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Randy Hufford Tips and Techniques bio picture

Hello

"Randy Hufford's Digital Photo News and Techniques Get The Inside Scoop!"

My passion is sharing my Love for Photography and Life. In this blog I will feature valuable News and Techniques about Photography, Photoshop, Printing, Presentation, Marketing and Preservation Framing. I hope you enjoy it and encourage you to make comments. Please do not hesitate to make any requests of your needs.

Aloha
Randy Hufford
M.photog., CR, PPA certified, Digital Print Master, Photographic Artist

Traveling With A Canon Wide Format Printer

We have been island hopping for Canon teaching a Printing Tips and techniques class. It started on Maui than Oahu and Today on Kauai. Than next week again on Maui with opportunity to sign up for a Hands On 5 days workshop on Maui. This will be followed by Randy Hufford’s 5 day Digital Printing Workshop. This class will be offered 4 times a year.

Traveling with a Canon Wide Format Printer

Randy Hufford’s Digital Printing Workshop
Master Printer and Author of the DVD training series “The Perfect Print” Randy Hufford will mentor you with all of the latest tips and techniques to take your printing to a whole new level. He will cover everything from a to z to produce high quality archival digital prints. This is a 5 day hands on class where you will learn steps from a master printer how to get quality predictable results. This workshop is a pre-requisite for the Randy Hufford Digital Mentoring Program. Class is limited to 6 students. Cost for class is $1495.

It will include these subjects:
Ink and Media
How to choose a printer Canon vs Epson vs HP
Manufacturer printer drivers vs. third party RIP
What is a third party rip
Image Print RIP
Soft proofing
Print matching
Monitor profiling
Monitor optimization
X-Rite ColorMunki
X-Rite I1photo
What is a profile? Printer profiling
Custom Building a printer profile
Hand reading Patches
Automated patch reading
Preparing files to print
What Res should I print at?
Reducing noise
Sharpening
Color balance
Enhancement Techniques
Shooting for Photoshop
HDR
Panoramas
Processing these images in Photoshop and Photomatix
How to choose which inkjet media to best match your application
The Manufacturing Process of medias
Printing on Canvas Media
Printing on Fine Art media
Printing on Watercolor media
Fine Art Prints
Hand tearing fine art prints
Benefits of hand tearing prints
Finishing solutions for fine art prints
Setting your self apart from the competition Mounting solutions
• Pro Edge framing solution
Gallery wrap
Photoshop technique to produce a gallery wrap
Automated solutions
Coating Canvas
Spraying
Hand rolling
Embellishing
Art Coatings – brush-on, spray-on, roll-on
Preservation framing techniques for canvas and fine art prints
Mounting on fomecore, gatorboard and acrylic
Stretching Canvas
Stretcher bars
Gallery wrap vs. Standard stretcher bar
Hand stretch a canvas
Automated Stretching Machine
Finishing touches
Marketing and selling your printing services
As a Artist/Photographer
As a service Bureau
Ways to Increase your sales and print volume
Negotiating with Galleries and other venues
Limited Editions
How to set up a Limited Edition
Making your own Certificate of Authenticity
How to use this tool to increase value of your prints
Portfolio
Why is a portfolio so valuable?
Presentation ideas for Portfolio’s
Getting your images and services in front of qualified clients
Gathering names of Fine Art Photography collectors
How your portfolio can increase your client base
This 5 day total immersion workshop includes daily lunches and lab fee to produce 18×24 gallery wrap on 1 1/2” bars, 2-11×14 Museum Quality portfolio prints, coatings and all supplies needed to produce these prints, packaging to ready prints for shipping.

Hours are 10am – 5pm
Lunch break at 1pm food provided by Chef Rebecca

First morning meet at 8am at Grandma’s Coffee in Keokea – this breakfast included in registration fee.

Equipment needed:
Laptop computer loaded with Adobe Photoshop CS4 or higher, and Photomatix
External Hard Drive loaded with images to use in class
1 GB or larger jump or flash drive

Call, fax, or email NOW to sign up for this once in a lifetime experience.
Phone – 808.878.4154
Fax – 866.335.2146
email – becky@ivamaui.com

Randy Hufford Art at Seabury Crafts Fair

May 08 2010 Seabury Crafts Fair was such a great event! Best selling art was Jacaranda trees titled “Upcountry Bliss” Jaws surfing photo titled “Goin Left” and a BetterLight pano scan (www.betterlight.com) of Big Island titled “Coconut Stampede” The key to our presentation is the Flourish display with mesh walls that let you easily hang art with design. www.flourish.com

Randy Hufford Art

Flourish Display at its finest

Celebrating 25 Years of Art Reproduction Experience

I am celebrating 25 years of Art Reproduction. That’s right, I know I do not look old enough but it has been 25 years of being on the cutting edge of reproducing art. My first experiences were capturing art with 35mm film on transparency film. Than on to a Hasselblad capturing 2 1/4 transparencies. The next major step was a Sinar 8×10, capturing 8×10 transparencies. I still use this Sinar today as a 4×5 camera coupled with Super 6k BetterLight Scan Back. www.betterlight.com The quality exceeds what I use to capture with 8×10 film. The key to accurate capture is the combination of the BetterLight sacnning software “View Finder” and a custom Camera ICC Profile that I build using X-Rite’s ProfileMaker 5 and the X-Rite’s ColorChecker Digital SG

I also do some capturing with my DSLR which is a Canon 5D markII. I use this camera with a Canon 50mm Macro f2.5. I shoot in RAW and make a custom camera profile using X-Rite’s ColorChecker Passport.  I mostly use this for web scans and smaller reproductions. It works great for impressionist art. The color accuracy is TOTALLY Amazing!!

To complete my copy set up I utilize a Copy wall and Copy Lights built by R and R Copy Systems http://randrcopysystems.com/ This was designed and engineered by my Dad, utilizing my trials and experience copying art. This is a great solution for Hanging and Lighting Art.

The canvas output (shown in Photo) was done on a Canon IPF9100 60″ printer using Canon’s Lucia Ink set. Final output size was 66×54 which made a 60×48 final sized Gallery wrap. Link To Ink Longevity

Link to Canon IPF 9100

The Canvas is Matte Canvas from Premier Imaging Products using Eco Print Shield for canvas Protection and Longevity.

Premier Matte Canvas

Eco Print Shield

I managed the printer profile by making a custom RGB profile using X-Rite’s ProfileMaker 5 Platinum Pro Bundle and X-Rite’s i1iO table.

Art and canvas reproduction  "Garden of Eden" 60x48

"Garden of Eden" 60x48 Original Art and Canvas Reproduction with Randy holding a BetterLight Scan Back

Canon releases 3 new printers

March 6 2010 Canon releases 3 new printers. 8300, 6300, 6350 with a new Lucia EX ink set. Henry Wilhelm, from www.wilhelm-reasearch.com, says that it is the biggest breakthrough since the introduction of ink jet printing. The New Lucia EX ink set with virtually no color bronzing, larger color gamut, improved scratch resistance, smoother color graduation, greater detail in the blacks, precision dot placement for even greater detail and a new media configuration that allows use of any manufacturer media. Eddie Tapp, http://eddietapp.com/blog/ Director of Education at Institute of Visual Arts Maui says: this printer and new ink set are AMAZING, it even features a account manager that allows you to know exact cost for ink and media used for any job that you print! Uncompromised Creative Expression!

New Canon Printer

Big Print of Big Wave for Davey’s Big Birthday

Yes what else would be the ultimate gift but a Big Canvas Print of a Big Jaws Wave . Today Davey Kristjanson (A Helicopter Mechanic with LA Sheriff depatment) is celebrating his 45 birthday by going BIG. Davey report’s that the only problem with this Big RandyHuffordArt canvas of Jaws titled “Goin Left” is that everything in the room gets wet. Haha!

Goin Left Big Canvas bt RandyHuffordArt.com

Goin Left Big Canvas by RandyHuffordArt.com

File Preperation for Large Prints

I recently installed a Canon IPF9100 60″ printer. My workflow up until now was to use the native file that came out of my Canon 5D mark 2. But I have found noticeably better output when interpolating file to a larger DPI than the native file. I have tried all of the algorithms in photoshop (under image size) and found that Bi-cubic Smoother (best for enlargements) works best from the 5 choices in Photoshop. But today I also tried Alien Skin software titled Blow Up 2. http://www.alienskin.com/ It is a little hard to see in my jpegs since I had to down sample files to make viewable on the web. But Blowup does have an advantage. First it comes with a large selection of presets where the programmer has taken out the guess work. These presets work great! I used 40×60 gloss inkjet for this example. It also comes with some other controls that really make it nice: Sharpen edges, Add grain, preserve natural texture, Remove Compression artifacts and a tool for sharpening for your output device. I really like this software and would recommend using it if you do any large prints. It really does a better job in detailed areas and highlights. Notice how much smoother surfers arm is using Blowup. It does make a difference.

Big Blow ups of Big Waves

Big Blow ups of Big Waves: Native file from a Canon 5D mark2

Here are examples of differnt interpolation results

Here are examples of differnt interpolation results

HDR Rocks

Photo Showing HDR technique

Photo Showing HDR technique

I love the control you have when using HDR for a commercial Application. This is a example of using HDR to gives a illustrative look but still photographic experience of an Exterior. If you are in Wailuku check out this business that sells everything made with Bamboo for building. It also features a gallery of my images.

West Coast Art and Frame Show Las Vegas

We are returning to WCAF show in Las Vegas:

For more info go to www.wcafshow.com
T900  Introduction to Adobe® Photoshop® for Framers
Monday, January 25, 2010 : 9am - 11:30am

T905A  The Perfect Print: Session A: Equipment and Scanning
Sunday, January 24, 2010 : 1pm - 2pm

T905B  The Perfect Print: Session B: Ink Jet Media and Finishing
Sunday, January 24, 2010 : 2:15pm - 4:45pm

T905C  The Perfect Print: Session C: Marketing Your Digital Printing
Sunday, January 24, 2010 : 5pm - 6pm

Teachinginkjet Finishing

Photo is from last year with Randy Hufford and Jennifer Barut (my daughter) teaching canvas finishing and how to increase your Inkjet print sales. This is a fun class!!!

Teaching Inkjet Finishing and Opportunities

Show Large Prints= Sell Large Prints

Check out a few of my new releases Printed large!!! It is a known fact that if you print large you will sell large.

Customers have to see it, than they want it!

Want to get more money for your prints, well print them bigger!!

Print Large=Sell Large

Print Large=Sell Large

Jaws second day of the Big Surf

I have had so many questions about Jaws, so now I am attempting  to address all of the questions.

Yes I shot these pictures of the surf spot named Jaws on the North Shore of Maui. Jaws is a big wave surf spot. It does not even break until the surf exceeds 20 feet or more. It is for tow ins, which means that the wave is so big that you cannot even paddle into it, you have to be towed into wave with a jet ski. The first day I sat on top of Alex Merks van which had a ideal location on the edge of the cliff, because he spent the night. Second day I hiked down the cliff and shot from a little ledge on the cliff. I shoot all of the photos on both days in the morning just after sunrise. I shot this with my Canon 5d mark2 with a 35to350 zoom. I cropped these photos to zoom in on the action. A 600 to 800mm would be the better choice.

Yes you can post these images on facebook or blogs, I am just requesting that you give me photo credit to read: www.randyhufford.ivamaui.com

Yes you can see more images of Jaws on my blog web site.

I have been asked how big are you going to print it? 60×88

No I do not know the name of the surfer and yes the surfer rode the entire wave and survived.

Yes art is still selling!!

The buoys on Monday where 23 feet 17 seconds apart the buoys on Tuesday where 19 feet 17 seconds apart. National Weather service said that waves would be 20 to 30 feet with occasional 50 footers.

This photo is from Tuesday, which was a little smaller than Monday.

Yes it was crowded with the roads jam packed with people and cars. The road is a old pineapple field and really narrow hard for  cars to pass each other.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!

Aloha Randy

Jaws Big surf on maui

Jaws Big surf on maui