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Metallic Prints?
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Jan 28, 2013 17:23:57   #
bogeyeliot Loc: Signal Hill, CA
 
I have heard of the process of printing photos onto metal, such as aluminum rather than onto paper. Aside from the obvious fact that your prints will never get wrinkled, what is the advantage of printing onto metal?

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Jan 28, 2013 18:06:31   #
PrairieSeasons Loc: Red River of the North
 
Depending on colors, there can be a depth of luminosity on a metal print that is different than with paper. There are also metal finish papers that give similar results.

I had this one printed on a 24x16 double float with the faded sepia copy as the back image. The photo lab I use has four different finishes for printing on aluminum (high gloss, gloss, shear and matte). I had them print up a 6x4 of this image in each finish on aluminum first and hung them on the same wall where this is exhibited to see what the effect would be from the ambient light. There were significant differences in luminosity. As a test, I hung these 6x4 samples in two other places, and found that the one I found most pleasing changed in other light settings.





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Jan 28, 2013 18:07:36   #
PrairieSeasons Loc: Red River of the North
 
Looking at this again, and looking at the aluminum print on my wall, there ain't no comparison.

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Jan 28, 2013 20:41:20   #
colo43 Loc: Eastern Plains of Colorado
 
I use the metallic photo paper and am delighted with the results.
i am sure the Metal is just as nice as well.

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Jan 29, 2013 10:19:21   #
Clif Loc: Central Ca.
 
Where can I learn more aboiut printing on aluminum? Does a lab have an information piece on line? Thanks

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Jan 29, 2013 10:28:58   #
CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver
 
Metallic and metal prints are not even close to the same. Metallic is a paper print and metal prints are printed on aluminum. Both can be gorgeous, but no comparison in how they look.

You have to SEE them, any web image is just a web image. I sell lots of the metal prints and get them from Bay Photo, but lots of labs do nice work.

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Jan 29, 2013 11:02:43   #
-lois- Loc: Oregon
 
bogeyeliot wrote:
I have heard of the process of printing photos onto metal, such as aluminum rather than onto paper. Aside from the obvious fact that your prints will never get wrinkled, what is the advantage of printing onto metal?


They are BEAUTIFUL! Are you familiar with Cibachrome prints (back in the color print days)? Aluminum prints look deep, and glossy. They are gorgeous and PRICY! No framing required.

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Jan 29, 2013 11:16:56   #
edb00
 
The landscape prints I've seen on metal just look fake and cheesy.

I suppose given the right decor they might be OK. Beautiful -- not so much.

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Jan 29, 2013 11:46:44   #
CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver
 
edb00 wrote:
The landscape prints I've seen on metal just look fake and cheesy.

I suppose given the right decor they might be OK. Beautiful -- not so much.


I would guess that is more a function of the processing of the image than the display medium. The metal prints I have seen of landscapes have been beautiful. Very crisp with wonderful color.

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Jan 29, 2013 11:57:27   #
bogeyeliot Loc: Signal Hill, CA
 
Thanks to all who have responded, and to MT Shooter in another thread, for the info about these metal prints....I'm going to check them out further, hopefully by the time I decide to get a few, my skills will have caught up to the quality of these metal prints...HAR

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Jan 29, 2013 14:31:24   #
CSI Dave Loc: Arizona
 
CaptainC wrote:
edb00 wrote:
The landscape prints I've seen on metal just look fake and cheesy.

I suppose given the right decor they might be OK. Beautiful -- not so much.


I would guess that is more a function of the processing of the image than the display medium. The metal prints I have seen of landscapes have been beautiful. Very crisp with wonderful color.


I'm curious if the metal prints are more suited to color photos, or do B&W prints look ok, too?

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Jan 29, 2013 14:47:19   #
PrairieSeasons Loc: Red River of the North
 
CSI Dave wrote:
CaptainC wrote:
edb00 wrote:
The landscape prints I've seen on metal just look fake and cheesy.

I suppose given the right decor they might be OK. Beautiful -- not so much.


I would guess that is more a function of the processing of the image than the display medium. The metal prints I have seen of landscapes have been beautiful. Very crisp with wonderful color.


I'm curious if the metal prints are more suited to color photos, or do B&W prints look ok, too?


Aluminum prints of B&W also give a "deeper" look and feel than similar paper prints. They also tend to look darker than you expected (or at least than I expected).

If you're serious about doing one or some, I would suggest you have them done in 4 x 6 first to see if it's really what you want (see my description of sequence higher in this thread).

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Jan 29, 2013 15:07:13   #
CSI Dave Loc: Arizona
 
PrairieSeasons wrote:
CSI Dave wrote:
CaptainC wrote:
edb00 wrote:
The landscape prints I've seen on metal just look fake and cheesy.

I suppose given the right decor they might be OK. Beautiful -- not so much.


I would guess that is more a function of the processing of the image than the display medium. The metal prints I have seen of landscapes have been beautiful. Very crisp with wonderful color.



I'm curious if the metal prints are more suited to color photos, or do B&W prints look ok, too?
quote=CaptainC quote=edb00 The landscape prints ... (show quote)


Aluminum prints of B&W also give a "deeper" look and feel than similar paper prints. They also tend to look darker than you expected (or at least than I expected).

If you're serious about doing one or some, I would suggest you have them done in 4 x 6 first to see if it's really what you want (see my description of sequence higher in this thread).
quote=CSI Dave quote=CaptainC quote=edb00 The l... (show quote)


Thanks for the info and the suggestions. Do you mean they came out darker on metal than the same file would be on paper? Just clarifying, since some people have reported that their paper prints came out darker than what they saw on the screen (probably related to brightness settings on the monitor). Either way, your advice to do 4x6 test prints is a good idea.

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Jan 29, 2013 15:21:58   #
PrairieSeasons Loc: Red River of the North
 
CSI Dave wrote:
PrairieSeasons wrote:
CSI Dave wrote:
CaptainC wrote:
edb00 wrote:
The landscape prints I've seen on metal just look fake and cheesy.

I suppose given the right decor they might be OK. Beautiful -- not so much.


I would guess that is more a function of the processing of the image than the display medium. The metal prints I have seen of landscapes have been beautiful. Very crisp with wonderful color.



I'm curious if the metal prints are more suited to color photos, or do B&W prints look ok, too?
quote=CaptainC quote=edb00 The landscape prints ... (show quote)


Aluminum prints of B&W also give a "deeper" look and feel than similar paper prints. They also tend to look darker than you expected (or at least than I expected).

If you're serious about doing one or some, I would suggest you have them done in 4 x 6 first to see if it's really what you want (see my description of sequence higher in this thread).
quote=CSI Dave quote=CaptainC quote=edb00 The l... (show quote)


Thanks for the info and the suggestions. Do you mean they came out darker on metal than the same file would be on paper? Just clarifying, since some people have reported that their paper prints came out darker than what they saw on the screen (probably related to brightness settings on the monitor). Either way, your advice to do 4x6 test prints is a good idea.
quote=PrairieSeasons quote=CSI Dave quote=Capta... (show quote)


They turn out darker in a similar sense that a freshly waxed dark-colored car looks darker than a clean but not so shiny dark-colored car. That's the best I can do with words, you need to see examples if you are interested.

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Jan 29, 2013 15:25:06   #
CSI Dave Loc: Arizona
 
PrairieSeasons wrote:
CSI Dave wrote:
PrairieSeasons wrote:
CSI Dave wrote:
CaptainC wrote:
edb00 wrote:
The landscape prints I've seen on metal just look fake and cheesy.

I suppose given the right decor they might be OK. Beautiful -- not so much.


I would guess that is more a function of the processing of the image than the display medium. The metal prints I have seen of landscapes have been beautiful. Very crisp with wonderful color.



I'm curious if the metal prints are more suited to color photos, or do B&W prints look ok, too?
quote=CaptainC quote=edb00 The landscape prints ... (show quote)


Aluminum prints of B&W also give a "deeper" look and feel than similar paper prints. They also tend to look darker than you expected (or at least than I expected).

If you're serious about doing one or some, I would suggest you have them done in 4 x 6 first to see if it's really what you want (see my description of sequence higher in this thread).
quote=CSI Dave quote=CaptainC quote=edb00 The l... (show quote)


Thanks for the info and the suggestions. Do you mean they came out darker on metal than the same file would be on paper? Just clarifying, since some people have reported that their paper prints came out darker than what they saw on the screen (probably related to brightness settings on the monitor). Either way, your advice to do 4x6 test prints is a good idea.
quote=PrairieSeasons quote=CSI Dave quote=Capta... (show quote)


They turn out darker in a similar sense that a freshly waxed dark-colored car looks darker than a clean but not so shiny dark-colored car. That's the best I can do with words, you need to see examples if you are interested.
quote=CSI Dave quote=PrairieSeasons quote=CSI D... (show quote)


OK, I get what you mean. I definitely want to see some examples and do a few test prints myself. Thanks!

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