, and affordable. When you hand someone a notecard that you made, they know you're an artist. More than once recipients have told me that they can't wait to get them in a frame.

Until recently, I was using Red River 60lb Premium Matte C2S for my matte surface cards. It's a beautiful stock that really shows off my images. But for this last print run, I tried the 60 lb. Paper Canvas because of the textured surface. And I love it.

Read the rest of his article - CLICK HERE

Red River Paper Pro Monday - Al Francekevich

2009-10-19T07:08:00.001-05:00

Red River Pro
AL FRANCEKEVICH

The Photographer
Al Francekevich has worked as a New York City advertising photographer for more than 50 years and has won many advertising awards including the Gold Medal of the New York Art Directors Club (the “Oscar” of advertising). His work is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.

The Client
Self-assigned for eventual sale as a stock photograph. Through the years Francekevich has created many composite images that begin in his mind’s eye and are then created using a number of elements.

The Assignment
Create an image of a magical light beam being held between two hands.

The Execution
"I placed this high-tech toy, which is actually a vibrating string, against a black background. Then, with a Hasselblad EL modified to allow multiple exposures on a single frame, I shot three pictures with intense red, green and blue filters on a 150mm Sonnar lens. A single Speedotron strobe head low and to the rear provided the illumination. The hands were shot as separate images.

Post Production
"This picture was shot prior to Photoshop; the beam image was combined with a shot of a female model's hands in the darkroom using 8x10 Kodak Duplicating film. I recently tweaked it further in Photoshop prior to making several exhibition prints."

The Output
"A number of prints were made with an Epson Stylus Color R1800 printer using Red River's
Arctic Polar Satin paper. This paper perfectly reproduced the vivid colors due to its pure white neutral base. In comparing the output to a lab print made on photographic paper, the print on the Arctic Polar Satin paper was richer in color and optically sharper.”

Contact
Al Francekevich’s work can be seen at www.corbis.com. He can be emailed at alfrance @ earthlink.net

Guest Blogger - Sean Puckett @ the Red River Paper Blog

2009-10-14T21:42:00.004-05:00

This week's guest blogger for Red River Paper is Sean Puckett of Kitchener Ontario. He recently completed a gallery hanging of work printed on Red River UltraPro Satin. Enjoy the story of his work and exhibition. Many thanks to Sean for sharing his experience!

My fine art photography modulates realism through the bold schools of Impressionism and graphic design. My most recent solo exhibition featured 23 works, each approximately 4 square feet in size.

Selected Prints, Buildings and Branches, Sean M Puckett, Solo Exhibition, September 2009.

With strong contrasts, deep blacks and vibrant colors, my works demand much from a printing media. For this exhibition, I chose Red River Paper's UltraPro Satin. UltraPro Satin's brilliant white base and high DMAX allows my imagery's sparkling highlights, vibrant colors, rich shadow detail and deep black to look its best.

Property Line, 2009; Tree Before Bricks, 2008; Strata, 2008; Sean M Puckett, Photograph, Inkjet Print, Various Sizes.

For maximum impact, all of the prints were mounted floater style. No mats, no frame, no glass, no border. Just the image, floating 2 inches in front of the wall. To achieve this effect, I used a cold mount adhesive from DryTac with a roller press to mount each print to a 1/4" plywood blank. Mounted prints were trimmed to size on a carpenter's tablesaw with a fine toothed blade. On the back of each piece, a hanging system was attached using Velcro. A detachable hanging system allows the show to be shipped very compactly.

Mounting "Tree Before Bricks", 2009, Sean M Puckett, Photograph.

My studio printer is the Hewlett-Packard z3100, a machine I have owned for 2 1/2 years and am thrilled with. The combination of UltraPro Satin's heavy weight and sturdy coating with the z3100's light-fast pigmented inks gave me the confidence to exhibit these prints "naked" --- without glazing. While I would not recommend offering naked prints to customers as ready-to-hang, for gallery exhibition they are truly excellent.

Selected Prints: Jupiter I - IV, 2007, Sean M Puckett, Photograph, Inkjet Print, each 20x30.

In my opinion, the highest achievement possible for a printing media is for it to be unnoticed. That is, for the artwork to be represented with such power and fidelity that the details of printmaking are invisible to the casual observer. By this metric, UltraPro Satin is the perfect paper. Show attendees never once asked, "how did you print that?" Or, "what is that printed on?" They simply fell into my photographs, captivated. What more could a photographer wish for?

The Old Mill, 2009, Sean M Puckett, Photograph, Inkjet Print, 20x32.

Sean M. Puckett is a photographer and photo printer based in Kitchener, Ontario.

His online gallery can be found at http://seanmpuckett.com/
Email him directly at seanmpuckett@gmail.com
All images copyright Sean M Puckett, used with permission.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard — Printing

2009-10-08T10:21:00.001-05:00

Another resource for clearing up Snow Leopard printing problems with Epson inkjet printers.

http://macperformanceguide.com/SnowLeopard-Printing.html

Inkjet Printers for 12x12 Scrapbook Printing

2009-10-07T11:03:00.002-05:00

Inkjet Printers for 12x12 Scrapbook Page Printing

Digital scrapbookers who print entire layouts or partial layouts for further embellishment can
benefit from desktop inkjet printers that print 12x12 sheets.

Some printers can even print 12x12 scrapbook sheets with no borders (borderless)

Come to Red River Paper's Scrapbook Central site for a list of 12x12 inkjet printers.

Shop for 12x12 sheets of premium photo inkjet papers here

How to remove Gutenprint print driver on a Mac (GIMP)

2009-10-06T14:56:00.003-05:00

Gutenprint is resident in Mac OS 10 and is a "universal" printer driver. However because it is a universal solution it often prohibits inkjet printers from doing the specialty tasks they were designed to do!

Since the release of Snow Leopard, the Gutenprint problem has again become prominent.

If your inkjet printer is acting odd it may be Gutenprint has taken over.

Some symptoms of Gutenprint Syndrome:

1) Margins on your prints are off
2) Some media types (paper settings) are no longer available
3) Color management options are different or colors are innacurate

You're probably best served to remove the Gutenprint driver. Restart your system and see if the printer manufacturer drivers are back in charge. Go to System Preferences > Print and Faxes and locate your printer. Open the print que. Click the blue Info button on the top middle of that menu. The driver version information will be displayed. Check there to make sure Gutenprint is gone.

Red River Paper Pro Monday - Bill Frakes

2009-10-05T08:02:00.003-05:00

Bill Frakes

Job: Editorial Photographer
Uses: Arctic Polar Luster, Polar Matte
Printer: Epson 3800, 4800

Comments

With a shooting schedule of over 300 days a year I have to maximize my time no matter what the project. The quality and versatility of Red River papers allows to get consistently excellent results quickly and efficiently. They always have exactly the product I need to get the job done.

©Bill Frakes

About Bill

Bill Frakes is a Sports Illustrated Staff Photographer based in Florida. He has worked in more than 100 countries for a wide variety of editorial and advertising clients. Bill won the coveted Newspaper Photographer of the Year award in the prestigious Pictures of the Year competition. He was a member of the Miami Herald staff that won the Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of Hurricane Andrew. He has also been honored by the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards for reporting on the disadvantaged and by the Overseas Press club for distinguished foreign reporting. He was awarded the Gold Medal by World Press Photo. He has received hundreds of national and international awards for his work.

www.billfrakes.com

Glossy Greeting Card Sale

2009-10-05T07:56:00.000-05:00

Glossy Greeting Card Sale

SAVE $7.00 per box on 53lb. Premium Gloss 7x10 100 sheet packs. This pre-scored inkjet printable card folds to 5" x 7". Premium Gloss works with dye inkjet printers only.

Paper, ink, and envelope will cost you less than $1.00 per card! Take your images and turn them into a custom photo note card, greeting, or invitation.

Save some money today. 53lb. Premium Gloss 7x10 Sale

Red River Paper Pro Monday - Jim DiVitale

2009-09-28T07:24:00.001-05:00

Jim DiVitale - Red River Paper Pro

Job: Commercial Photographer / Educator
Uses: Red River UltraPro Satin
Printer: Epson Wide Format

Comments on Red River Paper

As a professional photographer, I can't waste time or supplies trying to get jobs completed. To be competitive in printing, I need consistent quality along with multiple size choices for the different printers I use. I found that the UltraPro Satin from Red River Paper to be just the right surface for me to print on. The 14 available sizes match what I need to print without the excess trimming of wasted paper. The 8x10, 11x14, and 16x20 are great formats for framed prints. The roll paper formats are ideal for my panoramic prints and large multiple print jobs. When I show a print, I want to feel confident it's going to be the best I can make it.

About Jim

Jim has been an Atlanta commercial advertising photographer and instructor for over 27 years. During the last 15 years, Jim has specialized in digital photography and computer illustration for ad agencies, design firms, and coroprations nationwide. As a member of National Association of Photoshop Professionals Instructor Dream Team since 2000, Jim writes a bi-monthly column on digital capture for Photoshop User Magazine.

His website is: www.divitalephotography.com

What inkjet papers can be recycled?

2009-09-21T02:16:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder what inkjet papers can be recycled? Because they are for the most part coated with specialty chemicals, there is confusion about which photo inkjet paper can be placed in the recycle bin.

As a general rule, you can recycle any coated paper except photobase media. Photobase papers look and feel like photo lab papers and are coated in resin (plastics). A good example is Red River's UltraPro Satin photo luster paper. Most glossy papers, like Arctic Polar Gloss, are in the same boat. These types of paper need to be disposed of in the trash.

Other inkjet papers like matte, fine art, cast coated, and baryta are all recyclable.

Use this chart as a guide and recycle away. Who knows? The paper you recycle today might come back to you as a box of Red River's GreenPix 100% post-consumer content photo matte inkjet paper in the future.

If you have questions about what papers can be recycled in your community, contact your local waste disposal authority

Guest Blogger Tim Grey: Ink in Bright Areas of Print

2009-09-14T09:45:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Tim Grey, best selling author and writer of the Digital Darkroom Quarterly.

Today's Question:

What is the best way to ensure "some" ink will always make it to the paper when printing? Often times, I see highlight areas (specular highlights or maybe even very purposeful bright/white areas) that do not seem to get any ink on the paper and therefore produce a print that does not look its best, especially when viewed from a direction other than straight ahead.

Tim's Answer:

First, you might reconsider making sure ink covers these areas of the image. It is true that when there isn't any ink on the paper there will be variations in the reflectivity of the print (mostly due to differences between the reflectivity of the paper and the reflectivity of the ink that is coating most of the paper), and this can be a little distracting. However, when the print is behind glass the surface reflectivity is pretty well balanced out, because the reflectivity of the glass overpowers the paper/ink combination.

Still, I do realize this issue can be a little distracting and undesirable in the print. The method I recommend for ensuring at least some ink covers all areas of the paper is to reduce the white output value using Levels or Curves. It is slightly simpler in Levels, so I'll discuss that approach.
Once you have otherwise prepared the image for printing (for example, working with a duplicate of the master image and resizing and sharpening the image), choose Image > Adjustments > Levels from the menu to bring up the Levels dialog box. Move the white slider in the Output Levels section (not the white slider directly under the histogram) to the left so that white values in the image will be re-mapped to a slightly darker shade, thus ensuring ink will be placed on the paper even in specular highlights in the image. As you move this value down, you'll notice that the bright white areas of the image start to get a little drab in appearance. As a result, I recommend only reducing the value by a very small amount, based on what still looks good in the image. Keep in mind that with a very slight reduction there will only be a small amount of ink put to the paper in the brightest areas, so there may still be some reflectivity variation, but they should be very minor at that point.

While I don't address this issue specifically in the "Color Management Made Easy" article that appears in the current issue of Digital Darkroom Quarterly, the article does cover all of the critical elements of a color-managed workflow. You can get more details or subscribe at www.timgrey.com/ddqp/ if you'd like to receive this and future issues of Digital Darkroom Quarterly. The topic of this question is covered, however, in my book Color Confidence.

New Papers from Red River Paper This Week

2009-09-09T23:31:00.000-05:00

You can take a peek at the new papers posted today over at redrivercatalog.com

Much more coming on these products including detailed product shots, color profiles, and reviews from some trusted sources.

60lb. Cordovan Textured Gloss

-- and --

60lb. Paper Canvas Textured Photo Matte

More to follow!

Premium Polar Satin Sale Continues

2009-09-09T07:35:00.008-05:00

Premium Polar Satin will be discontinued when supplies are exhausted this Fall. So stock up now and save up to 50% on this truly top quality paper.

Start shopping here

Once Premium Polar Satin is gone, you'll find UltraPro Satin a great alternative. They have similar luster surface texture and about the same warm tone. Both have very low OBA content for longer term paper stability.

twtpoll :: What type of pen do you use to sign your photo prints or artwork? (via @redriverpaper)

2009-09-03T18:50:00.001-05:00

twtpoll :: What type of pen do you use to sign your photo prints or artwork? (via @redriverpaper)

Posted using ShareThis

2010 Inkjet Calendar Kits Now Available

2009-08-28T16:07:00.004-05:00

Red River's yearly calendar template CD for Photoshop is now available.

We've done the work in Photoshop to create layered calendar files (all aspects can be edited) formatted for 8.5x11 sheets.

All you supply is the images and a little work to create the photo sides of each month.

You must have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to use this product.

You can order just the CD with the calendar files or a combo with the CD and our popular 50lb. Premium Matte Double Sided.

Learn more and order here

Latest Red River Paper Reviews

2009-08-23T12:58:00.009-05:00

The word about Red River Paper is really getting around!

Premium quality plus 40% less then retail brands means lots of photography fans can keep printing while saving money.

Here's the latest buzz:

Yourphototips.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Beyondmegapixels.com

Canon Pro9000 MkII Color Profiles for Red River Paper

2009-08-22T23:31:00.002-05:00

Red River Paper profiles for the Canon Pro9000 MkII are now available on Red River Paper's website.

This is the bulk of the profiles, but a few more are still in production and will be posted soon.

Canon Pro9500 MkII Color Profiles for Red River Paper

2009-08-21T07:34:00.003-05:00

Red River Paper profiles for the Canon Pro9500 MkII are now available here

This is the bulk of the profiles, but a few more are still in production and will be posted soon.

Where to recycle inkjet tanks and cartridges

2009-08-14T16:11:00.003-05:00

Piles and piles of used inkjet cartridges and a trash can. Not the best solution for the environmentally minded (or those who simply cannot stand wasting resources).

Epson, Canon and HP all offer ink cartridge recycling services. Pack up your legions of spent tanks and mail them off!

Links to the details are below:

Epson Ink Cartridge Recycling Program

Canon Recycling Center

HP

Locally stores like Staples and Office Depot likely take inkjet cartridges for recycling.

A Great Guide to Photowalking

2009-08-13T21:58:00.002-05:00

Photowalking is becoming a big time pastime. In rough economic times getting together with a group, having fun, and not spending money is a welcome opportunity.

Read Jeff Revell's Guide to Photowalking

24" Epson Premium Gloss Roll On Sale

2009-08-11T15:40:00.003-05:00

A limited supply of Epson Premium Glossy 24" x 100' rolls are on sale for $91.00

This is Epson item S041638.

Order here