In Focus Vol. 1 No. 6

Exhibiting Excellence

Greenberg Editions makes the most of the latest technologies and materials for high-quality—and sometimes experimental—fine-art and photographic reproduction.

Gabe Greenberg, Greenberg Editions, NYC

Gabe Greenberg’s relatively young business is steeped in both the history and future of photography and fine art. While one of Greenberg’s passions is reproducing photographic processes from bygone eras, he does it with a 21st Century flair.

Greenberg owns Greenberg Editions in New York City, running his custom printing and imaging operation from a studio on 29th Street in Manhattan. Greenberg says detailed digital print reproduction that hits the mark in all areas – whether it’s the objective color range or the subjective feel of the piece – hinges on research. Printmaking, according to Greenberg’s philosophy, is both science and art.

“If there’s a piece of equipment or a process I can’t quite get my arms around, you better believe I’ll spend hours researching it, so that when I do get my arms around it I will know exactly what I’m doing,” explains Greenberg. “The printmaking process is still an exciting one for me. When a perfect print rolls off, I’m still wowed when I look at it. If I can share that with my clients, and get them on board, it makes for a great feeling and a winning combination. Photographers need great-looking prints that are archival and I help them figure out which paper is appropriate for their work – whether they want it on a canvas, a fine-art paper, or even a glossy paper.”

One of Greenberg’s primary motivators is his gregarious nature. He loves the technology he works with, and the printing equipment he’s been accumulating -- which includes an EPSON Stylus Pro 9800 and the ImagePrint RIP -- but prefers to balance what can be a computer cocoon with live interaction and consultation.

“This whole business is really about the opportunity to work with interesting people, to see new and interesting art, and to work with someone to produce great-looking images. The biggest assets of my business are the relationships I’m able to have with people – you really can’t put a price on that. There are a lot of great photographers and artists out there, and it’s really nice to get out and meet them,” says Greenberg.

From a nuts-and-bolts standpoint, Greenberg’s expertise runs from image acquisition to output. Each part of the process requires the touch of both an artist and a technician, and both sides of Greenberg demand the best systems and materials.

“The best advice I can give to anyone who’s printing wide-format images is to work hard and do things right. You don’t want to cut corners because of paper costs, for instance. You really want to make sure that what you offer is the best you can do. Even if that means it’s more expensive, I think people respond when you care about it as much as they want you to care about it,” says Greenberg.

Greenberg’s background is primarily as a photographer. Though he’s decided to concentrate on printing and imaging, and has developed an enthusiasm for producing precise archival prints, he plans to return to his roots at some point. For the time being, his photography background contributes to his imaging expertise.

“One of the things that’s still tricky and that I continue to teach is color management, which has gotten better and easier over the years. When I first started out, you’d have to get the printer from one company, the inks from another, the paper from someone else, and the software from yet another company. These days, everybody is stepping it up a notch so that you can buy turnkey solutions, which is great, because I don’t see as many bad prints as I once did,” explains Greenberg. “When you’re dealing with color management, it’s important to understand what’s going on behind the soft proof menu, as it were, to see what we’re talking about when we convert from a working space to a printing space, and how we’re doing that. While there are a hundred different ways to do things in Photoshop and to get it looking the way you want, there’s always the question of getting what I see on my monitor onto a printed page, and the difference between the two.”

Greenberg emphasizes that the first and most vital step toward correct color is monitor calibration. “If it’s not calibrated,” he says, “it’s basically lying to you. I have an Eye-One spectrophotometer, but I’ve used just about everything. And I can tell you that as long as you’re calibrating your monitor with something – whatever it is – it makes all the difference in the world.”

After that, Greenberg says it’s important to understand that there is no “magic bullet” profile. A profile is just a description of how a device, such as a printer, handles color. Once those parameters are established, further observation and research is needed to tweak the fine points for perfect (or as close to perfect as possible) printing. “A Color Management System is exactly that -- a system of different working parts, which, when utilized as a system, can produce beautiful, precise color,” he says.
For a successful color calibration recipe, read this month’s Tips and Tricks.

Platinum & Palladium

Greenberg’s background in photography has also driven him to experiment with various materials and processes, including running objects like metals, wood, and Japanese rice paper through his printers.

Greenberg’s latest kick is printing large-format negatives for use in making platinum palladium prints. Actually, to describe this as a kick is to greatly understate the three years or so Greenberg has spent mastering the process. On the other hand, kick describes exactly what Greenberg gets out of the process.

“Even before silver darkroom fibre prints, you had to hand-coat the paper with platinum and palladium salt, so each print was hand coated. The problem is that it’s a contact print process, and you need a negative to do a contact print. So, if you only have a 35mm negative, you can only make a tiny print. What we can do is scan the 35mm negative, or take a digital file from a digital camera – anything from 4x5 to 8x10 -- and manipulate it to look great on-screen, thanks to all the color profiling and calibration now available,” explains Greenberg. “I can actually see throughout the entire process of the platinum print what the final image is going to look like. It’s so cool; it’s using all this 21st Century equipment to help this 19th Century process, which is unbelievable. We’ve worked really hard over the last three years trying a lot of different methods, and finally settled on our own. The precision and beauty of these platinum prints – which will last a thousand years – and to be able to do it from sources that you were never ever to really do it from before is really fascinating,” explains Greenberg. “It’s fun because of where I started with doing restoration and film recording from old negatives and putting it back on a piece of film.”

Greenberg prints on a clear film that doesn’t have UV blockers, because platinum is sensitive to UV light, and blocking the UV will interfere with the process.

An important part of Greenberg’s research is collaborating with his LexJet account specialist. Here, the reciprocal give-and-take helps Greenberg find the right solutions to whatever that day’s challenge might be.

“I’ve been buying products from my LexJet account specialist for years. I totally appreciate him, because we share information all the time. He’ll call me with questions, and I’ll call him to ask about new substrates. When I need to find something, he’s always there to help me do research on it,” says Greenberg.

To learn more about Greenberg Editions, go to www.greenbergeditions.com. To find out more about the photo papers and imaging films Gabe uses, call your LexJet representative at (800) 453-9538 or visit www.lexjet.com.