Photography News Issue 32

Photography News | Issue 32 | absolutephoto.com

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Fujifilmmedia

Launched at this year’s Photography Show, Fujicolor’s Professional Velvet media is already finding favour with photographers and photo labs alike SUN27 first showing for Fujifilm’s new Professional Velvet

and exhibition work. The thing is, I can never be quite sure what sort of lighting conditions my work will be viewed under – and with the Velvet paper finish also helping to diffuse the light it’s a great combination of qualities.” It’s a paper you can really put your finger on – Fujifilm has created a paper surface with strong resistance to fingerprints before and after processing. Notes John: “Every photographer knows that fingerprints can be really tricky to remove from prints without scratching, so the added protection layer on the new Velvet paper is a real bonus for us.” Alongside photographers, Fujicolor Professional Velvet has been catching the eye of some of the imaging industry’s most experienced lab professionals too. Lab views Genesis’sKenSethi (below) says: “Professional Velvet adds to the already successful range

Cumbria-based interiors photographer John Baxter won Best Image at the SUN27 (Shot Up North) Awards recently with his compelling ‘roomwith a view’ picture (opposite) – and he did it with an innovative touch of ‘velvet’. John, who has made his living from photography for the past quarter of a century, says: “I believe that print quality today is more important than ever before. The presentation of work in any form of business is critical to success. My SUN27 winning image was output on the brand-new Fujicolor Crystal Archive Professional Velvet paper and I have to confess that the qualitywas just superb. The picture incorporates a fairly limited colour palette with subtle tones, which reproduced really well on this very convincing new product.” He adds: “Fujicolor Professional Velvet has a really creamy texture which is perfect for both black&white and colour prints – and the unreflective quality is ideal for both portfolio

of silver halide papers that we have been using for C-type printing for many years. We constantly strive to innovate and this paper offers unparalleled diffusion of light and low reflections even under harsh or direct illumination – which is one of the reasons we decided to introduce it to our Lambda C-type printing service.” He adds: “There has always been a desire to reduce reflections on exhibited work and this new product has a remarkable matte finish without the requirement to laminate prints. It’s already a big success with our clients. “Photographers favouring the C-type process now have the ability to produce true matte prints that have a resemblance to some of the matte giclée papers on offer. “The new paper shares the same characteristics as alternative papers in the Fujicolor Crystal Archive range – including true continuous tone; long-term image stability; accurate colour reproduction – and, throughourLambdamachine,we canproduce ultra-sharp photographic digital C-type images with crisp edge-to-edge printing and absolutelynodistortion. Prints are available in colour or black andwhite up to 1219mm (48in) inwidth and up to the length of an entire roll – 1968in. Velvet offers a new option – and that’s always a good thing.” And Metro Imaging’s creative director, Professor Steve Macleod believes Fujicolor Professional Velvet could provide ‘themissing link’ for some fine art photographers. Steve states: “I am delighted to see Fujifilm get behind the introduction of a new archival C-type paper. There is still both a demand for, and an appreciation of, archival photographic printmedia, and tohave this stockadded to the range is very encouraging. “Orchestrated by our client base, we have been searching for a paper that displays a dead matte, unreflective surface, a paper that absorbs light rather thanreflecting it –creating a rich, textural finish. This paper does all these things and more – and we think that for some photographers this could be the paper that has been the missing link in their workflow.” Fujifilm’s Ton Reynders, technical market supportmanager (with the Project Teamin the Netherlands, far left) says: “Our new paper for fine art prints features clearer,moredistinctive print images and sharper text quality; a unique deep-matte surface; highest levels of image stability; expanded colour reproduction range ideally suited to commercial, wedding and portrait shooters – and, of course, the very important advantage of fingerprint protection. “This is an added value product and part of a newcreative line-upwe have in the pipeline.”

John Weldon, director at CC Imaging Ltd, comments: “We printed the SUN Awards exhibition images (some winners below) using Professional Velvet and were suitably impressed. It’s easy to work with; shows no fingerprints; it’s easy to clean and it’s virtually reflection free. Additionally, it has a good depth of colour and an excellent black rendition. It was universally well received by the participating photographers and visitors to the awards event in Leeds in November. For fine art prints it’s an excellent alternative to our usual ‘watercolour’ fine art paper and I think our ‘artistic’ clients are going to really love it.”

Fujifilm’s Netherlands team celebrates the launch of Professional Velvet.

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