ParrotTalk

It’s time once again to look back at your year, and make some decisions about the Tax Man. The IRS Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 has made a big difference in how some companies are handling their large-ticket purchases, and you need to get the facts from your accountant or advisor to make the best decisions. However, if you want to learn more about the Act- commonly called IRS Section 179, we found a great reference for getting up to speed fast: www.Section179.org.

To quote the site:
“Essentially, Section 179 of the IRS tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment purchased or financed during the tax year. That means that if you buy (or lease) a piece of qualifying equipment, you can deduct the FULL PURCHASE PRICE from your gross income.”

This means if you are toying with the idea of investing in some new equipment, this may be the time to consider it, before the end of the calendar year. Couple that with some impressive rebates on Epson and HP printers- shown below, and you may have a plan that will put more of your resources to work for you, and less of it into the coffers of the IRS, than you thought possible. That is, in fact, the intent behind the Act: “It’s an incentive created by the U.S. Government to encourage businesses to buy equipment and invest in themselves.”

Here are some of the details of the massive printer specials going on.
Both Epson and HP are offering huge rebates on almost their entire line of professional wide-format equipment- in some cases up to $4000!  Epson has instant discount and mail-in rebate promotions- but the list is as long as your arm, and with savings to match.

HP is calling it the “HP DesignJet Cash In & Trade Up Promotion”, and it covers almost 30 products and can save you up to $2000. Don’t worry – we’ve got all the information, forms and links you need to take advantage of these great offers- drop a note or give us a call today – (877) 727-7682 – and we can match up the best deal for you.

Look at it as your Civic Duty- Washington wants you to invest in Small Business?  The place to start is with your own!

In spite of the huge volume of background information available on Bruce, nothing can quite prepare you for talking to the man in person.  Animated, entertaining, energetic – none of those words can come close to describing the electric enthusiasm Bruce brings to his discussion of photography, art, digital printmaking, and even the Gulf Coast, Missisippi and the art community there that he calls home.

Bruce’s work hinges on his idea of the “Gestalt of the Lens” – his website bears the tag “Through the Lens Artistry” – the notion that the lens itself determines the vision, the organization of the work itself.  This philosophy extends through every tendril of the many types of work he does, from his book of documentary work for which he may be best known, Spirit of New Orleans, through his nude, abstract, experimental and extended documentary work.  Keyes follows his lens, wherever it takes him.

Keyes is completely involved in digital photography.  He finds it liberating, empowering, and, in fact, feels no need to burden students with all the baggage of learning traditional darkroom and film-based methods.  Instead, he encourages young photographers to experiment, relinquish control, see where a process leads them and their work using all of the tools at their disposal.  Embracing the potential this entirely new medium and remaining open to exploring and experimenting, Keyes could have been the original proponent of the “Let the Tools Set You Free” school of digital photography and imaging.

Interestingly, this is where his use of various media from Parrot comes into his process.  Keyes seldom, if never has a final vision of what media a photograph will ultimately be printed on when making the image.  His goal is to collect as much as he can, to make as rich a capture as he’s able to allow himself flexibility in the processing and printing of the photograph.  Once the image is ready to print, he’ll experiment with many of our papers, canvases and fabrics to allow the media to render the image as it does naturally: our canvas, Angelica cold and hot-press watercolor papers, our photo-base media, even our fabrics like linen and silk.  Rather than settling on one single paper or treatment, he may print the same image on a range of types and textures, and keep them all as different interpretations of the image.  Keyes relies us to do what we do best, to provide the highest quality media with the best performance, and in the broadest range of offerings, so he can do what he does best- create remarkable photography.

Take a look at the video of Bruce Keyes speaking about his work, his process and how Parrot media helps him create his remarkable images.  He follows the “Gestalt of the Lens”, but also the “Gestalt of the Paper”, and we’re proud to say we’re a part of that.

See more of his work at his site, www.BruceKeyes.com as well as his book Spirit of New Orleans and other projects.

-Ted Dillard

Printing a profiling target with “No Color Management” in Photoshop, and with the printer drivers’ Color Management settings turned OFF is the keystone of profiling a printer.  You need to start with a target file with no tagged RGB profile, and print it just like it is.  Seems simple enough, doesn’t it?

Enter Adobe’s Photoshop CS4, and the Print window- here’s what it looks like, and how it needs to be set to assure you’re not touching the document:

And here’s how you need to set the Epson drivers once you hit Print:

All very standard stuff…  well, except the Epson 11880, and maybe other Epson -880 series printers won’t print.  It will spool the job, maybe hum up, and then spit out a blank page without printing.  Sweet.  So we tried a workaround.  We set the Photoshop menu to “Printer Manages Color”, and then set the driver, again, to “Off- No Color Management”,  figuring it would get to the same place- an un-color managed document.

Well, I’m here to tell you, it doesn’t.

I just got out from under about a week of wrestling with what we thought was a problem somewhere in our ProfileMaker and/or Monaco profiling workflow with the Spectrolino- the profiles were nowhere near as tight as we’re used to- and were additionally baffled by the fact that our i1 Match system with the i1 Pro was building a bulletproof profile.  It wasn’t until the guys at X-Rite (…yes, occasionally we DO have to ask for help from Support!), notably Bruce Wright, said this:

“ProfileMaker and i1Match use the same color math, so normally if you get good results with one, you should get good results with the other. The significant difference is that the targets you print from i1Match come directly from i1Match and then pass through your printer driver. The targets you print for use with Monaco Profiler or PM5, might be getting printed via a program such as Photoshop. This is one possible area that could influence the printing of the charts, as there have been changes in the Mac OS and how it works with Adobe Creative Suite programs in both Leopard and Snow Leopard systems.”

…and that got me to thinking.  I looked yet another time at my print “path”, and saw that “No Color Management” selection once again.  I read a little more.  I then opened up the target in my old CS2 version and printed it the old fashioned way- remember “Print with Preview”?  The new target was visibly different, and when I built the profile and printed with it, I got the same solid print I’ve come to expect from the system…  obviously my workaround didn’t work.  Somehow, some colors were being pushed around.

As it turns out, this Epson driver / Mac OS / Adobe issue really doesn’t get claimed by any of the three responsible companies, but it is a known issue.  My leaning is towards saying it’s probably an Adobe issue, but it really doesn’t matter.  What I have, so far, from someone pretty much in the Adobe camp is that the issue is “fixed in CS5″.  Nice.

The interesting lesson learned is again from Bruce:

“We get this question being asked in all kinds of different ways. But at the end of the day, if a target doesn’t get printed without color management turned off in the printer driver, then using the profile in any version of CS will not give correct results.”

Word.

This is basically the same advice when you’re told to check the cables and connections…  start with the absolute basics and work up the ladder.  In this case, and in so many cases of printer color problems, the first, obvious step is to make sure the colors are managed, or not, where and when you want them managed.

It’s simple enough advice, I just wonder why I have to be reminded of it so often…

Glass was the natural substrate to use for a photographic negative back in the early days of photography.  Every photo student has heard the stories of going “on-location” with a glass-plate camera, most likely in the context of photographers like Matthew Brady photographing the Civil War.  The process involved disappearing inside a light-proof tent to coat the glass with a light-sensitive emulsion, then inserting the plate in the camera to then expose.

We’ve worked on several projects involving glass plates, including some plates that hadn’t stood up too well to the ravages of time.  One plate was broken into more than a few pieces- then taped together.  It was an early shot taken of the Boston Braves- the Boston baseball team that eventually became the Red Sox.  Unfortunately one of the cracks went right through the batter, who was caught mid-swing.  Photoshop, though, made it easy to cut and paste the negative back together and clean up the edges.  By the time we were done with it, you’d never have known it was anything but the original!

The shot above was a yard-sale find.  It looked like an interesting image that begged the background story- who are these people, where is this house?  Perhaps we can find out more…

This plate was part of a project we did in 2009 for the Billerica Historical Society, the Billerica Union Hall.

Each project demands a slightly different approach.  Like any restoration, the degree to which you “fix” the image depends on how much you’re trying to reproduce the image as it remains today, or reproducing it as it was originally.  It’s more about the way the images will be used, the story you’re trying to tell with them.  …and, in spite of all the power of Photoshop, in many cases we’re pushing our top-end equipment to the limit to dig through the layers of Time, and thick, uneven emulsions to find the true image.

Still, in spite of all the technology and the process, sometimes you have to step back and marvel at these unique, historic, yet timeless images.   It’s what makes our work at Parrot so much fun!

We’ve been known for years for our amazing Cruse scans of paintings and rare, delicate artifacts – even pinball tables – but never before have we had the capability to shoot your complete collections, until now. With the addition of our Hasselblad Multi-shot capture system and a re-tool of our Betterlight cameras, we can now cover every piece of a collection, exhibit or catalog under one roof.  We’ve worked with some of the finest and most cherished flat artifacts for decades now, including the remarkable Giza Pyramids project,  but our experience isn’t limited to just that- our team has years of experience shooting studio photography, artwork, sculpture and jewelry for some of the most demanding clients.

The vase shown here is a exquisite piece shot for the Fitchburg Art Museum from our staff portfolios.  It’s only a small example of the kind of work we can do, as well as a demonstration of what a complete understanding of light and color control can do to create a photograph that is true to the beauty, delicacy and scale of the original artifact.

In many cases you only have one opportunity to have a collection photographed.  It’s crucial that the images represent the originals, and are in a form that represents a true visual archive.  Parrot understands this, and through our work in photography, color management and fine art reproduction, and now with our additional tools, we can cover everything you need in one comprehensive process.

Don’t hesitate to give us a shout for more information: info@parrotcolor.com  …and check back, we’re planning an Open Studio to show off our new gear in the coming months!

Can you say “ePrint&Share”? Somebody at HP had the brilliant idea to take the features of a standard laser MFP (Multi-Function-Printer) and plug it all into a nice wide-format chassis. You may have heard of it, well, my friends, we saw it. Touched it. Caressed it. Along with a few other new releases we can’t talk about yet. This thing prints from a workstation, prints from a jump drive, networks, goes online, and scans. Yes. It scans full 36 x 93.6″ originals.

Here, until we can post our shots from today, (on Oct. 18th- stay tuned) is the HP Designjet T2300 eMFP from their YouTube channel. Really, the possibilities of setting up a bunch of these units all talking to each other redefine online collaboration for construction firms, architects- anyone throwing around huge output. Print it out, web-conference about it, mark it up, then shoot it back to be updated. Very cool stuff!

Gee. I just happened to see this here video from Photokina, too. Hmm. The HP Z6200 Photo printer. Not that I’m sayin’ we saw one today or anything… nah.

More on what the T2300 eMFP is all about, here:

and here:

Looking for an interesting weekend museum jaunt?  We were going through some of our listings of museums in Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island, and came up with this.  Who know there was so much, tucked away in the nooks and crannies of the New England landscape?

We’re seeing some old friends here- The Peabody Essex, The Griffin Museum of Photography…  but some unexpected gems, too, like The Fitchburg Art Museum- certainly one of the most impressive collections in New England.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

(Photo: The Atrium, Peabody Essex Museum)

It’s not often you can point at a photographer’s work and say it’s truly unique, but that is certainly the case with artist/photographer Joseph Deiss.  He works with a photographic wet process, and the pieces he produces are simply like nothing we’ve ever seen, with a feel that is truly ethereal.  We just scanned four of his most recent works with the Cruse, which he will assemble to create a mural-sized print.

We can only hope to have a chance to see this amazing work on display- hopefully soon!

See more of his work on his site, here: www.josephdeiss.com.

He had some kind words for our work as well:
“Thanks for the compliment…  However I have to say that the 4 panels of the piece you scanned were great! The 17 images in “flora & fauna” were a labor of love that took over 8 years. The latest piece I finished took 7 months.

These new scans from your Cruse scanner is going to save an immense amount of time. Artifacts (in the files of these particular type of photograms) caused by scanning from a “normal” scanner were, I thought, a fact of life. I’m looking at only a few weeks worth of work from your scan!

Ah! Life is good. Many thanks… Joseph”

-Ted Dillard

The “Virtual Drum” concept is something that started with the Imacon scanners, and even earlier- if memory serves, the first Imacon FlexTight Precision scanner was a development of an earlier design by a company that Imacon acquired.

It is, however, a great, simple concept. Curve the film as you scan it, so you have a predictable and flat plane of focus, without any cover glass or platen. The scanning workflow is remarkably fast- simply place the film in the magnetic film holders- they come in every imaginable format, including panorama and customizable- place the holder into the magnetic feed clip, and hit Preview. From there, it will make one of the fastest, highest resolution scans possible. Total elapsed time, from pulling the film to putting it back into it’s sleeve, for 4×5 film? About 7 minutes- depending on your speed with the software.

This video, most of which is originally from the Hasselblad site, but with our explanation, shows the system in action.

Multi-shot cameras like the Hasselblad H3DII-50MS take advantage of some huge leveraging of the basic data collected by the sensor.

Using the same basic strategy that you see in scanners- increasing the physical resolution of a capture by increasing the sample rate- the multishot camera does one better- since it overlaps the basic Bayer Array pattern, you’re able to use the data to filter noise and multiply resolution to a remarkably high level of accuracy and fidelity.

A while ago I put this video together, showing how a multi-shot sensor works.  You can see pretty clearly- the inherent problems of the Bayer Array- increased noise due to smaller pixels (a trade-off for higher pixel density and increased physical resolution), aliasing and moire due to the physical properties of a single-shot capture to an RGB reciever- artifacts from accelerated noise and color processing to compensate for loss of actual physical data- all these are completely bypassed by multiple sampling of the image.

Multishot shooting is, naturally, limited to subjects that are not moving…  but the cameras can be used in conventional single-shot mode with the flip of a switch.  For any application where the absolute highest resolution capture is required- the very top end of the capabilities of the optics of the system,  there’s simply no equal to the multishot camera.  Add to that the capabilities of any hand-held single-shot DSLR, and you have a tool that is unequaled in flexibility and performance.

-Ted Dillard