How involved is photo printing on aluminum?

Seen at a local library art exhibit, yesterday, a 30' by 30' or so photo print on aluminum.

I am just curious, how involved is this technique, with today's hardware?

Take your negatives or digital file to a Costco that still makes prints and order them. I believe that you can send in files online, but I do not know about negatives.

Carr Imaging in Albuquerque does beautiful work on thick (non bending) sheets. He has 3 gigantic printers, would dump the Epson except that its straight path is necessary for aluminum. Not cheap.

jtk said:

Carr Imaging in Albuquerque does beautiful work on thick (non bending) sheets. He has 3 gigantic printers, would dump the Epson except that its straight path is necessary for aluminum. Not cheap.

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So, it is something you send out to a specialized shop, no homebrew level affair?

jay moussy said:

So, it is something you send out to a specialized shop, no homebrew level affair?

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Yes.
Just like other printing media that was originally designed for commercial presentation.

jay moussy said:

So, it is something you send out to a specialized shop, no homebrew level affair?

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some mom and pop stores have a send out service that does this sort of thing. contact the shops in your area, maybe they subscribe to this service!
i know the person down the road from me will print on aluminium and slate and coffeemugs and a whole bunch of stuff. some hi-end commercial labs do it too ( whitehouse custom color has been doing this for between 15 and 20 years ).

Metal & Paper (formerly West Coast Imaging) does it - and a very nice job of it they do. They did a 24x30 from a drum scan in a float frame for me. I'm wishing I had ordered 2 since the one was purchased at a benefit auction.

jay moussy said:

So, it is something you send out to a specialized shop, no homebrew level affair?

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Such prints are typically made on flatbed inkjet printers which are beyond the financial means of most home users. I'd just send the work out to a print shop that does this.
An alterative that could be feasible at home is pronting in color onto metallic ra4 paper from Kodak or Fuji - it's not a true metal substrate obviously, but it has some likeness to it. Even then the investment is significant as this paper only comes in rolls costing a few hundred dollars per roll (you do get a lot of paper for that money).

Sorry, but I have digital metallic paper. Labeled by ProMaster. I believe that Red River Paper also has a Metallic Paper.

Tim Stapp said:

Sorry, but I have digital metallic paper. Labeled by ProMaster. I believe that Red River Paper also has a Metallic Paper.

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That would be a perfectly acceptable alternative to the metallic RA4 papers if you're into inkjet. But it's not a real alternative to printing on actual metal substrates of course.

koraks said:

That would be a perfectly acceptable alternative to the metallic RA4 papers if you're into inkjet. But it's not a real alternative to printing on actual metal substrates of course.

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hi koraks
places i have talked to ( being a photo geek like i am and being impressed about metal prints )
told me that they use a dye sublimation printer for aluminium prints. maybe their process was specialized?
no clue. the problem i have with metal prints is that display seems like a PITA...

The inkjet papedistinctive tallicr is OK sometimes but Epsons inkjet prints on 1/8" (or more) aluminum can be as photo-conventional-looking as any more traditional medium

jnantz said:

hi koraks
places i have talked to ( being a photo geek like i am and being impressed about metal prints )
told me that they use a dye sublimation printer for aluminium prints. maybe their process was specialized?
no clue. the problem i have with metal prints is that display seems like a PITA...

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Epson's very conventional mural-size inkjet machine prints on thick sheets of aluminum, not paper. Not flexible. I think it uses conventional Epson pigment, same as if printing on paper.

I don't know what PITA means.

In the Eighties I created and built a large exhibit systems for all Hyatt Regency Hotels that used large rear-illuminated Ciba transparencies. My design goal was a system that was almost invisible except for the seemingly free-hanging images. Very expensive for Hyatt. If Epson's aluminum prints were available back then I might have used them in some way instead of the rear-illuminated, triangular cross section columns that I did use. Although actual aluminum prints are expensive, I think they'd be less expensive than what Hyatt got, although that lovely rear-illumination wouldn't be possible. The Epson aluminum prints were better than was possible with the Ciba transparencies because a) fabulous whites b) fabulous blacks. Both are/were more "archival" than conventional photo alternatives.

jnantz said:

they use a dye sublimation printer for aluminium prints

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There's probably different ways to skin this cat but I think most of it is done with regular inkjet these days, likely organic solvent-based and/or UV cured. See e.g. the Canon Arizona line of printers but there are several manufacturers playing this game now.

jtk said:

Carr Imaging in Albuquerque does beautiful work on thick (non bending) sheets. He has 3 gigantic printers, would dump the Epson except that its straight path is necessary for aluminum. Not cheap.

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I saw a bunch of Carr's prints as they were being packaged for a customer who's selling suites of still life photos (egg plants apples flowers etc) Etsy perhaps.. I don't know why a buyer would bother with framing because the aluminum is certainly stiff/solid enough to hang freely ( like flush-mounted prints on masonite)...beautiful objects. I think those prints were gang-printed on larger sheet, then cut out.. perhaps with water/laser.

jnantz said:

hi koraks
places i have talked to ( being a photo geek like i am and being impressed about metal prints )
told me that they use a dye sublimation printer for aluminium prints. maybe their process was specialized?
no clue. the problem i have with metal prints is that display seems like a PITA...

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Dye sub is probably the most common method for aluminum.

Display is easy - maybe easier than a paper print. This is from Metal & Paper's site - you could also use a conventional frame as it wouldn't be any different than a mounted print. I used the black slim float frame and it looked fantastic.