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That’s right…ther Service Bureau is hiring summer semester print jockeys! If you are work study eligible and keen to hone your digital output skills the Bureau just might be the place for you.
Stop by the window (SP1111…but you already knew that, right?) to fill out an application and drop off a resume.
Adventure awaits those with a hearty soul…or just want a cool summer job.
-michael
Tags: Service Bureau
At the Service Bureau we often like to think of ourselves as the nexus point where traditional artistic practices meet the modern world via digital output. We found a prime example of that recently in the work of student Liberty Herring.
This image was originally created in camera using the collodion process, commonly referred to as a “wet plate or glass plate” negative which is one of the earliest photographic techniques. (a number of us at the Bureau are photographers and therefore huge photo geeks…we love this stuff!). Liberty then scanned the plates to create a digital file and brought them to the Bureau to be printed.
As far as paper choices, though we have many, Liberty rightly chose the Ilford Gold Fiber Silk. This paper is uses the same paper Ilford uses for their tradition fiber based black and white paper and adds an inkjet receptive coating rather than a chemical emulsion making it, for all intents, a true photo paper (it even smells like photo paper).
So there is it, a process almost as old as photography itself melded with modern output technology to create a beautiful traditional looking print.
It’s kind of what we are all about.
Be sure to stop by the BFA show and see Liberty’s prints in person and stop by the Service bureau if you want to see the paper for yourself or talk about what options may work for you.
-michael
Tags: customer work, glass plate negatives, inkjet
As I am sure you know by now, the Service Bureau has a vinyl cutter available for use. Whereas it’s most common use is for lettering (you know, for name, titles and the like) we get excited when a customer figures out something different to do with the cut vinyl. That being said, I would like to show you work from a student named Javier Lopez (a former bureau student worker I might add). This is the piece Javier hung in the BFA show this fall
the finished work
Where is the vinyl? you have to look closely.
detail of javier's vinyl
Working closely with the Service Bureau to determine how to prep the file, Javier created a 28″ x 80″ vinyl image
of Abraham Lincoln’s face applied to the wall behind the work itself.
detail of javier's vinyl
If you look closely, you get a good idea of how finely the machine can cut.
So if you have any ideas, come into the Bureau and ask us about our vinyl cutting options. We have many different colors in stock (including reflective white and red!) and we would be more than happy to walk you through how to prep your file.
-michael
Tags: BFA Exhibition, customer work, vinyl cutting
Well, it’s finally here. The Service Bureau’s very own wide format daylight balanced viewing area (and the largest viewing area on campus)
our new daylight balanced viewing area
The lighting bank is made by Just-Normlicht (which we consider to be the best) and will make the daylight balanced viewing of your test strips and prints from the Bureau easy (and fun! well, maybe).
Why should you view your test strips (or any print) in daylight balanced light? Viewing in daylight ensures that the colors that you are seeing are untainted by the various color casts present in other light bulbs and lighting conditions. It is essentially a pristine viewing environment in which you can assess your print and decide what changes (if any) you need to make.
standard school fluorescents
daylight balanced
Pretty big difference, right? So next time you print at the Service Bureau, don’t forget to step around the corner and view your print in the viewing area. We think you will be happy with the results.
-Michael
Tags: awesomeness, inkjet, light, Service Bureau
As the halcyon days of late summer pass and we drag out our sweaters and flannel in preparation for a proper chicago fall, it is only natural for our thoughts to return to those carefree times when our days were spent lounging by the lake, and taking endless bike rides.
Right.
At the Service Bureau we spend our summers preparing and fine-tuning our operation for the return of students. For me that means mostly creating profiles for any new papers and printers as well as fine tuning those already in our system.
What does this mean exactly?
First of all, I am talking about ICC profiles. I create custom profiles for all our papers and printers. Put simply, this is the way we ensure that the colors you see in your file are interpreted correctly by our printers. (we have 4 printers by the way, 2 Epson 9800′s, an Epson 11880 and our newest Epson 9900)
This is done first by printing color swatches. Thousands of them for every paper and printer we have.
12,000 color swatches waiting to be scanned
Then all the swatches must be “read” into the computer so the profiling software can compare the scanned results with what the program thinks the printed color should be. A few years back this meant reading them all with a handheld scanner. These days I get to use my best friend the Gretag-Macbeth IO scanning table and eye-one spectrophotometer. This takes a bit of time, but it’s mesmerizing to watch.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/6857157]
Once all the targets are read the program compares the results with its own data (tweaked to the parameters we tell it), then crunches the data and spits out a (hopefully) usable profile. If the results are not perfect, it’s back to printing and reading color swatches.
hours and hours of work
It’s all worth it though. The hours I spend creating these profiles ensure the highest quality of precision for your inkjet printing.
The weird part about it is that I actually enjoy it.
-Michael
Tags: awesomeness, ICC profile, inkjet, Service Bureau
modern wing with mock-ups
A question we are often asked at the Service Bureau is, “what’s the biggest job you have ever printed?”. The answer to the question is simple: The Art Institute of Chicago. Or more specifically, The Modern Wing.
modern wing with inkjet mock-ups
Last summer, when the modern wing was preparing to open and the curators were setting up the galleries in their new space, they needed printed mock-ups (or maquettes) to help visualize where the (sometimes massive) works of art would hang. Needless to say they needed to be life sized and perfect color copies.
The Service Bureau was up to the task. Working in conjunction with the museum’s imaging department we created a perfect replica of every piece that was to be hung in the new space (upwards of 300 works of art!). The Service Bureau was excited and proud to be at least a small part of such a historic event.
printing on our Epson 11880
Whereas the Modern Wing maquette job was Service Bureau on a massive scale, we take the same time and energy we put into this print job as we do any job. When bringing your file to the Service Bureau to be printed you can be assured a professional level of quality as well as support.
Hey, if we are good enough for the museum…what do you think we can do for you?
-michael
modern wing with inkjet mock-ups
Tags: aic, awesomeness, inkjet, modern wing
Yes…we know…this has nothing to with printing or output, but here at the service bureau we are slightly obsessed with the future of technology.
Kevin Warwick is a british scientist working on advancing the human condition though human/technological interfaces…i.e. he is slowly turning himself into a cyborg.
Watch this video. He describes the changes he has made to his body.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB_l7SY_ngI]
There are many well respected scientists who believe this is the next logical step in human evolution.
Perhaps in the future you will simply think your image and transmit it via neural interface directly into the service bureau databank…
It could happen.
Michael
Tags: technology, transhumanism
Today we would like to highlight the work of recent SAIC MFA photo recipient Aspen Mayes.
Aspen uses uses our Epson 11880 on luster paper for it’s ability to print fine detail and its amazing wide color gamut (meaning the amount of colors it can actually recreate)
read what whitewall magazine had to say about her image Untitled (Fireflies inside the body of camera, 8:37-8:39PM, June 26, 2008) printed at the Service Bureau.
-Aspen Mays, in her photo, Untitled (Fireflies inside the body of camera, 8:37-8:39PM, June 26, 2008), takes the use of light to an innovative and dynamic level. As the title indicates, Mays uses the fireflies as a light source, an experiment that creates a gradient-like image, which are both a reference and a challenge to photography’s formal elements. The final image is not the result of the artist looking through her lens, composing a frame or arranging a vantage point. In short, Mays is not “seeing” or employing any directional forces. This uncontrolled and unplanned image relies solely on the chemistry between the unexposed film and the fireflies
The Epson 11880 is one of the only fine-art archival inkjet printers capable of reproducing the intensity of color and detailed color shifts in the image.
Go see it for yourself at Golden Gallery on June 19th.
Tags: customer work, inkjet, student work
This is what one million pixels (or one mega-pixel) looks like. Currently the highest mega-pixel available on a digital camera is 160!
http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/20/seitz-6×17-digital-shoots-at-160-megapixels/
Tags: technology
