Sunset Select Gloss CanvasTag:

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Extreme Snow Sledding on Sunset Select Gloss Canvas

Sledding downhill on inkjet canvasDo not try this at home, or in your studio. Now that we’ve got that disclaimer out of the way we can share an unusual thrill seeking ride that Jimmy Coray of Kimo’s Kamera took from the top of Mount Nebo’s south summit (11,877 feet, the highest in the Wasatch Range) 900 feet down at a 70 percent grade.

Kimo’s Kamera is a photography studio and photo lab located in Nephi, Utah, just a few miles from Mount Nebo. Coray makes the trek up to the summit every winter as well as a few times in the summer. This time around Coray sewed together a few pieces of LexJet Sunset Select Gloss Canvas to make an eight-foot long sled for the adrenalin rush immortalized on video (click here to see the video on the Kimo’s Kamera Facebook page).

Using inkjet canvas as a snow sled
Jimmy Coray prepares his Sunset Select Gloss Canvas "sled" for a 900-foot ride down 11,877-foot Mount Nebo in Utah's Wasatch Mountains.

“We had some extra canvas we printed that we didn’t get the color quite right, so I sewed them together and thought I’d give it a try,” says Coray. “The canvas didn’t rip or tear so I’d say that’s pretty good, plus it was fun.”

When Coray isn’t sledding on the canvas, he’s printing it for family photos and special projects.

“We love the gloss canvas; it has a great look to it. It’s been over the past year that we’ve really pushed the canvas and that’s been going very well for us,” says Coray.

A non-sledding split-image gallery wrap on Sunset Select Gloss Canvas by Kimo's Kamera.

Coray’s next experiment with LexJet media will be a mountain bike made out of Sunset Photo Metallic Paper. Just kidding, but then again, you never know…

Make sure to send us your craziest experiments with LexJet media and if you’re interested in all the possibilities, call a customer specialist at 800-453-9538.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Technology & Products
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More Great Inkjet Canvas Options from LexJet

Printing canvasBuilding on more than 15 years of researching, developing and bringing award-winning inkjet printable canvas products to the fine art, photography and graphics markets, LexJet introduces Sunset Reserve Matte Canvas and Sunset Reserve Bright Matte Canvas.

Both canvas products are now available and shipping from one of LexJet’s ten nationwide distribution centers and, like all LexJet products, come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Sunset Reserve Matte Canvas and Sunset Reserve Bright Matte Canvas round out a diverse portfolio of LexJet inkjet canvas products that include the award-winning Sunset Select Matte Canvas and Sunset Select Gloss Canvas, the solvent and UV curable compatible Sunset Select Satin Canvas SUV, and Instant Dry Satin Canvas.

“Both versions of the Sunset Reserve Canvas have a nice subtle texture for true artistic color-critical canvas reproduction,” explains Alex Ried, LexJet product manager. “And, since some customers prefer a bright white base to a more neutral white tone and vice-versa it was important to offer that option with the same performance, quality, consistency and color gamut.”

Compatible with aqueous printers from Canon, Epson and HP – and specially engineered to take advantage of the wider color gamuts provided by the latest generation of their printers – both canvas products are perfect for a variety of applications, from commercial and corporate graphics to gallery and museum wraps and other fine art and photographic output. Both are optimized for LexJet’s Sunset Coatings – Gloss and Satin – and work well with other spray and roll-on protective coatings.

Canvas printing
Mark Lakey, Art Warehouse, Chattanooga, Tenn., printed this black-and-white photo by Nashville photographer Ed Rode on Sunset Reserve Bright Matte Canvas.

“It prints great. I love it because when I profiled the canvas, I could amp up the sharpness with photography and get more detail out of it. And, the coating allows for a high ink load, so if someone wants to produce high-quality prints they can do it with this canvas,” says Mark Lakey, owner and president of Art Warehouse, Chattanooga, Tenn., who prints for renowned photographers and artists. “You see more vibrancy with this canvas in color prints and for black and white printing I can hit the tonality marks I’m after.”

Stretching and wrapping canvas
Lakey stretches and wraps Beach at Sunset, photographed by Jim Begley, Corbin, Ky., and printed on Sunset Reserve Bright Matte Canvas.

Sunset Reserve Matte Canvas has a neutral-white finish that produces a wide color gamut without optical brighteners. Sunset Reserve Bright Matte Canvas features a bright white base. Both are a water resistant, acid-free and pH-neutral with a poly/cotton blend so they’re easily stretched for gallery and museum wraps.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Technology & Products
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Professional Photographer Magazine Reveals all the Hot One Winners

Inkjet print mediaEarlier this year Professional Photographer Magazine announced its annual Hot One Award winners, representing the best products introduced in 2010 as determined by a panel of 52 professional photographer judges.

As reported earlier at the LexJet Blog, in the Inkjet Media category LexJet took three of the four Hot One Awards: Sunset Photo Metallic Paper in the Glossy category, LexJet 8 Mil ImagePro Satin in the Semi-Gloss/Luster Paper category, and Sunset Select Gloss Canvas in the Canvas category.

Hot Ones were awarded in 12 categories: Cameras, Digital Storage Media, Lenses, Printers, Film, Inkjet Media, Educational Resources, Lighting Equipment, Presentation, Scanner, Software, Studio Equipment, plus a Best of the Rest category.

For the full list of categories and winners in those categories, which include a description and pricing for each product, click here.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Technology & Products
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Try LexJet’s Next-Generation Sunset Select Gloss Canvas for Inkjet Printing

When Personal-Prints.com accepts an order for a reproduction of this painting, Island Getaway by Scott Kennedy, they will customize the tree-carving with whatever names the customer requests. Personal-Prints.com, a division of Solstice Arts, is using LexJet’s new Sunset Select Gloss Canvas for all of their hand-painted images. For more information about Personal Prints, visit Personal-Prints.com, or call Tyler Kennedy at 970-686-8787 x307.

The next-generation of Sunset Select Gloss Canvas from LexJet is now available. Sunset Select Gloss Canvas produces vibrant, richly detailed color photographs and art reproductions with the newest generation of wide-gamut, wide-format aqueous-ink inkjet printers.

LexJet Sunset Select Gloss Canvas is a heavyweight (430g), bright white, poly/cotton blend canvas with a relatively smooth Oxford 2-over 1 weave that is ideal for reproducing detail in printed photos and art. Combined with the high-gloss, ink-receptive surface coating, Sunset Select Gloss Canvas produces the wide color gamut and exceptional Dmax needed to reveal many of the subtle details in shadows and highlights in photographs.

“We have used LexJet products for many years and were thrilled to receive the new Sunset Select Gloss Canvas,” explains Tyler Kennedy, marketing director for art-publishing company Solstice Arts in Berthoud, Colo. “Personal-Prints.com is a company owned and operated by a family of artists, and we are very particular about what papers and canvases we use for printing our hand-painted images. It didn’t take any convincing for us to unanimously decide that this canvas is the perfect backdrop for all of our canvas printing. The intensity of the white point makes our images practically pop off the canvas, as the colors show up in their true vivid and intense hue.”

Because the canvas is water resistant and easy to stretch, it is perfect for use in photo labs and printmaking service bureaus that produce high volumes of photo canvases or giclée prints. The acid-free, pH-neutral coating on Sunset Select Gloss coating helps ensure images printed with today’s pigment inks will continue looking good for decades. For additional protection against humidity, abrasion, and UV light the prints can be varnished with either LexJet Sunset Gloss or Sunset Satin Coatings.

Posted on by LexJet Posted in News & Trends
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Small-Class, Hands-On Training for New Portrait Photographers

KAPA classes are kept small so there is plenty of opportunity for personalized advice.
KAPA classes are kept small so there is plenty of opportunity for personalized advice.

If you’re serious about getting into the portrait photography business, having a good camera and a passion for photography are important. But there’s so much more that must be learned. For example, in order to sell enough work to make a decent living, you should know how to pose and light your clients in the most flattering way, efficiently manage your workflow and costs, and market your services to different groups of clients.   

Although some of this knowledge can be acquired by reading books, joining online forums, and attending national and regional conferences, long-time portrait photographer Alan Davis recognized a need for more intensive, personalized instruction. So, he and his wife Saundra and their business partner Bob Rabold opened the Kentucky Academy of Photographic Arts (KAPA) in Bowling Green, KY and started offering hands-on instruction during one-, two-, and three-day classes.

“Almost anyone can make a perfectly exposed digital image,” says Davis. “But not everyone knows about composition, or how to use posing and lighting to emphasize the subject’s good features and de-emphasize the bad features.” He acknowledges there is room for experimentation in portrait photography, but says at the end of the day, “People really want portraits they can feel good about showing to their friends and families.”

Learn with Your Own Equipment: KAPA classes are held on the second floor of the historic building in which his own studio, Alan Davis Photography, is located. Attendees bring their own cameras and laptops so they can apply what they’ve learned using the equipment they use every day. Images shot during each class can be output on either the Epson Stylus Pro 9900 or Epson Stylus Pro 4880 that Davis uses to print his own photography. Class sizes are limited to 20 participants, allowing plenty of time for one-on-one advice and critiques.

Classes are held on the second floor of the historic building that houses the Alan Davis Photography studio.
Classes are held on the second floor of the historic building that houses the Alan Davis Photography studio.

Classes have been taught by a variety of accomplished photographers, including Jen Hillenga, Fuzzy Duenkle, Beth Forrester, Jane Conner Ziser, Mike Fulton, Shawn Wright, and Gary and Pam Box. So far, sessions have focused primarily on lighting and posing techniques related to senior, family, and wedding photography.

In 2010, Davis is planning to branch out a bit and offer sessions on baby and children’s portraits, website design and SEO marketing.

Course on Profitable In-Studio Printing: Davis is also considering teaching a course on profitable workflows for in-studio printing because “We started doing all our own printing in-house about six months ago.” He calls it one of the best decisions they’ve made for their business in recent years. He uses the Epson 9900 and LexJet Sunset Select Gloss Canvas to produce enlargements on canvas and an Epson Stylus Pro 4880, the ImagePrint RIP, and LexJet Sunset Photo eSatin paper to output all of the studio’s 16 x 20 and smaller-size portraits.

Printing your own photos in-house isn’t for everyone, Davis acknowledges: “There is a learning curve, and you have to enjoy figuring things out and setting up a workflow that will be profitable for you.” But Davis loves having total control over every step of the process.  

KAPA is located in Bowling Green, about 60 miles north of Nashville, Tennessee in the gently rolling hills, and “cave country” of central Kentucky. According to Davis, KAPA has attracted students from as far away as Detroit. But most people who have attended KAPA classes are photographers who want to set up portrait-photography businesses in nearby states such as Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, and Illinois.  

While Davis is a proud and active member of the PPA and a Master Photographer, he notes that KAPA is an independent, privately owned business, and isn’t affiliated with the KPPA (Kentucky Professional Photographers Association) or any other regional or national association. 

For more information about KAPA and classes being planned for 2010, visit www.kapaclasses.com. You can also connect with Alan Davis online. He contributes regularly to pro photography forums such as www.pro4um.com and the forum at Luminous Landscape.