Kollodge Gallery

About Our Fine Art Photographic Prints

by Ken Kollodge

COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS:

There are three types of color photographs offered by Kollodge Gallery:

1) Ilfochrome Classic (originally called Cibachrome) color photographic prints, represented a revolutionary step in photography. They are made in a darkroom with an enlarger from transparencies (slides/positive film) rather than from color negative film.  When properly exposed and processed, transparencies are generally considered superior with regard to color accuracy, saturation, depth, detail and image presence. You can expect these photographic prints to have pure, brilliant, highly saturated colors and needle-sharp detail along with dimensional stability because the print base is polyester rather than paper. Cibachrome photos were the first traditional color photographic prints purchased by museums because they were the first to meet archival standards. Cibachrome photos were projected to last at least 100 years but were difficult to work with and have been replaced by #2 below.

2) Fuji Crystal Archive is a recently introduced photographic print material with almost identical visual characteristics to Ilfochrome Classic/Cibachrome and boasts 100-year permanency.  However, it is rapidly falling by the wayside and being replaced by #3 below because of the digital revolution.

3) Pigment Ink Photographs are photographs printed with a high-end, ink-jet printer in broad daylight using pigment-based inks rather than dye-based inks, sometimes called a “Giclée.” Besides generating the print from a color file from a digital camera, the print can be generated from a file produced by scanning either a color negative or better, a color slide/positive film. These photos have a projected life of 100 or more years.

BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS:

There are two types of Black and White photographs offered by Kollodge Gallery:

1) Traditional toned, gelatin-silver, paper-based photographs are prints made in the darkroom by projecting a black and white negative film image with an enlarger onto a sheet of sensitized photographic paper, then processing this exposed photographic paper in trays of chemicals to bring out, then stabilize the latent image. After the chemicals are washed out of the paper the print is air-dried, then flattened before being dry-mounted.  Done properly, these prints are considered archival and up until recently represented the majority of black and white photos made in the last 80 years held by museums and marketed by galleries.  This process is being replaced rapidly by #2 below because of the digital revolution.

2) Carbon Ink Photographs are printed with a high-end, ink-jet printer in broad daylight using carbon pigment-based inks rather than dye-based inks. These prints are generated from digital image files either captured originally with a digital camera or from files resulting from a film image digitized with a film scanner. This new print process boasts a projected 200 year permanence if archival print papers and mounting techniques are used.