I am finishing work on a large "coffee-table" book project for a client who is a fine art painter.
I photographed 38 original paintings, made intermediate proofs, set up the page layout files and printed the final color proofs to go the printer in South Korea (the book is 128 pages total).
All business as usual, except this... the book is not printed using 4-color process but with Hexachrome.
I've been aware of Hexachrome printing since it was invented, but never had the opportunity to use it on a "real" project until now.
Hexachrome is a Pantone process, CMYK + OG (Orange and Green). In the end, it only cost (for this project) about an additional 15-20 percent... to expand the color gamut at least an additional 100% (though keep in mind a percentage reference to color gamut is not the whole story).
I would like to suggest that any photographer looking for extreme color gamuts from offset lithography should seriously consider printing in Hexachrome.
The fiery reds and oranges, the turquoise greens and emerald blues... Hexachrome made reproduction possible for some colors that would otherwise be destroyed in CMYK; colors that you can't possibly hope for in 4-color process.
On this project, I found the color gamut attained from Hexachrome printing was so close to Adobe RGB that color shifts were negligible... and this is for fine art paintings, done in acrylic, with fluorescent paint. Compared to this, most photographic reproduction is easy.
The tech specs for this job:
- Original paintings photographed with Canon 30D
- Principal processing in Lightroom
- Post processed in Photoshop
- Page layout, typography and PDF print file generation in InDesign CS3 on Windows Vista
- PDFs printed from Max OS X Leopard to PowerRIP X
- Proofed on Epson Proofing Paper Semimatte
The client is thrilled and so am I. If you are printing fine photography using offset process, take another look at doing it in Hexachrome.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Hexachrome or the fine art reproduction workflow.
Although I don't plan on publishing any books in the near future, I do love to collect photogaphy books, so any improvement in the printing process is very interesting.
Do you know of any landscape / nature photography books that have been published with this process?
Posted by Todd Caudle on April 4, 2008 at 11:31 PM
...it only cost (for this project) about an additional 15-20 percent...
The word "only" applies only if someone else is paying for it.
Bill, I don't know of any photography books printed with Hexachrome. But thanks to your reply I'm looking forward to finding some. At the extreme end of fine printed reproduction, several years ago Richard Benson and Thomas Palmer made photo books using different offset ink plates for every page. George Jardine posted a very interesting podcast interview with these guys.
Todd, "only" is "only" no matter who pays for it. As you know it's ultimately the customer who pays for the production.
But, to be clear, I'm not suggesting that the typical photo book sold at souvenir stands should be printed using Hexachrome. Clearly the economics don't make sense there. The point of my post is the quality obtainable from a unique process.
Posted by Mike Sellers on April 5, 2008 at 7:34 AM
There are inkjet printers such as the Roland and Encad that have a hexachrome inkset as well.
Posted by Nat Coalson on April 5, 2008 at 11:50 AM
Good point, Mike... and Epson printers can also be set up for Hexachrome. In these cases the inkjet printers are used to proof Hexachrome jobs. And you need to use a RIP that is aware of the inkset.
Discussion
5 repliesI am finishing work on a large "coffee-table" book project for a client who is a fine art painter.
I photographed 38 original paintings, made intermediate proofs, set up the page layout files and printed the final color proofs to go the printer in South Korea (the book is 128 pages total).
All business as usual, except this... the book is not printed using 4-color process but with Hexachrome.
I've been aware of Hexachrome printing since it was invented, but never had the opportunity to use it on a "real" project until now.
Hexachrome is a Pantone process, CMYK + OG (Orange and Green). In the end, it only cost (for this project) about an additional 15-20 percent... to expand the color gamut at least an additional 100% (though keep in mind a percentage reference to color gamut is not the whole story).
I would like to suggest that any photographer looking for extreme color gamuts from offset lithography should seriously consider printing in Hexachrome.
The fiery reds and oranges, the turquoise greens and emerald blues... Hexachrome made reproduction possible for some colors that would otherwise be destroyed in CMYK; colors that you can't possibly hope for in 4-color process.
On this project, I found the color gamut attained from Hexachrome printing was so close to Adobe RGB that color shifts were negligible... and this is for fine art paintings, done in acrylic, with fluorescent paint. Compared to this, most photographic reproduction is easy.
The tech specs for this job:
- Original paintings photographed with Canon 30D
- Principal processing in Lightroom
- Post processed in Photoshop
- Page layout, typography and PDF print file generation in InDesign CS3 on Windows Vista
- PDFs printed from Max OS X Leopard to PowerRIP X
- Proofed on Epson Proofing Paper Semimatte
The client is thrilled and so am I. If you are printing fine photography using offset process, take another look at doing it in Hexachrome.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Hexachrome or the fine art reproduction workflow.
Do you know of any landscape / nature photography books that have been published with this process?
The word "only" applies only if someone else is paying for it.
http://www.mulita.com/blog/?p=18
Todd, "only" is "only" no matter who pays for it. As you know it's ultimately the customer who pays for the production.
But, to be clear, I'm not suggesting that the typical photo book sold at souvenir stands should be printed using Hexachrome. Clearly the economics don't make sense there. The point of my post is the quality obtainable from a unique process.