Hi, Cate.
The method used to acquire the image in the process of making a giclee should be tailored to the artwork being scanned. For watercolors and other works on paper that have a durable matte finish, scanning on a large flatbed scanner is an excellent means of accomplishing the task. For most other types of art, however, it is not a method that I would encourage. Most oil paintings and many acrylics have a glossy or semi-glossy surface that can create problems in the scanning process due to reflections, which show up as white speckles in the digital image. With oils, which may not be completely dry for weeks after completion, or delicate artwork like pastels, the thought of inverting the painting on a flatbed scanner makes me cringe. Using a high-resolution camera allows the use of polarizing filters on the lights and the camera to eliminate glare. Additionally, if appropriate to the work, the lighting can be adjusted to side-light the painting so that texture will show up in the digital image. The flat light of a scanner cannot accomplish this. Since the camera never touches the image, there's also the advantage of no risk of damaging delicate pieces of art from contact with the scanner bed. The camera I'm currently using is a 14-megapixel DSLR. For a piece the size you describe, capturing the image in 4 to 6 shots and then stitching them will provide plenty of detail. By shooting in RAW and making sure to set the white balance in the camera with a gray card, the color accuracy is excellent. As I said above, eventually we will upgrade to a scan back camera so we don't have to do the stitching on large pieces.
As far as pricing goes, you have to make sure you're comparing apples to apples. Prices vary dramatically based upon your choice of paper. As an example, our price for a print on a nice matte paper is as little as $6.50 per square foot (we price based on the actual area of the image, not the paper as some printers do). For our best Hahnemuhle heavy-weight cotton rag paper, the price is $13.50 per square foot. There is a discount for five or more copies of the same image in the same order. Our prices are on the low end for the Portland area, as I'd be happy to show you with links to some of our competitors' webpages.
My goal on this forum is simply to share information with people here about the giclee business so they can make informed decisions. If you're happy with your printer and what they're doing for you, then by all means you should stick with them. |