Lone Eagle Digital Imaging » ICC profiles

Big Graphics Have Big Impact on Local Campaign.

Rick Sader — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:11:50 +0000

To kick-off his run for Stafford Commonwealth Attorney in Virginia, Eric Olsen turned to Lone Eagle for a 4′x10′ banner as a backdrop to his announcement on the courthouse steps. As you’ll see in the photo below, this simple, low-cost vinyl banner made a big impact on the look and feel of the event. But let’s go back in time to a few days before the event. The phone rang on a Friday afternoon about 4:45pm Pacific and it went something like this:

“Good afternoon, Lone Eagle.”

“Hi Rick, it’s Eric Olsen…..got a minute?”

“Hey Eric, how’s it goin’?”

“I know it’s late notice, and I understand if you’re not able to do it, but I’m announcing my candidacy next Wednesday and I was wondering if you could make me a big banner.”

A big grin slowly came across my face. First of all, I love it when clients call with tight deadlines & they’re not sure if I can deliver. I’ve never missed a deadline…. never…. not once….. no matter how tight. Second, Eric is a friend of mine and the thought of helping him by doing what I do best made me very happy.

He emailed me some thoughts on what he wanted his graphics to look like and I got to work right away. About 90 minutes later, I emailed him a low-resolution version for his approval. (Would have been sooner but, hey, it was dinner time….. a guy’s gotta eat). He approved it Saturday morning and I started printing. About 30 minutes later I was busy punching grommets into his beautiful glossy campaign banner. It helps to have awesome ICC profiles ready to go for a huge range of media. It’s one of the things that allows Lone Eagle to fly thru jobs with both high quality and speed. My local FedEx shop had it by lunchtime and Eric had it in his Fredericksburg, VA home by Monday afternoon (two days before the event).

Here’s a photo that Eric emailed me after his event. That’s Eric on the right:

Put yourself in Eric’s shoes for a minute and imagine how he felt. I’m sure he was relieved to find the package on his doorstep Monday afternoon….two days before his event. Later, he told me how “awesome” his graphics were and how happy he was. A great big smile came across my face. That’s how we roll at Lone Eagle. Now what can we do for YOU?

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.”

Rick Sader — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 17:22:47 +0000

A new client called me the other day in desperate need to get his tradeshow graphics printed quickly and shipped across the country the next day. He had had a bad experience with a different print shop. At the last minute, the other shop had delivered a bunch of tradeshow banners that were just awful; the black was a dull brownish color, the product photos looked “furry” (really… furry!), there was lots of banding, and the contrast was off. He showed me one…. these banners looked horrible. Later, when he picked up his graphics from my shop, he was thrilled and told me how ‘lucky’ I was that I could do such great work so quickly.

After he left, I thought to myself “LUCKY?! Hmmmmm….maybe I WAS lucky.”

• ‘lucky’ that I had purchased a $30k, state-of-the-art mild-solvent inkjet printer.

• ‘lucky’ that I had made a beautiful ICC profile for the media he wanted.

• ‘lucky’ that I had enough ink & media on hand to complete his entire job quickly.

• ‘lucky’ enough to know to print at 720dpi, 16-pass (i.e., high-quality mode) in order to get the high print quality necessary for display at a tradeshow.

• ‘lucky’ enough to have on my website a method for him to conveniently upload his eight 380MB files to my shop overnight (www.YouSendIt.com).

Well, as you may have guessed by now, none of this is luck at all. All of the capabilities listed above were the result of careful forethought and preparation. The other shop didn’t have a decent ICC profile (they didn’t even know what an ICC profile IS!!). And they printed in “production mode”, i.e., low resolution & low number of passes in order to just crank the job out fast. As a result, there was absolutely NO control over color, ink limits, linearization, etc…. a sure recipe for terrible print quality.

The title of this blog entry is a quote from Samuel Goldwyn, the filmmaker. I’m not sure exactly what he was referring to at the time, but I’m willing to bet it was in response to someone accusing him of being ‘lucky’ upon seeing his success.

Can Printing Make Good Art Better?

Rick Sader — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:18:24 +0000

For photographers and traditional artists, presentation is everything. Eye-popping color, crisp definition, and high-quality finishing will make large format photo and fine art reproductions (often known as Giclées) stand out from the rest, no matter what media they’re printed on. Get prints that maintain the integrity of your art and bring your vision to life by choosing a printer that takes the presentation of your art seriously. Here are some qualities to look for in a great printer:

Vibrant Color

Imagine all of the colors that could appear in a photograph or painting of the ocean: cyan, aquamarine, cerulean, cobalt – each a special shade of blue with its own value in the composition. In a photo or fine art reproduction, each shade should appear as distinctly and vibrantly as in the original piece of art. Even if you work with sepia, duotone, or black and white images, a reproduction’s colors should match the original’s to a tee. At Lone Eagle Digital Imaging, we customize our own ICC profiles, ensuring the most accurate, best-looking color you can find.

High Quality Finishes

Set the mood of your art and choose a finish that complements the work. Photographers’ options start with a variety of photo papers. Matte, semi-gloss, luster, and glossy finishes each bring specific textures and looks to the mix, but why stop with photo paper? Putting your photographs on canvas or unique fine art paper could be the perfect way to display your work.

Traditional artists can also choose to step out of the box. If watercolor papers or canvas aren’t your cup of tea, perhaps your work reproduced on a fabric or a translucent window film would show off your work in a unique way.

And no matter what your chosen method is for creating your art, a wall mural with textures like plaster, canvas, leather, suede, or spun silk can turn your artistic vision into a room-transforming masterpiece. The options are mind-boggling and with the right printmaker, your work will look that much better on any medium.

For Giclée printing, we use the Epson 9900 10-color inkjet printer with Epson’s HDR archival inkset, meaning that your prints are created with the state-of-the-art technology and will last for decades.

Support

In no other realm does the adage “what you see is what you get” ring more true than the art world. Make sure you see exactly what you want to see by using a printer who uses cutting edge tools, maintains a standard of excellence, and is passionate about making your art look exactly the way you imagine. Before you commit to having your art printed, make sure it’s the best version of your work. At Lone Eagle we will scan, retouch, and proof your work to make sure that what gets printed is a flawless representation of your design. We will also archive your digital files for free, so your prints will be available “on demand” in the future whenever you want them.