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Author Topic: Photo books (EU, 2019)  (Read 2662 times)

Aram Hăvărneanu

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Photo books (EU, 2019)
« on: January 29, 2019, 08:27:03 am »

You'd think this was a solved problem, but no.

I am looking for printing a very small run of 3-5 books. Somwhere around 120 pages, maybe more, maybe less (so really a book, not an album).

I'd like a publisher that:

  • offers ICC profiles for softproofing, the profiles that they actually use for printing
  • uses archival papers and covers and whatever else goes in a book
  • has a good consistent process
  • has samples
  • offers test prints

I would hope these are the minimum standards that any publisher would follow, but apparently not. Blurb is very popular but fails this very minimal standard.

I am in Europe and I would prefer to buy from someone in Europe, but I will buy from whoever can offer this service. Is there anyone?

Thanks!
« Last Edit: January 29, 2019, 08:45:48 am by Aram Hăvărneanu »
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Aram Hăvărneanu

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2019, 08:31:09 am »

Oh, yeah, another thing. Quite important one even. I want to use my own tools to lay out the book!. I don't want to use some crappy web layout tools, nor their crappy proprietary desktop tools. I want to use whatever tools I like to produce a PDF (?) or whatever standard format is required these days. And I want them to print this PDF just as is. No further processing done on their side, which means I need to know everything about their process.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2019, 08:40:32 am »

Not Europe - but you could get in touch with Pikto in Toronto and have a discussion with them. They produce excellent quality (but as to be expected, not cheap) and are still operating on a small enough scale to still deal with people individually. They'll advise whether they can meet your requirements.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Aram Hăvărneanu

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2019, 09:03:43 am »

Well, they have their ICC profiles on their site, which is a good start.
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Aram Hăvărneanu

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2019, 06:43:08 am »

So, I've shopped around for printers that use digital presses like the HP Indigo, and I found out that they allow (or require) submitting output-ready files converted to some standardized profile like GRACoL2006_Coated1v2 instead of the "native" output profile.

Now I don't know anything about digital presses or CMYK printing, but I assume that these machines can be calibrated to a known standard such that after calibration the standard profile applies to them. (Alternatively, they could be using a device link profile). However, how does this work with different papers? Are they recalibrating their machine to emulate GRACol 2006 (or whatever other standard) with every different paper? Is this even possible? That seems complicated and unnecessary. My guess is that they calibrate for color but ignore the paper, so softproofing doesn't really work (and neither does hardproofing).

Why aren't they just profiling their machines, and make available these profiles, which will be wider gamut than GRACol 2006, and then keep calibrating the machine so they do not drift from what was profiled.

Is this operating procedure normal for CMYK shops?

Please advise, thanks!
« Last Edit: January 31, 2019, 07:07:44 am by Aram Hăvărneanu »
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2019, 09:15:53 am »

For one thing, CMYK profiles aren't usable in many RGB photo editing applications.

You are correct that results would differ depending on the paper used. The easiest way of managing this is to find out from them what RGB-compliant printer/paper profile would best simulate the press and paper they are using, and you would then be guided by that in your soft-proofing.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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samueljohnchia

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2019, 09:44:40 am »

Hi Aram, I had many of the same questions as you do in my journey to make my own book. Unfortunately I cannot recommend any publisher in Europe as I do not have personal experience with any. You should try getting in touch with Marcin (Czornyj) about this. He has done great work with a printing company in Polland that uses a Dreamlabo and he also helped to set up one of the first CcMmYKk Indigo presses in the world.

I am using a local printing company to print my book. The printer is a HP Indigo 10000. Every company has their own standard procedure when operating the press, so my experience will likely not reflect your own struggle to get beautiful prints but perhaps I could address some of your questions. Here, they use the Fogra39 generic CMYK profile. Every morning, the advanced colour calibration is done on their house glossy stock and the calibration is applied to all the different media fed into the printer, I.e. no media-specific calibration. If there is a demanding job, they would do a media-specific calibration for the client's chosen paper. But the generic Forga39 profile is still used for conversion to CMYK.

Unsatisfied with that, I went to great lengths to adjust the inking of the press for my own chosen paper and built my own custom CMYK profiles. Being a digital printing process, the cost of doing the experiments and printing the targets is very cheap as compared to lithographic offset since you can make even a single print. I am lucky to work with a company that allows me to direct my printing on their press in this way.

As far as I know, very few commercial printers running Indigos make their own custom press profiles. In my country, no company at all does this.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2019, 10:07:21 am by samueljohnchia »
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samueljohnchia

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #7 on: January 31, 2019, 10:00:09 am »

Just to add on, there isn't any company I know of which would make your standard hardcover coffee table book from all acid-free archival materials. If you are lucky, their stock text block paper might probably meet your "archival" standards or you would at least hopefully be able to source and supply your own.

The cover board would always be greyboard that is non-archival and acidic. Acid-free versions of this material exist but I don't know of a single book printer that uses them. Also, the source fiber is recycled from a wide variety of waste pulp, and isn't lignin-free necessarily. The board is buffered to be pH-neutral or alkaline upon manufacture, but over time it will degrade to be more acidic. The only two sources of a truly archival board for making the hardcover would be either museum mat boards or a special millboard only made in the UK. I tried the latter, but it suffered from severe warping issues due to poor handling, storage or perhaps its laminated ply structure going wrong.

Then there is the glue used for the binding and making of the cover. Acid-free PVA glue is not something these printing companies typically stock. Also the paper backing for the sewn spine should be well-chosen, else you will typically get the disgusting brown paper.

You will likely have to source and provide all your own materials if you wish to be exacting about their properties and provenance which is what I have done for my book.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2019, 10:15:14 am by samueljohnchia »
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Aram Hăvărneanu

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2019, 10:17:06 am »

Oh wow, thanks for all the information! I naively assumed they could provide archival-level materials if I simply asked. What about softcovers? Is it easier to source archival soft covers than hard covers, or vice versa? Or perhaps archival softcovers don't even exist?
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nirpat89

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #9 on: January 31, 2019, 11:25:43 am »

Oh wow, thanks for all the information! I naively assumed they could provide archival-level materials if I simply asked. What about softcovers? Is it easier to source archival soft covers than hard covers, or vice versa? Or perhaps archival softcovers don't even exist?

I wonder since you are doing a small number of books, can't you do the printing yourself or get done by a good inkjet photo printing shop who would use the papers and inks of your choice (some are here on this forum) and then get the book bound separately at a book-binding shop. 
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samueljohnchia

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #10 on: January 31, 2019, 07:43:23 pm »

You're welcome, glad the information is helpful to you. I strugged very hard in making my own book so I understand how painful the process is and how ignorant I am.

Almost if not all companies that have Indigo presses are commercial printing companies. At this point I feel the Indigo is one's best bet to print photo books, primarily because of the massive 53x75cm sheet size (beware: printable area is 51x74cm) the largest presses (10000 & 12000) are capable of, and also because they can accept Light Cyan and Light Magenta inks for printing. This otherwise inconsequential detail is perhaps the most vital contribution to getting superb photographic quality on the Indigo running the standard imaging engine and not the brilliant new HDLA upgrade (doubles the marking engine's resolution) that almost no one has. Combined, it would be one of the finest digital presses for high end book printing.

You must first accept that this means the print company is not prioritising interest in making a thing of great beauty that lasts a really long time, despite whatever they claim they do. I am not saying they defenestrate quality, but beyond spending a certain amount of time per project, it's no longer good business for them. As a client, you will have to accept some compromises. This was hard for me coming from a background of making the best quality original prints on fine paper with pigment inkjet printers I owned and controlled.

Try talking to them about the mechanical properties, archival qualities (ask, what pH is your glue when wet and what is the pH when cured) and provenance of their glue used for binding and you'll see immediately how stratospheric your "minimum requirements" are. Then try entering into a discussion about paper and be disappointed. It's not fun. This is why I decided to research and source all my own materials and work with a company that allowed me to direct the entire process and make my own custom adjustments unique to my project.

There are a few artisinal book binders running their own small specialized studio who may use archival glue, but none use archival boards for hardcovers that I know of. If you are willing to pay, they should be happy to get such material for you. Then be prepared for the binding service to cost many times what the printing costs, and quickly realise that it isn't a worthwhile investment.

Archival also needs to be defined clearly. As mentioned earlier, lots of so-called archival board are actually not constructed with truly stable materials. You will often need to dig deep into what the thing you are using is made of.

A softcover book simply uses thicker paper to make the cover. So just choose paper that your research indicates has the archival properties you seek - though that is easier said than done. Any paper for printing would also have to be compatible with the ElectroInk if you use Indigo. Not a big problem though, since there are now thousands of certified papers. Actually, big problem, because there are so many you don't know where to start.

Making a softcover would also usually mean perfect binding is used unless you consider other forms of more exotic binding, assuming the print company even offers that. The glue used for this kind of binding is virtually always a hot melt adhesive, and thus far I remain unconvinced about it's archival properties. Some hot melt adhesives are better than others. I find the feel of a softcover to be too cheap, flimsy and commercial to have the haptic qualities I desire for my own book. You will also the lose the lay-flat of pages when you open the book. This may or may not be a big problem (it was to me) Do consider how it feels in the hand.

I have found that despite my proclivity for matte fine art papers for inkjet printing, a high quality coated matte or satin smooth-textured paper is best for printing photo books on the Indigo. Other people tend to like the super expensive Mohawk Superfine Eggshell for printing art books on the Indigo. I've found it to be a beautiful paper but like all uncoated paper, it develops a disgusting sheen in areas of high inking that is unavoidable unless a matte varnish could be applied on top. The disconnect of the plasticity glossy ink sheen to the beautiful, tactile matte paper ruins it for me. The total gamut and dmax is also quite a lot less. Furthermore, any texture that catches the light causes a glare to be visible and further obscures the printed image. When the gamut is already so limited compared to inkjet, losing any more can be quite unbearable. Custom profiles with excellent gamut mapping are highly desirable to deal with the mapping of out of gamut colours. There is also a nice trick to getting incredible dmax on the Indigo, but not all companies might let you with their setup.


I wonder since you are doing a small number of books, can't you do the printing yourself or get done by a good inkjet photo printing shop who would use the papers and inks of your choice (some are here on this forum) and then get the book bound separately at a book-binding shop. 

Printing it on your own pigment inkjet printer seems to have everything going for it at first. It was the first thing I considered. But there are significant downsides.

1. It would take me about 2 weeks worth of printing just to yield one book, not including the binding and sourcing for those materials. These machines are slow compared to commercial printing presses. If you want to do 5-20 books, it quickly becomes silly. You could always use a lower quality printing setting to decrease print times to just 20-25%, but why compromise on quality now if you demanded for the best going down this route?
2. Another issue is that papers coated for inkjet don't fold well, so cracking is to be expected for sewn binding. It can be avoided with perfect binding but no lay-flat of pages when open.
3. Inkjet prints are not very durable. You will get scuffing and setoff (ink rubbing off and staining the facing page, usually happens to the more heavily inked areas) on facing pages over time. You can spray the pages with varnish, but if you know what that entails, you'll know why I didn't even bother considering it.
4. Durability again, it is very tricky to feed a sheet that is already printed back into your printer and not scuff the printed side. After all this work, the tiniest flaw might be quite upsetting. Don't underestimate how challenging this is especially with large book pages.
5. Inkjet printers of the kind we use don't have the mechanical means to ensure precise registration between the front and rear sides of the printed sheet, and also lack the means to allow you to make the adjustments necessary to ensure good registration. If your book design requires good registration, you'll be in a world of pain struggling with this otherwise insignificant issue.
6. The monetary cost of printing like this and using a specialised binding service is quite high.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2019, 07:49:18 pm by samueljohnchia »
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #11 on: February 01, 2019, 08:24:51 am »

I wonder since you are doing a small number of books, can't you do the printing yourself or get done by a good inkjet photo printing shop who would use the papers and inks of your choice (some are here on this forum) and then get the book bound separately at a book-binding shop.

I do this all the time and the results are of course superior to anything available from the book-making services, with the possible except of the photos produced by Canon's Dreamlabo 5000, which I have seen at a trade show. These reproductions are as good as well-made inkjet prints. The problem is finding anyone using this machinery, at least in North America, and the cost is about the same as printing the photos oneself. Good robust bindings holding many pages of real photo paper are the work of craftsmen and cost accordingly, but well worth it.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #12 on: February 01, 2019, 08:38:50 am »

.............

Printing it on your own pigment inkjet printer seems to have everything going for it at first. It was the first thing I considered. But there are significant downsides.

1. It would take me about 2 weeks worth of printing just to yield one book, not including the binding and sourcing for those materials. These machines are slow compared to commercial printing presses. If you want to do 5-20 books, it quickly becomes silly. You could always use a lower quality printing setting to decrease print times to just 20-25%, but why compromise on quality now if you demanded for the best going down this route?
2. Another issue is that papers coated for inkjet don't fold well, so cracking is to be expected for sewn binding. It can be avoided with perfect binding but no lay-flat of pages when open.
3. Inkjet prints are not very durable. You will get scuffing and setoff (ink rubbing off and staining the facing page, usually happens to the more heavily inked areas) on facing pages over time. You can spray the pages with varnish, but if you know what that entails, you'll know why I didn't even bother considering it.
4. Durability again, it is very tricky to feed a sheet that is already printed back into your printer and not scuff the printed side. After all this work, the tiniest flaw might be quite upsetting. Don't underestimate how challenging this is especially with large book pages.
5. Inkjet printers of the kind we use don't have the mechanical means to ensure precise registration between the front and rear sides of the printed sheet, and also lack the means to allow you to make the adjustments necessary to ensure good registration. If your book design requires good registration, you'll be in a world of pain struggling with this otherwise insignificant issue.
6. The monetary cost of printing like this and using a specialised binding service is quite high.

Perfect bindings are not perfect. Enough said about them.

Your points on binding one's own pages of prints have merit. I would not consider this solution for multiple copies simply because of the time involved. Mine are one-off. I would not consider making books that require folded pages, unless I were using a paper that folds easily, and there are a few. Depending on the choice of paper and inks, the photos would be as archival as the materials are, and the ratings should be based on the dark storage condition, which means for the better materials a very long time. One can make books printed on both sides of the page with quality dual-coated inkjet papers. Hahnemuehle offers this, which I have reviewed, as do some others. With high quality printers, such as an Epson SC-P5000 for example, registration is consistent enough to be acceptable provided one is not printing photos that span two pages, and scuffing will not necessarily occur, again depending on the choice of paper surface. Your point about cost is well-taken. Like so much else, the choice of this option either makes sense or doesn't make sense depending on the needs. Your inventory of potential issues are all things one needs to consider before deciding.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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samueljohnchia

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #13 on: February 01, 2019, 10:01:24 am »

We have a local company that has a Dreamlabo printer, and I was actually quite disappointed by the quality of their output. They are not fully utilizing all the potential of the printer and they are unwilling to allow me to direct the printing of my own books. They don't use custom profiles too and will not allow me to make my own for them. The paper selection for the Dreamlabo is very limited. Only glossy, luster or semi-glossy types are available, all distasteful to me. I want a fine art matte surface or an offset-grade smooth coated matte art paper for making books. The Dreamlabo inks are dye-based so one is concerned if using alkaline-buffered materials for binding the book will be OK. The binding that this company uses, called back-to-back binding, is to fold a 4-page imposition (one side remains unprinted) and glue facing pages together (the sides that are unprinted), so lay-flat presentation is possible. I flipped through and studied many of their samples and I personally detest this style of binding. They also have options to mount the prints onto greyboard which is pretty common for wedding albums they make, or else one can go with the standard perfect binding.

Another limitation of the Dreamlabo is print size.  12” x 25” or 305 mm x 635 mm is the maximum sheet size. Many large format coffee table art books require far larger sheet size capability than this.

I've noticed scuffing and setoff with offset printed books and also Indigo prints, and certainly on all kinds of inkjet printed media. The medium of paper is inherently fragile and while prints that sit in folios or boxes or frames tend not to receive much handling, one hopes that one's book would be cherished and enjoyed much, so exposure to handing tends to be greater over time. The aspect of durability is quite important to me especially after all the tremendous effort I invested to produce the most exquisite books I possibly can.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2019, 10:06:11 am by samueljohnchia »
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #14 on: February 01, 2019, 11:09:05 am »

None of that sounds very encouraging!  :-) Especially the lack of cooperation from the company. That's usually an invitation to deal elsewhere.

I agree with your objectives that you want the books to look and feel they way you want them to, and they should remain in fine condition for a very long time. We do put a lot of effort into creating the images, so they deserve this.

I don't see how the inks and the binding glue would interfere with each other. I understand the concern about dye inks, but two mitigating factors may be worth taking into account: the stability of the dyes has improved a lot over the years, especially Canon's according to some information I've seen, and with the prints closed in the book most of the time, the fading risk would be lower than if they were subject to continuous exposure. But it's a worthwhile consideration to look further into. Of course if the technology isn't adapted to the kind of matte papers you like, it's probably a non-starter for you. Personally, I generally prefer luster papers because of the higher DMax and wider gamut; but of course different photos work better with different papers. So one should have the choice.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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JeanMichel

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #15 on: February 01, 2019, 11:16:50 am »

I do this all the time and the results are of course superior to anything available from the book-making services, with the possible except of the photos produced by Canon's Dreamlabo 5000, which I have seen at a trade show. These reproductions are as good as well-made inkjet prints. The problem is finding anyone using this machinery, at least in North America, and the cost is about the same as printing the photos oneself. Good robust bindings holding many pages of real photo paper are the work of craftsmen and cost accordingly, but well worth it.

Hi Mark,
I add my ‘vote’ for Pikto. They do a rather nice job and their profiles work nicely. The fact that they will send you a couple samples pages first goes a long way to make one comfortable with sending them a job to print. The choice of paper is of course limited but is of sufficiently high quality, as is their binding.

For designing books, there is not much better than InDesign.

I would be interested to know to who you send your single sheets for binding into a book. I have yet to find a quality solution for that. Thanks.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #16 on: February 01, 2019, 11:42:37 am »

Hi JeanMichel,

I've been having my bindings done by Don Taylor here in Toronto - reputed to be one of the finest in Canada. He's on Islington somewhat North of Lake Shore Blvd. http://www.dontaylorbookbinder.com/
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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JeanMichel

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #17 on: February 01, 2019, 11:57:43 am »

Hi JeanMichel,

I've been having my bindings done by Don Taylor here in Toronto - reputed to be one of the finest in Canada. He's on Islington somewhat North of Lake Shore Blvd. http://www.dontaylorbookbinder.com/

Thank you very much Mark. I should have thought of him myself! I documented an exhibition of his work in 2008 at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington. I will contact him. Thanks again.
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samueljohnchia

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #18 on: February 01, 2019, 09:21:17 pm »

None of that sounds very encouraging!  :-) Especially the lack of cooperation from the company. That's usually an invitation to deal elsewhere.

Indeed it isn't. :( To be forced to use an overseas printing company has many downsides if one is as fussy as I am. There are also additional environmental costs and shipping costs involved, not to mention travel time and travel costs overseas, plus needing to bring my own (rather delicate) colour management hardware along and perhaps even paper/materials that one would supply to the company. One box of paper for printing my book weighs about 158 pounds. It's just not worthwhile.

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I don't see how the inks and the binding glue would interfere with each other.

It could potentially cause dye migration.

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I understand the concern about dye inks, but two mitigating factors may be worth taking into account: the stability of the dyes has improved a lot over the years, especially Canon's according to some information I've seen, and with the prints closed in the book most of the time, the fading risk would be lower than if they were subject to continuous exposure.

That's why I never once mentioned the lightfastness of the dye inks as a concern :-) Mark McCormick-Goodhart has also pointed out before that dye inks are more prone to suffer from "dye migration (image bleed) at moderate to high humidity...increased gas fading, etc.". If the cover is printed using dye inks and the book is placed on a coffee table face up on display, lightfastness might still be a concern over time.

Quote
Of course if the technology isn't adapted to the kind of matte papers you like, it's probably a non-starter for you.

I've heard that there are matte papers for the Dreamlabo now, but this is not offered by the local company and they don't allow me to supply my own.

Quote
Personally, I generally prefer luster papers because of the higher DMax and wider gamut

You are absolutely correct that luster papers have higher dmax and wider gamut than matte media - under certain conditions. It is otherwise a myth. A 45/0 spectro measurement would support such a perceived effect, and so would ~45 degree angled spots on the print (mounted flat) in a gallery-like or museum-like controlled display such that very minimal to no reflections obscure the printed image. A book spread is typically never ever perfectly flat when open, and also the ambient lighting in most book-viewing situations is not controlled. The glare on a luster print can obsure the image so much to the point it becomes totally impossible to see the image at all. I've often been caught in lighting situations where I had to pick up luster media books and tilt them about to move the reflections around to be able to fully appreciate the print, but never able to see it in its entirety glare-free. Irritating when the book is quite large. In such situations, matte prints have significantly higher dmax and wider gamut. Since it is totally impossible to control the viewing conditions of people looking at books in general, it seems to be a wise approach to take.

Unfortunately standard process inks for offset, ElectroInk for Indigo and especially dry toner for other digital presses have an inherent sheen that is either slight to quite strong. When ink coverage is high, the sheen builds. I've not found a perfect substitute for matte inkjet prints on Indigo or offset processes.

Another issue with luster paper is the feeling in hand. If you cherish the haptic sensations of the best lithographic offset printed coffee table art books, you'll understand what I mean about luster RC media not feeling quite right in hand, regardless of how beautiful the visual effect is.

The Dreamlabo's dyes do offer both a significantly wider gamut that standard process inks are not capable of, extremely fine resolution of the print heads and increased gradient smoothness from the additional inks. But the Indigo and offset presses can also use special high-chroma inks or the xCMYK approach to gain more gamut, 10/15/20 micron FM screening or the HDLA upgrade for the Indigo to achieve very fine resolution and the Indigo allows the use of Lc, Lm and LLk for additional smoothness. I've been searching for a supplier that can offer me all three but alas, there doesn't seem to be anyone in the world who can.

I've been having my bindings done by Don Taylor here in Toronto - reputed to be one of the finest in Canada. He's on Islington somewhat North of Lake Shore Blvd. http://www.dontaylorbookbinder.com/

Thank you for sharing. Have you ever spoken to him about the materials he uses for binding? Does he have "archival" (in quotes because archival should be defined more specifically) materials on hand if you request, such as acid-free, lignin-free pH-buffered board for covers and Jade 403 PVA or similar grade adhesives?

You also mentioned that your one-off books don't undergo folding to bind. May I ask what techniques did Don use to bind them then?
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Photo books (EU, 2019)
« Reply #19 on: February 01, 2019, 10:15:07 pm »

Yes, it's best to avoid glare when viewing luster prints so that you get the full effect of the inherent DMax and gamut. Intrinsically matte prints have less reflectance but of course they remain artistically appropriate for the kinds of photos that show well with them. I'm not hung up on this.

Don can use any kind of material you want for binding the books; this is custom craftsmanship. Much of what he handles is archival. He also dopes leather bindings, but I dlon't have a clue what the archival properties are for those leathers. For my books, as we're binding single sheets of inkjet paper there is nothing to fold. He stitches the sheets very close to the edge, then uses glue and a backing strip. The end product is very strong, but not lie-flat.

Several of my books do have one or two gate-folds. As I usually print on Ilford Gold Fibre Silk or similar, which is a bit heavy, I have found a way of folding them that produces a clean fold: I do a very light scoring with a ruler and a utility knife on the reverse side of the page, then bend it inward. Works well.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
Author: "Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8....."
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