By: Erik Vlietinck
Wed, April 04, 2007 - 5:57:00
Pros: 0

http://www.jacklowedigital.co.uk
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IT-Enquirer had an interview with Jack Lowe, a recognised digital imaging specialist, photographer and service provider to photographers. Jack has clients such as Saatchi and Saatchi, Honda, Duracell, and photographers such as Jonathan Knowles, Julian Germain, and many others.

Jack Lowe mainly provides scanning and printing services. He puts technology at service of the image, and does not indulge in technology for the sake of technology. No sweaty palms when the blue channel looks noisy but the image looks great. Oh, and Jack Lowe also has a nice sense of humour as I had the pleasure of experiencing during our interview --unfortunately, that topic doesn’t lend itself for publication.

IT-Enquirer: Which paper do you use to print photographs, and which to print fine art? Why those specific types and brands?

Well, most of the work I have printed over the years has been on cotton rag, manufactured by Hahnemühle and Innova. I also use PerfectProof and CGS papers. To me, these brands generally infer quality and reliability from batch to batch but, importantly, passing the Blue Wool test means that the ‘art’ papers I use are suitable for exhibition printing.

I used to print on Hahnemühle for eighty percent of the time, as it is one of the best papers around. The Epson Ultrachrome printers force you to change your ink set when switching from matte to glossy paper types, which can be somewhat restrictive. The new HP Large Formats offer a lot more flexibility with paper choice, allowing you to switch without having to take out ink and replace it with something else…

DesignJet Z-3100

IT-Enquirer: Which printers do you use, and why those? Did you have a chance to test the new HP DesignJet Z-series? If so, what do you think about them? How do they perform? If not, how do your printers perform --what could be better, what is a feature or characteristic that is very important to you?

I have six large format printers in the studio at the moment, three Epson’s and three HP’s. I was on the beta-testing programme for the DesignJet Z-2100 and DesignJet Z-3100, so I was extremely familiar with them by the time they were released on the market seven months later.  The Epson 9600 was my main workhorse for a few years but now the HP DesignJet Z-3100 has gently taken over from that position.

The output quality is fantastic from this machine and it’s versatility leaves the current crop of rival machines in its wake, in my opinion.  To have a spectrophotometer built-in is a sensational facility that offers the user so much freedom when it comes to using different papers, ensuring that they are all calibrated and profiled correctly in order to achieve consistent, expected results.

Furthermore, the stated longevity figures of 200+ years under normal display conditions are previously unheard of for colour inkjet work.  It was great to have input on this product right from the development stages in Barcelona two or three years ago, through to the beta programme and then the final product…

And when I create a print with the Epson 9600 and one with the Z-3100, my customers invariably prefer the Z-3100 output, which means the Epsons have taken the backstage.

IT-Enquirer Do you use a RIP? If so, which one and why? Do you print mostly in RGB or CMYK? When the one and when the other?

I use three different RIPs to drive my Epson 9600, 7600 and 4000.  The choice depends on the job (proofing, fine art or portfolio) but my all-time favourite is ProofMaster from PerfectProof.  I use ProofMaster in a very manual workflow - I soft-proof the device/paper/ink combinations and make all my CMYK conversions to custom profiles (made by Neil Barstow of ) in Photoshop.  This way, I get to see any problems up-front and can optimise the files I am printing accordingly.

Colour Management

At the moment, I print RGB files when using the HP printers as I haven’t come across a RIP that works satisfactorily with them yet.  The driver works surprisingly well with the Z-series but then you do lose out on the elegant functionality of a good RIP like ProofMaster.

I also often use ColorBurst, because that one works with the company’s excellent generic profiles. It makes ISO-proofs right out-of-the-box, although I still use Colour Space Proof (CSP) for proofing to ISO standards.

IT-Enquirer Did you set up the RIP yourself?

I didn’t, no.  I work closely with my colour consultant Neil Barstow.  He’s one of the best in the world and together we have enabled some of the best results possible from inkjet printers.  I have generally used the Epson’s for matte printing as I never found gloss inkjet printing to be entirely satisfactory.  Having said that, one of Innova’s papers I have been using lately seems quite good on the Epson 4000.

IT-Enquirer : How do you avoid non-uniformity when printing large, dark areas on gloss paper?

The arrival of the HP DesignJet Z-3100 has eliminated non-uniformity (or bronzing) altogether with the 12th channel Gloss Enhancer. This is a varnish applied to the printed image while it is printing and bronzing is completely removed!  Another boon…

IT-Enquirer Do you use your own colour profiles? What equipment/software do you use to create them? Why do you create your own profiles?

I create my own profiles on the HP’s using their own software as well as the Advanced Profiling Solution (an optional extra).

IT-Enquirer Which colour working space do you use for photographs and for fine art printing? AdobeRGB? ProFoto? Something else? Why?

This is a broad question as so much depends on the job. To be honest, the ‘easiest’ working space to supply commercial work is Adobe RGB 1998 but only from a supply perspective.  It seems to have become ‘the’ standard and is widely understood.  However, it certainly isn’t the easiest space with which to physically work.