How involved is photo printing on aluminum?

jay moussy · Feb 9, 2020

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?

Sirius Glass · Feb 9, 2020

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.

jtk · Feb 9, 2020

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.

jay moussy · Feb 9, 2020

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.

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

MattKing · Feb 9, 2020

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

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

removed account4 · Feb 9, 2020

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

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 ).

cramej · Feb 9, 2020

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.

koraks · Feb 10, 2020

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

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).

Tim Stapp · Feb 12, 2020

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

koraks · Feb 13, 2020

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

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.

removed account4 · Feb 13, 2020

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.

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...

jtk · Feb 13, 2020

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...

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.

koraks · Feb 13, 2020

jnantz said:
they use a dye sublimation printer for aluminium prints

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 · Feb 13, 2020

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.

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.

cramej · Feb 13, 2020

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...

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.

How involved is photo printing on aluminum?

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