Please see our About Us page

FREE SAMPLE PRINT

Have a sample print produced from your file for free*.

Just upload your file to Code Ice using our file transfer "DropBox", and include in the message box -

• your email address
• address for posting out the print
• indicate your choice of media i.e. smooth matte or textured, canvas, Hahnemuhle or InnovaArt etc.
  

Link to DropBox

Your image will be printed on an A4 sheet of media and sent within 5 business days.

*One per new client, Australia delivery only.

Is Code Ice a picture framing gallery or do you offer picture framing services or sell picture frames?

No, we are not a framing gallery or art supply shop with a printer tucked away in a back room as an "add-on service".

Our focus at Code Ice is primarily the production of a high end fine art prints and we are very happy to leave framing to those who do it best.

Note: Code Ice prints should only be handled wearing clean cotton gloves and mounted using genuine archival rated framing materials. When arranging framing for one of our prints you are recommended to use a conservation framer.

It is simply a reference the "technology" used in making the print.

The term C-type print is often misunderstood but is generally understood to refer to a film original (i.e. transparency or negative) that has been printed optically through an enlarger, using a lens, onto traditional wet chemistry colour paper. Strictly speaking the term C-type appears to refer to colour negative chemistry processes used by Kodak, and originally came into use during the 1950s.

This is distinct from a B/W print produced optically onto wet chemistry paper, usually known as a B/W silver halide print.

Colour exhibition prints produced digitally through a computer connected to a Lambda, Lightjet, Frontier or other digital printing machines are often seen labelled as C-type prints. This description is not true as such prints have been produced by exposing photographic paper using digital laser or LED equipment, the paper is then wet processed.

If you do visit an exhibition or gallery and see labels indicating C-type prints then it might be worth asking for an explanation of the actual process and technology used. Museum curators and commercial gallery owners need to be aware of these issues, particularly as wet chemistry colour photo papers are very different to modern pigment ink fine art papers in terms of image permanence and archival qualities.

Code Ice prints are produced using archival rated high dynamic range pigment inksets on a wide format fine art inkjet printer using media certified by the Fine Art Guild, UK.

In terms of simple image quality there is nothing to choose between print methods but the technologies involved are significantly different and each print type will have it's own particular characteristics. It therefore becomes purely an aesthetic matter in considering general appearance.

But which print type will last longer - a C-type or a Code Ice inkjet print?

The only certainty is that no-one can actually guarantee anything, even C-types! Stored correctly then both are likely to last a long time.

However conventional RC colour photographic papers (commonly used for C-types) are resin or plastic based materials and these materials are not known for their archival longevity. A paper often quoted is Fuji's Crystal Archive paper, however ratings that we have seen only refer to about 40 years image lightfastness.

We have some C-type prints dating back to the 1980's which have been stored under general conditions (some framed, some in archive boxes) and there is a marked deterioration in colour across most of them.

Compare this with true fine art inkjet media where acid free, cotton based rags are used in conjunction with archival pigment inks. Although giclee printing techniques have only been around since the 1990's independant testing by organisations such as www.wilhelm-research.com indicate lightfastness ratings for such inkjet prints up to 200 years on the correct media and storage conditions. Their website is a good place to learn more about the subject.

Our Giclee Materials

Artists set the highest standards for the properties and pureness of the papers they use - the basis of their work.

Therefore we use high end digital fine art papers and canvas for art and photography giclée reproduction from respected suppliers such as Hahnemuhle, Innova Art and Breathing Color

Hahnemühle digital fine art media

Since 1584 Hahnemuhle's papermakers have been producing quality paper for all traditional painting and printing techniques to the highest standards.

We respect these traditions and are delighted to introduce a selection of Hahnemuhle digital fine art papers to the Code Ice print studio.

Prints on Hahnemuhle digital fineart papers appeal due to their high colour brilliance, and are especially suitable for painting and photographic reproductions, photography and computer generated art. All Hahnemuhle digital papers are acid free and extremely age resistant.

Currently available for Code Ice studio print commissions (subject to stock availability). We will be also adding Hahnemühle media to the online shop, allowing you to order prints direct.

More about Hahnemuhle fine art papers used at Code Ice >>

Innova Art

Base papers conform to the following archival standards:
DIN6738
ANSI Z93.48-1984
ISO9706

Code Ice digital fine art media are used for both production and custom exhibition prints, stock will vary from time to time through demand and availability.

Blue Wool Scale

Where Code Ice media has been tested against the Blue Wool Scale the certificate can be seen at our studio. The Blue Wool Scale is an international standard relating to the archive qualities of a material,

Alternative media

We have also produced prints on alternative media such silk and specialist handmade Japanese (washi) paper.

We can often accommodate specific paper requests for custom exhibition or gallery print projects; this is discussed in detail with our clients.

Yes we produce a great many inkjet canvas prints.

We can print on canvas directly from your digital image files, just order online through our easy to use ordering process or upload files into our dropbox.

Should you want a big canvas print of your favourite landscape or a smaller piece for a corner of your lounge then we probably have a solution. Suitable for either high quality giclee edition prints or for home decor and interior design projects.

Why do prints look different under other light sources and how can two colour samples look the same under one light but different under another. Metamerism and metameric failure are the terms used to describe these phenomena.

THE SHORT ANSWER

All materials reflect and absorb light by varying amounts. Under a given light source oil paints, acrylics paints and printing inks will all reflect light back to the viewer differently.

Add to the mix that different light sources will often have some form of colour bias, for example the old tungsten light bulb generally had a high red content, the potential for print colours to appear different in a particular circumstance is immense.

THE LONG ANSWER

In colorimetry, metamerism is the matching of apparent color of objects with different spectral power distributions. Colours that match this way are called metamers.

A spectral power distribution describes the proportion of total light emitted, transmitted, or reflected by a colour sample at every visible wavelength; it precisely defines the light from any physical stimulus. However, the human eye contains only three colour receptors (cone cells), which means that all colors are reduced to three sensory quantities, called the tristimulus values. Metamerism occurs because each type of cone responds to the cumulative energy from a broad range of wavelengths, so that different combinations of light across all wavelengths can produce an equivalent receptor response and the same tristimulus values or colour sensation.

Sources of metamerism

Metameric matches are quite common, especially in near neutral (grayed or whitish colours) or dark colours. As colours become lighter or more saturated, the range of possible metameric matches (different combinations of light wavelengths) becomes smaller, especially in surface colours.

Metameric matches made between two light sources provide the trichromatic basis of colorimetry. For any given light stimulus, regardless of the form of its spectral emittance curve, there always exists a unique mixture of three "primary" lights that when added together, or added to the stimulus, will exactly match it.

The basis for nearly all commercially available colour image reproduction processes such as photography, television, printing, and digital imaging, is the ability to make metameric colour matches.

Making metamerism matches using reflective materials is more complex. The appearance of surface colours is defined by the product of the spectral reflectance curve of the material and the spectral emittance curve of the light source shining on it. As a result, the colour of surfaces depends on the light source used to illuminate them.

Metameric failure

The term illuminant metameric failure is sometimes used to describe situations where two material samples match when viewed under one light source but not another. Most types of fluorescent lights produce an irregular or peaky spectral emittance curve, so that two materials under fluorescent light might not match, even though they are a metameric match to an incandescent "white" light source with a nearly flat or smooth emittance curve. Material colours that match under one source will often appear different under the other.

Normally, material attributes such as translucency, gloss or surface texture are not considered in colour matching. However geometric metameric failure can occur when two samples match when viewed from one angle, but then fail to match when viewed from a different angle. A common example is the colour variation that appears in pearlescent auto finishes or "metallic" paper; e.g., Kodak Endura Metallic, Fujicolor Crystal Archive Digital Pearl.

Observer metameric failure can occur because of differences in colour vision between observers. The common source of observer metameric failure is colour blindness, but it is also not uncommon among "normal" observers. In all cases, the proportion of long-wavelength-sensitive cones to medium-wavelength-sensitive cones in the retina, the profile of light sensitivity in each type of cone, and the amount of yellowing in the lens and macular pigment of the eye, differs from one person to the next. This alters the relative importance of different wavelengths in a spectral power distribution to each observer's colour perception. As a result, two spectrally dissimilar lights or surfaces may produce a colour match for one observer but fail to match when viewed by a second observer.

Finally, field-size metameric failure occurs because the relative proportions of the three cone types in the retina vary from the center of the visual field to the periphery, so that colours that match when viewed as very small, centrally fixated areas may appear different when presented as large colour areas. In many industrial applications, large field colour matches are used to define colour tolerances.

The difference in the spectral compositions of two metameric stimuli is often referred to as the degree of metamerism. The sensitivity of a metameric match to any changes in the spectral elements that form the colours depend on the degree of metamerism. Two stimuli with a high degree of metamerism are likely to be very sensitive to any changes in the illuminant, material composition, observer, field of view, etc.

The word metamerism is often incorrectly used to indicate a metameric failure rather than a match, or to describe a situation in which two colors are highly metameric, and hence the metameric match is easily degraded by a slight change in conditions, such as a change in illuminant.

Do I need to "resample" or "interpolate" my images up to 300 DPI for Code Ice to print them?

No. This is a misleading concept that some image editing programs make rather confusing.

Although your image editing software may report 72, 240 dpi (or any other number) for a particular image in actual fact digital images simply have no DPI, because images (by themselves) have no relation whatsoever to "inches".

Relating images from scanners or digital cameras to a physical print size as image editing applications often do, is simply confusing and a rather useless concept since they do so without consideration of what size you actually intend to print the photo in the first place! In other words, reporting 72 DPI for a 2048 x 1536 resolution image is simply choosing a "default" print size of 28.44 inches by 21.33 inches for absolutely no reason, because editing a photo should not necessarily be linked with a specific print size.

Let Code Ice deal with print size and interpolation when we come to print your work.

Stored images such as JPG, TIF and other formats simply have a "resolution" which denotes the number of pixels in an image. Obviously, you cannot translate image resolution such as 2048 x 1536 into dots per inch (DPI) until you select a print size for that image. For example, if we print that 2048 x 1536 image at a width of 10 inches, you will get a print that is approximately 200 DPI (2048 pixels divided by 10 inches). Conversely, if you print the same image at 14 inches wide, you'll get a print that is about 150 dpi. The printing software used by Code Ice is designed to print images at whatever size you specify and will ensure that your images are always printed at optimal resolution.

When you discuss your work with us a primary consideration will be whether your image files contain enough pixels for a given print size.