It was Rodney Clark’s first experiment with LexJet Sunset Photo Metallic Paper and the results were award-winning. Clark won a first place and three blue ribbons this past October at the Professional Photographers Association of Pennsylvania (PPA of PA) competition held in State College, Pa.
“I’m one of those photographers who’s used to working with high-gloss lacquered prints on f-surface paper for competitions. With the Sunset Metallic it’s that way out of the box. Even if you do laminate, it still shows the same principles and properties that make a metallic paper so nice,” says Clark.
The three blue-ribbon prints – images taken of Main Street in Shepherdstown, W.V. – were photographed in HDR. Clark says Sunset Metallic was the perfect fit for the extreme saturation produced by HDR. The judges agreed.
The other image won first place in the commercial category and was also printed on Sunset Metallic. The metallic inkjet paper, designed to replicate the same look as the old Kodak metallic used in the darkroom, brought a pearlescent shine to the image that helped catch the judges’ eyes.
“The image you see is basically au naturel, other than taking out a couple of dust spots and pulling the density down for competition-quality printing,” explains Clark. “It’s a bridal dress showing the designer’s ribbon and wedding rings shot at a 45-degree angle. Sand, water and sky in the background account for the gradient you see from beige to dark blue. I used a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon 1D Mark III to capture it.”
Clark says he’s hopeful that his success locally will translate to more regional and national competition recognition, all that are within grasp thanks to his ability to print his own work with the addition of the new paper and a Canon iPF6100 inkjet printer he bought about four months ago.
“Pretty much right out of the box it was as accurate as you could get. The only thing I had to do was add the 10 points of brightness through my Photoshop plug-in for the Canon, which I use instead of the print driver. What I get out of it is absolutely phenomenal,” says Clark. “With some help from Kelly [Price, LexJet account specialist] and the gang at LexJet, I have the profiles I need to print accurately every time.”
Rodney Clark, M. Photog., Cr., CPP, owns Clark Photography in Waynesboro, Pa. Photos courtesy Rodney Clark.
