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How to Customize Weddings with Wide-Format Print
Posted on by Shellie Terry Posted in Tips & Tricks
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How to Customize Weddings with Wide-Format Print

When wedding planning, most brides include printing in their plans, but that often begins and ends with invitations. While custom invitations are certainly a vital piece of the planning process, using print to create a unique experience can permeate all the way through the big day itself. And wide-format services can make those projects come to life.

Makayla Harris during a wedding reveal event.

Makayla Harris of The Harris Co. in Saratoga, NY, operates a Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-Series 4000 to create a fun “reveal” event for couples before and after their weddings. If Harris has photographed their engagement photos and/or wedding photos, she prints sample portraits and hangs them in her studio to give the couple a feeling of what they look like on the wall.

“We customize the studio for them, and it really helps our sales,” Harris says. “It’s such a wow factor to see them on the wall — they just can’t resist.” (Check out The Harris Co.’s Instagram Behind the Scenes stories to see how couples have reacted to the reveal events.)

During the reveal, she also projects wall-sized photos for the couple to review digitally. Often, she says, couples choose engagement photos to print for large displays during the wedding. “We didn’t want to be a high-volume studio,” Harris says. “We wanted people to come to us for statement pieces.”

She says many younger couples have expressed interest in the new, award-winning HP Recycled Satin Canvas for portraits. “It’s interesting,” she says. “The younger the bride, the more they care about that.”

Wide-format print can also come in handy for wedding day signage, backdrops and more. On trend that’s caught on in recent years is a “step-and-repeat” photo area for the couple as well as their guests (pictured at top). Fabrics that offer some opacity are a good option, especially when flash photography is in use. For dye-sub, Fisher Textiles 4019 Nirvana BOB provides a built-in black backing. EnduraFab™ Stretch fabric is a latex-compatible version that prints and hangs elegantly in settings that don’t require the opaque backing.

Signage can also come in handy during weddings, including completely customized welcome and wayfinding signage, as well as posters that can be displayed to provide useful information, such as table seating. A number of adhesive-backed products can be printed and adhered to poster board, including:

For more ideas on how to customize weddings with wide-format printing, call a LexJet print specialist at 800-453-9538.

 

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Artisan Craftsman Books on Sunset Photo Canvas Paper

Artisan Craftsman Books

As the name implies, Artisan Craftsman Books specializes in hand-crafted fine-art photo books. Owner Larry Crandall is also a veteran photographer of 30-plus years who knows how photography can be maximized in a photo book.

Wedding Book by Artisan Craftsman Books
Larry Crandall of Artisan Craftsman Books used Sunset Photo Canvas Paper for the page spreads inside the book and a portion of the cover. He used a protective spray on the cover and placed the book inside a clamshell case to showcase it and provide additional protection.

As a fine-art photo book maker, Crandall typically uses matte paper, and most often LexJet Premium Archival Matte Paper, for the photo pages within the book. “We specialize in matte, giclee-printed books; we don’t do photographic or press-printed books,” adds Crandall.

With the introduction of Sunset Photo Canvas Paper 230g, Crandall may have found a new staple for his photo books, not as a replacement, but as an excellent textured option. He tried the new paper for the first time on a wedding photography book that was also printed on Premium Archival Matte.

Wedding Book Cover“I’m not laminating the Sunset Photo Canvas in order to let the texture show through. Instead, I spray it with a protective spray and I think it’s durable enough. It’s pretty neat looking; it has a matte, fine-art finish and I really like it,” says Crandall.

The pages are printed on an Epson 7890 as a full-page spread. Crandall uses the auto-cut feature on the printer to make it easy to stack up the sheets in order, then trims the edges and scores the middle of the spread so that the pages are ready for binding. This particular wedding book is about 50 pages, or 25 full-page spreads, all printed on Sunset Photo Canvas Paper.

Artisan Craftsman Books Wedding Album
A close-up showing both the detail and texture achieved with Sunset Photo Canvas Paper.

“I was concerned that the texture might take away from the detail, where it runs over someone’s eye or other facial feature. That’s not the case. It still prints beautifully,” says Crandall. “You get a little better continuous tone from Premium Archival Matte in certain areas. What I like is the texture itself, which has a nice feel. A large part of these books is the touch and feel, which doesn’t apply as much when you hang it on a wall.”

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles, Technology & Products
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Imaging USA Recap: Backlit Gallery Wraps from Redipix

Backlit inkjet printed gallery wraps for display

Fresh from the Imaging USA show earlier this week in New Orleans our intrepid LexJet crew – Michael Clementi, Ryan King and Alex Ried – brought back inspiration and ideas that we’ll share over the next week or so.

Backlit gallery wraps for photography
Gallery Wrap Dazzle by Redpix is backlit with LEDs for a unique, eye-catching display that can be dimmed and brightened remotely.

The LexJet crew reported that Sunset Stretcher Kits were the most popular product they demonstrated at Imaging USA. The DIY kits make it easy to create your own museum and gallery wraps in minutes, and you can read more about them here.

Another interesting twist on the gallery wrap concept was presented by Redipix at Imaging USA. Redipix has created a backlit gallery wrap using LexJet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth that can be used for all types of display and lighting situations.

The box, built out of heavy-duty foam board, is backed with hundreds of LEDs placed in a pattern which maximizes light coverage behind the print. Moreover, the product – called Gallery Wrap Dazzle – comes with a remote dimmer so that the light can be controlled for various lighting situations.

Backlit printed gallery wraps for display
Here's what Gallery Wrap Dazzle looks like with the lights off.

“The LEDs can get brighter than you would normally want, except in sunlight, and it can be turned way down if need be. They’re particularly good where you don’t have good light, but they work anywhere. It’s amazing how the picture changes with the light and changes the contrast, so you can control the contrast,” says David Elmore, owner of Redipix. “We started using Water-Resistant Satin Cloth a couple of years ago and saw how people were using them in galleries and outdoors and other applications, and I noticed how great it looks in a window with the light behind it.”

The print can be easily removed and replaced with another one, so the Gallery Wrap Dazzle is re-usable, and the original print can be re-sold or re-purposed in whatever way you’d like, as a banner or hanging display, for instance.

“One of the photographers we met at the show wants to use it for weddings and display a picture of the bride and groom. It really glows so everyone can see it, leading to additional business from people who saw the display at the wedding,” says Elmore.

Printed shadow box for photography
This shadow box product from Redipix lights up the family photo on the inside.

At Imaging USA Redpix also introduced a new LED-lit shadow box and previewed a photo album that resides inside a gallery wrap, in addition to its primary foam board gallery wrap product that can be decorated with canvas or Water-Resistant Satin Cloth.

The shadow box has a hole in the middle of the main print, with another print recessed and lit with LEDs. Typically the main print is “word art” with a photo inside, the word art describing the picture inside. The photo album gallery wrap hangs on the wall so that the album can be prominently displayed and taken off the wall and opened for viewing.

For more information about Redipix, go to www.redipix.com.

Posted on by Sean McGettigan Posted in Tips & Tricks
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How To Video: Sunset Pro Photo Albums

How to use a professional photo albumLexJet’s new Sunset Pro Photo Albums are professional grade, do-it-yourself albums. The albums are extremely easy to use with a peel-and-stick PSA adhesive for simple mounting of photographs. They are perfect for album applications of all types, including weddings, family or individual portraits, portfolios, graduates, high school seniors, presentations and more. 

In the video embedded below, you can learn about the albums and the process for mounting photographs in the album:

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Technology & Products
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Photo Albums Made Easy: Peel, Stick and Go with Sunset Pro Photo Albums

Easy to use photo albums for professional photographersIf you’re looking for a new and easy way to create photo albums, be sure to check out LexJet’s new Sunset Pro Photo Albums, which are designed to be elegant and simple for a unique presentation of your work.

The do-it-yourself, professionally-crafted albums were designed to give you control of the photo album process. They are economical, easy to use and ideal for any type of photo album or photographic presentation, including graduates, high school senior sessions, weddings, family photos, portfolios and more.

Sunset Pro Photo Albums, made of a rich black leatherette material, are now available in 2.5 in. x 3.5 in., 5 in. x 7 in., 8 in. x 8 in., 8 in. x 10 in., and 10 in. x 10 in. sizes. Each page features a peel-and-stick adhesive that makes album creation quick and easy.

If you’d like to find out more about the new albums, contact a LexJet customer specialist at 800-453-9538, click here for the product specifications and click here for a how-to video on using the albums.