In a print competition, the print itself should have some say in who wins the top award. At the Professional Photographers of Idaho competition, The Economic Recovery, created by Nick Jones, made it to the finish line for the coveted Sunset Print Award, but it was the print that took it over the top.

As noted in an earlier post here at the LexJet Blog, there’s a new photo paper in town, and its name is Sunset Photo Canvas Paper 230g.

Master photographer Gary Meek, owner of Gary’s Studio of Photography in Hot Springs, Ark., says that Ansel Adams’ concept of “pre-visualization” is one of the most important aspects of photography. Gary and his wife, Kathryn, also a Master photographer, were traveling through Florence in October of last year when they came upon the scene shown here.

Melissa Thompson, owner of Pistachio Alley Photography in Cody, Wyo., is known far and wide for her stellar baby photography. Though it’s not all she does, it’s her specialty. Each year she highlights her specialty at competition. This image, She’s a Dream, was entered in both the Wyoming and Montana Professional Photographer competitions. At the Montana competition, She’s a Dream wowed the judges and she picked up a Sunset Print Award. Printed at Pistachio Alley on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag 315g with a Canon iPF8300, Thompson says, “The judges for both state competitions liked the presentation, the paper it was printed on and the print quality. The general consensus was how the image worked well with the Sunset Velvet paper and how the tones were muted, not showing a true black, giving it a dreamlike quality.” To create the image, Thompson started with a concept she came up with last year for competition, but says she shelved it because “it just wasn’t working out right.”...

At first glance, this Sunset Print Award winner is abstract art, but for Linda Dahlberg, owner of Creative Cards by Linda in Newburyport, Mass., it’s far more than that and atypical of her New England landscape and seascape photography. Dahlberg won the award for Best Print in Show – as well as a Sunset gift certificate, trophy and pin – at the recent Fine Art of Photography competition in Plymouth, Mass., for her print entitled Lowell’s Boat Shop Workroom Door, which is exactly what it is. Lowell’s Boat Shop, according to Dahlberg, is the oldest continually-running boat shop in the U.S., and is on the Merrimack River in Amesbury, Mass. “The building is so very special and it’s so neat to know that men and women are still making wooden boats. I’m attracted to the place because it’s all wood,” says Dahlberg. “The paint on that door is what the guys must do when they’re done painting to clean up their brushes. I’m not an abstract photographer; I’m a landscape photographer, but I...

Pete Wright’s photography is all about capturing and producing the tiniest details, from the initial setting all the way through to print. It was Wright’s attention to detail, in addition to his technical expertise, that made Temptress a Sunset Print Award winner at the recent PPA Southeast District competition. Wright pulled out all the stops for this photo shoot, which he did for a clothier and a jeweler. Both clients gave him free reign to produce images that would make them shine. Wright chose to render the images in his signature style, Film Noir. “I went to both of my clients and told them what era I was shooting, so they pulled out vintage clothing and jewelry. We had a hair and makeup artist come in and created the look we wanted for the models. Then I went on a hunt for a location and found a music studio that had created a speakeasy bar authentic to the era with the correct lighting and fixtures,” explains Wright. “My lighting style is different because I still shoot in...

You can never have enough information, even in the Information Age. Digital Art Creation, which is a quarterly online publication, is filled with content that includes photo and post-capture techniques, printing and post-printing tips, and a variety of other subjects of interest to photographers, designers and graphic artists.

Cheri MacCallum, owner of Art by Cheri, Idaho Falls, is a photo painter extraordinaire. Photographers around the country send her files to paint digitally in Corel Painter to add that extra value that comes from painted portrait photo. Moreover, MacCallum’s work has won various awards, including the LexJet Sunset Award two years running at the PPA Western District Competition. We profiled last year’s winner, Dennis the Menace, and had to wait for national competition judging to unveil this year’s winner, entitled Snowy Morning, which scored 100 at the PPA Western District Competition. MacCallum found the scene depicted in Snowy Morning on a little dirt road outside of Idaho Falls. The first snow had just blanketed the landscape and MacCallum saw great potential in the composition. However, it wasn’t until she added the digital painting that she thought it would be competition-worthy. And competition-worthy it was, grabbing the attention of the judges for its composition, lighting...

LexJet has just introduced Sunset Fibre Rag 335g as an answer to the call from photographers and fine art reproduction companies looking for the high-end air-dried look and feel on a 100 percent cotton rag base.

Digital-imaging expert and Canon Explorer of Light Eddie Tapp will be the featured speaker at the free Learn from a Pro/Print Like a Pro open houses that Canon and LexJet are hosting July 26 in Irving TX and July 28 in Irvine, CA. Photographers of all backgrounds and skill levels can benefit from Eddie’s easy-to-understand explanations of color balance and exposure/tone controls, color management, image enhancement techniques, and how to select the correct print settings.