PHOTO vs
FINE ART PRINTING

Photo Prints

Photo Prints have a slight sheen, so they are great for most styles of photography and vibrant design. Our photo prints are durable and scratch resistant.

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Fine Art Prints

Ultra high resolution Giclée prints that range from smooth to finely textured surfaces. Great for medium contrast photography, graphic design, and painting reproductions.

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All Prints

Traditional Photographic

Often known as Chromogenic Printing, this process is a nod to the classic darkroom-style print method that you might already be familiar with.

Great For

Studio Photography

Black + White Photography

Vibrant Colors

Nature

Vintage Photography

When to choose Traditional Photographic Printing

Photographic Printing is mainly for just that - photos. It’s great for imagery that puts an emphasis on contrast between highlights and shadows. There’s a richness to Photographic Printing that gives the image depth, and can create really bold color if that’s what you’re aiming for.

Our Traditional Photographic Options

Fuji Lustre
Fuji Deep Matte

Vibrant and sharp with vivid colors, brilliant whites, and rich blacks. Semi-gloss finish will show a small sheen, but not a full gloss.

Finish

Slight Sheen

Paper Tone

Bright White

Texture

Smooth

Slightly subdued colors and an ultra smooth surface create an elegant, dreamy feeling.

Finish

Non-Reflective

Paper Tone

White

Texture

Smooth

The Traditional Photographic Process

The key to this process is the paper itself, which is treated with a mixture of light-sensitive silver crystals (pretty cool, right). Our printers project your image onto the treated paper causing the silver halide mixture to form your image. For color images, three layers of cyan, magenta, and yellow combine to form a brilliant, full-color print.

This process is extremely accurate and reliable, which is why it’s often associated with higher-end professional printing services. Chromogenic Prints should hold their original quality for 60 years in normal lighting conditions. As a bonus, because the image is essentially baked into the paper itself, these prints are both scratch and water resistant.

Fine Art Inkjet

High-end Inkjet Printing, or Gicleé Printing, uses a variety of water-based inks to achieve a wide gamut of color and resistance to UV light.

Great For

Light + Airy Photography

Paintings

Landscape

Nature

Typographic

Vintage Photography

When to choose Fine Art Inkjet Printing

Fine Art Inkjet Printing is somewhat taking over the industry, and a few things stand out. We print on museum-grade, 100% cotton papers that not only have that beautiful organic texture to them, they’ll also last a lifetime. Because Inkjet is comprised of a greater number of base pigments, it offers a wider color gamut than a traditional photographic print.


For those of you who are environmentally conscious, Inkjet uses water-based pigment inks which are more sustainable than petroleum-bases inks.

Our Fine Art Inkjet Options

Smooth Matte
Torchon
Aquarelle Rag
Photo Rag Baryta
Photo Rag Metallic

With a smooth surface and vibrant color rendition, this paper is a wonderful choice for high-contrast, colorful images.

Finish

Subtle Matte

Paper Tone

White

Texture

Extra Smooth

A Hahnemühle paper with a watercolor texture that’s ideal for warm-toned colors and monochrome prints.

Finish

Subtle Matte

Paper Tone

White

Texture

Slight Texture

With a watercolor texture that highlights the natural grain of this paper, this paper displays pure whites for clarity and contrast of highlights and mid-tones.

Finish

Neutral

Paper Tone

White

Texture

Medium Texture

A Hahnemühle paper with warm whites, rich blacks and a high-gloss finish.

Finish

High Gloss

Paper Tone

White

Texture

Smooth

A Hahnemühle paper with a shimmery, glossy finish that's ideal for reproducing bold colors and deep blacks.

Finish

High-Gloss Metallic

Paper Tone

Natural White

Texture

Smooth

The Fine Art Inkjet Process

The defining characteristic of Fine Art Printing is the ink and the application process. We use Aqueous Pigment Inks, which is a fancy way of saying water-based inks. Our high-end Inkjet printers utilize up to 10 base colors: the typical Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black, with additional Light Cyan and Light Magenta, and a series of Grey tones. With so many base colors to play with, Inkjet Printing can achieve a wider color gamut. In other words, Inkjet Printing can reproduce a larger number of tones on the color spectrum.

As the paper runs through the printer, an ultra accurate head moves across the sheet and lays the Aqueous Inks to create your image. Pigments adhere to the paper and the excess water is evaporated, leaving a higher chroma, or color purity. The Pigment Inks that we use are more durable than alternative dye-based inks. The resulting Fine Art Print has more resilient color and is resistant to UV light. In addition, these water-based inks are more environmentally friendly than petroleum-based inks in other formats.