For Peters Photography Studio, Kodak’s Dry Lab Paper Delivers

Photo by Peters Photography; London, Ohio
Photo by Peters Photography; London, Ohio

 

Last summer, when Peters Photography Studio lab manager Matt Baxter could no longer count on the delivery time frame and quality of the photo paper he’d been using, he turned to a name he’d trusted for years: Kodak.

His former supplier had become unreliable, so he switched to Kodak’s PROFESSIONAL Inkjet Photo Dry Lab Paper with a lustre finish.

Photo by Peters Photography, London, Ohio
Photo by Peters Photography; London, Ohio

“We’d always used Kodak when we had a wet lab,” Baxter says. “I was used to Kodak from way back.”

As the photography industry has evolved from film and chemical photo development to digital images and inkjet printing, Kodak has created resin-coated paper with an e-surface finish, ideal for the type of rich, detailed portrait work Baxter polishes up at the London, Ohio-based studio.

“I touch every single image that comes through here,” says Baxter, who’s been with Peters for 15 years. “All of the color correction, processing, digital image prepping … and printing is included in that.”

He runs the Kodak dry lab paper on an Epson SureLab printer, which is an ideal match, he says. Working with 8-inch and 12-inch rolls, he explains that the paper calibrated easily and “fell right into place really quickly. There were no big adjustments to make.” The paper also works well with Peters’ signature linen-like textured coating that sets the studio’s prints apart.

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A look inside Peters Photography’s gallery, showcasing Kodak PROFESSIONAL Inkjet Photo Dry Lab Paper, lustre finish. Photo by Peters Photography; London, Ohio

Kodak’s logo, printed on the back of the paper, adds an immediately recognized symbol of the long-trusted brand. “We like it,” Baxter says. “We were used to having that for all those years. Now, it feels like we’re printing on quality … it makes it feel like we’re doing it the right way.”

And because Baxter orders paper as needed, rather than storing a lot of inventory, he says he’s pleased to get delivery just a day or two after he places his order with his LexJet sales rep. “With our other supplier, we never knew when we were going to get it,” he says. “But now we get it right away. We order as we need it. I don’t give myself much leeway, and LexJet makes it so I can do that.”

Prints that Win: Evil Eyes

LexJet Sunset Award Winner Peter Burg

The title of this print that won a LexJet Sunset Award at the Florida PPA conference this past year likely caught your attention. Sometimes a title gives you an impression that’s different than your expectation before you actually see the image, which can boost the impact it makes.

It fits the image here, captured by Peter Burg, Burg Photographix, Maitland, Fla., but it also caught the judges by surprise when they saw it.

“It’s impact. You get a mental image from the title, and then, boom, the judges come around to it and while it might not be what’s expected, it still fits,” says Burg.

Burg is a car aficionado. “That’s my thing,” as he puts it. He captured this image in early morning light at the Amelia Island Concours D’Elegance car show.

“I usually photograph cars early in the morning with the light coming behind them and using the sky as an open reflector. If you wait too long to shoot cars you get too many specular highlights,” he explains. “I masked out the entire background after I captured the image, and then created the background. It had more of the appearance that it was shot in a studio, but the giveaway is the reflection of the trees. I do quite a bit of post-production, taking out unwanted glare and smoothing reflections.”

Burg adds that he went back and forth about whether or not to keep the reflection of the trees in the image, but liked the effect and kept the reflection. By the way, the headlights are actually that color and you may notice what appear to be horns made by the windshield frame.

The image was printed with a Canon iPF6100 on KODAK PROFESSSIONAL Inkjet Photo Paper, Luster Finish. Besides the quality of the paper, Burg chose the Kodak paper since he was aiming for his ninth Kodak Gallery Elite Award.