• Even illumination of the artwork (particularly challenging for large pieces).
• Constructing correct geometry of lights, camera, and artwork during the session.
• If desired, capturing and rendering textures or brush strokes.
• Achieving correct color balance/white balance in the captured image.
• Accurate capture of the colors present in the artwork.
• In many cases, color correction, either globally or selectively, using an image editor such as Photoshop.
• Maintaining a correctly calibrated and profiled printer that can handle multiple media types.
• Accurate printing of the colors, densities, etc. in the reproduction.
• If necessary, edit the image to render visible desired textures, etc.
• Achieving accurate “print on demand” – i.e., subsequent prints conform to the reference print kept on file.

Now, we have a new offering from HP and its partners – The HP Artist Solution for Nikon is a purpose-built, integrated tool for digital capture, correction, editing, and reproduction of fine art. It is built into the Ergosoft StudioPrint RIP. The integration of system components, such as cameras, lighting, and printers, greatly reduces time required to produce high-quality, accurate work.

And, because it is coupled with the HP Designjet Z3200 Printer, these prints can be created on dozens of types of inkjet media.

The The HP Artist Solution for Nikon software performs automatic white balancing, corrects uniformity of illumination, performs color correction, and generates a TIFF file with an embedded ICC profile that is specific to that individual piece of art. The HP Artist Solution for Nikon enables greatly increased color accuracy, simplified and shortened workflow, and highly accurate and detailed print reproductions of artwork created using a variety of media – watercolor, acrylic, oil, drawings, and more. It delivers this level of automation using an accurate, up-to-date characterization of every device involved in the workflow. The artwork is characterized using spectral measurements taken with a spectrophotometer, such as the Eye-One device, or the PhotoResearch PR-650.

Sidebar: The StudioPrint RIP StudioPrint is a fully-featured RIP, or Raster Image Processor. Made by Ergosoft, it is one of the leading products in its market category. It is a professional-level tool for controlling printing workflow and quality. The StudioPrint RIP provides: A special edition of the StudioPrint RIP provides seamless integration with features of the The HP Artist Solution for Nikon Solution, including characterization of lighting, artwork, white board, and custom swatchbooks. Comprehensive printer controls, including linearization, profile creation and management, ink limits/controls, and more. Support of ICC 2 and ICC 4 profiles, device link profiles, and CxF. Job management, tiling, nesting, and the like. Real-time drag and drop image

Two Stages

HP Designjet Z3200 Photo Printer   Fine art reproduction using the The HP Artist Solution for Nikon software is accomplished in two stages. Stage One is accurate characterization of all the workflow devices – lights, camera, and printer. This is important in creating color-correct fine art reproductions. The second stage involves image capture, processing, and printing. The first dialogue box of the The HP Artist Solution for Nikon application shows the step-by-step progression driven by the software in Stage One. Next, set up the lighting and support for the artwork at the desired distance and angle. The Eye-One, for example, handles this task easily. It is connected via USB to the computer running StudioPrint and The HP Artist Solution for Nikon.

Sidebar: The Nikon D3 Camera The Nikon D3 is a 12+ megapixel camera incorporating a full-frame digital sensor. There are some important technical improvements incorporated into this camera: The 12+ megapixel digital sensor has a “pixel pitch” of 8.46 microns. (the larger this value, the better the signal/noise ratio, and the lower the noise in the image.) Larger pixel pitch also tends to reduce diffraction errors, aperture settings of f/8-f/11 are quite clean in these cameras. At present (Nov 08), I believe this is the best among professional DSLRs.* The camera has been improved to capture images in 14-bit RAW format. The majority of DSLRs use only 12-bit mode. 14-bit mode provides over 16,000 tone separations per color channel, vs other cameras’ 12-bit capture; they produce only 4,096 tones/channel. Overall image quality is improved, and details are enhanced in shadow/dark areas of an image. Nikon have also released a new 105mm macro lens. This lens is quite sharp, with no discernible drop off in luminance or image quality in the corners. * see Roger Clark’s essays on this subject (clarkvision.com)   The camera’s performance in responding to light and color is characterized. This measurement is performed by the software and camera manufacturers, and is shown in the dialogue box and used in the image processor. At present, the Nikon D3, using the 105mm Macro VR lens is the camera of choice. Note: I have recently tried switching from strobe lighting to continuous lighting for fine art reproduction. (see figure below, and Nikon note at bottom) The Solux lighting products (www.solux.net) are well suited to the job – they are relatively inexpensive, the CRI is about 98, and bulbs are available in a range of color temperatures, including D50. Heat is comparatively low, and they are light and portable - better for location work. Next, a series of measurements of the artwork and the white reference/backboard are created using the spectrophotometer. In the case of the artwork, multiple measurements (up to 50) in a rough grid pattern are required; with practice this is a task that takes only a few minutes. Lighting is measured in a similar fashion, but the ambient light attachment is used, and only one or two measurements are necessary.

Sidebar: The HP Designjet Z3200 Printer The HP Designjet Z3200 Printer is the latest in HP’s lineup of Dreamcolor-enabled technology. This machine incorporates a number of significant improvements, including a new Chromatic Red ink, improved color gamut, improved paper handling, extended manual controls, expanded media profiling capability, automated print head maintenance, and more. It is available in 24” and 44” formats, in Postscript and non-Poscript versions. This is a 12-ink printer, capable of printing on virtually any inkjet-capable media available. HP currently has over 50 media types available for this printer, including HP/Hahnemuhle fine art papers. It has a built-in iOne spectrophotometer, and when driven by HP Color Management software or StudioPrint RIP, is capable of pushbutton printer calibration and on-the-fly creation of custom ICC profiles for both HP and non-HP media. This is one of the premier fine-art and photographic printers available, capable of producing exhibition-quality prints with archival lifespan of up to 200 years. For more information go to www.hp.com.   The artwork does not need to be evenly illuminated or color-corrected. Issues like these are automatically addressed by the The HP Artist Solution for Nikon software during processing. The camera should be focused, of course, and the exposure should be set to capture the full dynamic range of the artwork. An evenly distributed histogram, without evidence of clipping, is the benchmark for this. The geometry of the studio and lighting are left unchanged from the measurement phase. An image is captured of the artwork and then the white backboard. As always in studio photography, lighting should not splash back into the camera lens, and creation of specular highlights should be avoided. The image of the backboard helps the system evaluate and correct lighting and color. The measurement information and the images are loaded into The HP Artist Solution for Nikon software. The application will generate a high-quality TIFF file, usually in less than a minute. The image has an ICC profile specific to its characteristics, and the shooting conditions, attached to it. It is now ready to be loaded into an image editor such as Photoshop for printing, or it can be printed directly from the Ergosoft RIP. The last link in the chain is the printer. This system employs the HP Designjet Z3200, which is a wide-format pigment-based inkjet printer. The Z3200 incorporates an on-board spectrophotometer, which is used to calibrate/linearize the printer, and to create custom ICC profiles in real time for the media in use.

• The components - from capture, to processing, to printing, are completely integrated and work together in a way that is unmatched in this field.
• RAW image files are used, maximizing image data available.
• Workflow is smooth and intuitive; variables that might affect quality are very well controlled.
• Accurate colors are captured and incorporated into the final image file and print.
• Color transformations are kept to a minimum, far below other systems.
• Time required for lighting setup is minimized.
• Lighting positioning is not critical to success – and creating custom setups, which maximize physical details of the artwork, is easily accomplished.
• Corrections are automated for a number of potential variables, including but not limited to uneven illumination and color.
• An ICC profile specific to the image is created each time the image is processed in The HP Artist Solution for Nikon.
• Once The HP Artist Solution for Nikon generates a printable image file, time required to edit in Photoshop (or another editor) is eliminated or minimized.
• Printing to the HP Designjet Z3200 provides comprehensive color controls, including creation of ICC profiles for each media selected.
• The level of technical training and skill required for operating the system is significantly less than older methods.
• The capture/processing side of the system is quite portable, supporting capture of artwork offsite. This is particularly true of lighting equipment required.
• The final printed reproduction is remarkable in its fidelity to the original - in color, density, and details.
• Cost savings, primarily in the form of skilled labor.