Win this museum-grade reproduction at PaLA!

On July 15, 1863, Matthew Brady and his photographic outfit captured this iconic image of three unnamed Confederate prisoners of war. Taken on Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, just a few hundred yards from both General Lee’s headquarters and the Lutheran Theological Seminary, this photograph is acknowledged to be one of the finest records of Confederate uniforms ever recorded during the American Civil War. We will be pleased to award this museum-grade reproduction to one lucky librarian who visits our booth at the Pennsylvania Librarian Association Annual Conference – October 1-2, 2012, at Gettysburg PA.

Creekside Digital created a composite uncompressed TIFF master file from the left and right halves of high-resolution scans of the original stereo glass plate negatives (Library of Congress Call Number LC-B811-2288) using the clearest, most-detailed and least-damaged portions of the source images. The composite was then expertly retouched to remove dust, tape, emulsion scratches, and other flaws present in the original image, requiring many hours of manual work. In order to maximize the both D-Max (darkness of black) and overall tonal dynamic range present in the final print, we selected Hahnemühle’s FineArt Baryta paper for use with our 12-color pigment ink reproduction process (using four separate shades of black and gray). This 325 g/sm paper uses barium sulphate in its coating to emulate the look, feel, and depth of black & white prints made using traditional darkroom processes. Multiple proofing strips were run and adjustments made to ensure that subtleties such as shadow detail and folds and creases in the uniforms were retained in various parts of the composite while retaining D-Max and an overall balanced, pleasing contrast. If properly cared for, this archival print will last for over 150 years without fading.

Original, unretouched left and right glass plate negative halves

Finally, the printed image was mounted, double-matted, and custom-framed using quality, acid-free Larson Juhl materials. Creekside Digital is able to create such custom, museum-grade reproductions from items in digital collections, on demand and at any volume, and frame and ship them anywhere in the world.

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I wanted to pass along this email from one of our new fine art reproduction customers, with her permission:

Hello Jim:

I just received the 8×10 proof “Lakeside Chapel.”  I cannot tell you how very pleased I am, except to say I am overjoyed with the job you guys did!  This is the quality of work I have been looking for for the past 6 months to no avail.

I am so happy I found your website.  Thank you so very much.

We scanned her original 20×24 oil painting using our BetterLight Super 8k system, color-matched it to near perfection, and printed / sealed  a proof to canvas media for her.  Now we’re in the process of printing several full-size and smaller prints of the work, and she’s getting ready to send us additional (larger) paintings.  Pictures soon!

– Jim and the team at Creekside Digital

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Rolling liquid laminate onto canvas

Greetings:

It’s another hot summer day here in Glen Arm: 97 degrees and rainforest-like. We have two larger microfilm digitization jobs which we’re currently seeing through, both of which should be ready to ship by next week.  I spent part of today hiding inside in the AC, revising and refitting a lot of the content on our website. Most noticeably, check out the new Frequently Asked Questions section in the navigation area. It’s got new FAQs for Book / Newspaper / Photo Scanning and Fine Art Scanning which are live right now, and others which will be up in the next few days. Essentially, we want to preload the answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about our services, and this is a great way to do it.

Finished 18x24 premium gallery wrap, ready to hang

On the giclée printing side of the house, as first seen on our Facebook page, we’re currently running a summer special for our artists and photographers: for a limited time, 18″x24″ premium gallery wraps on Breathing Color’s Lyve canvas, sealed with Breathing Color’s Timeless UV laminate, are just $99 plus shipping. This is a fabulous deal using some of the highest quality materials available today, for true museum-quality fine art printing. Here’s the way it works: you can send us your images via this link. We recommend selecting image files with a minimum resolution of 3,150 x 4,200 pixels to guarantee sharp, quality printing at this size, and we prefer to receive uncompressed TIFFs; but we’ll accept high-quality JPEGs and PSDs too. We’ll print your images out on Lyve canvas, and mirror the edges of the image in Photoshop so that when the canvas is wrapped and stretched onto the stretcher bars, the image continues around the sides of the wooden frame. Before we stretch the canvas, we’ll seal it with the Timeless product as shown above.  Timeless is a premium liquid laminate (gloss or matte finish) which adds a degree of UV and scuff resistance while increasing color saturation and keeping the thin coat of pigment ink from cracking off of the canvas when it’s stretched. Finally, we precisely stretch the sealed canvas onto a wooden frame. The result is a beautiful piece of artwork, ready to hang and enjoy for years to come.

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

– Jim and the team at Creekside Digital

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"Agitate-Agitate-Agitate" by Arvie Smith, imaged by Chris Becker for the Maryland Historical Society.

Creekside Digital is proud to introduce our Fine Art Capture and Giclée Printmaking services.  At our Glen Arm, Maryland location or onsite at your gallery, museum or studio, we provide the highest quality fine art digitization and reproduction services available today, for a very reasonable price.  From artists who desire to sell multiple copies of their oil paintings, watercolors, and other original artwork, to museums and galleries seeking to preserve and / or monetize their collections, Creekside Digital can help.

Creekside Digital uses the BetterLight digital scanning back system.  But out of all the technologies available today, why choose this platform?  For one, it allows us to make use of the finest large format optics available today — big, expensive German lenses from Schneider and Rodenstock that are optimized specifically for this kind of high-resolution, flat-field copy work.  Second, BetterLight’s color-matching capabilities are only equaled by the Cruse family of scanners — but those machines only allow for overhead (vertical) imaging, so they aren’t appropriate for sagging canvas, very thick or three-dimensional items, artwork which can’t lay down flat / horizontally, etc.  Because it’s compatible with any 4×5 view camera / lens, the BetterLight system gives us infinitely more flexibility and allows us to shoot not only 2D artwork, but sculpture, historic items / artifacts, products, tapestries, architecture, you name it.  Finally, its pixel count is unequaled, even by the most recent medium format digital backs from Phase One.  If extremely high resolution and color accuracy are required, the decision is pretty easy.

In addition to the capture itself — which is responsible for 90% of the effort that goes into making a great image — we use HP’s latest 12-color pigment ink printer technology.  This allows us to create museum-quality reproductions on photo paper, watercolor paper and cotton rag, matte lithograph paper, canvas, and a variety of other art media, and ship them anywhere in the world.

Of course, having the right equipment is only part of the solution.  You need an experienced, skilled large format photographer who knows how to use it, and make the most of its capabilities.  Chris Becker is Creekside’s on-staff photographer, and he’s spent his entire career performing this type of work.  Prior to joining Creekside, Chris worked for the Maryland Historical Society, where he imaged many priceless paintings, artifacts, and historic documents and manuscripts.  Chris is well-versed in how to handle, illuminate, and digitize fine artwork, and we’re thrilled to offer his talents to our customers via our new Fine Art Reproduction services!

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