Re: Value of digital prints in the future

[PhotoRoy6@xxxxxxx]

Someone once said to me the way to make an digital edition complete is to add a little of the artistic's DNA to the corner of the image or to a small box just off the bottom right corner.

Roy

 

In a message dated 11/4/2010 12:33:30 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, jds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

With the correct substrate, a digital print can be made on any paper suitable for making any of the ânormalâ photographic processes prints.

In addition, with carefully selected archival inks, it should be possible to make a print virtually indistinguishable for any of the processes that do not rely on the reflective properties of the image itself ( consider the daguerreotype ).

 

That said, we probably should separate the image from the artifact.  Modern digital technology allows for the easy separation of these fundamentally different entities.  The image exists as a collection of binary data that can be replicated accurately indefinitely.  The print artifact ( the actual print ) is a single instance of the image captured on a specific substrate. 

 

In the past, the creation of prints required a level of effort that effectively limited the actual number that could reasonably be made.  Thus, for a photographer like Clarence White, a few to a few hundred was the physical limit on production.  If the artist is of sufficient stature, then, over time, individual instances of prints can become more valuable since additional prints cannot be made especially after the artists death.

 

Now, it is possible to make prints of photographs is whatever quantities the market demands and the making of new ones in not terminated at the artists death.  These new prints can be actually indistinguishable one from another if the appropriate paper and ink is used.

 

A separate issue is the longevity of the paper used to make the prints.  There are available photo print papers that have a physical life expectancy greater than any of the actual photo papers used in the past.  Prints made on these papers should retain value IF the ability to create new instances in cut off at the end of the artistâs desired print run.  This is the functional equivalent of burning the negative.  If the original digital file is retained, I suspect that value will decline.

 

James