Please find below some details to ensure that you know exactly what you get when you make a purchase at Oberg PhotoGraphics. Here is one external source which helps you understand the terms below. And here is another source which explains what is meant by limited (digital) edition prints.
The possible difference in appearance
The photos used on this site are either the original digital files that I use for printing or they are photos taken of a work printed on one or the other media (fine arts paper, canvas, metals). This ensures the most truthful reproduction. However, there will always be a slight difference in tone or texture between screen images and images printed on paper and the screen tone and calibration of your computer screen and my screen is never exactly the same.
This is unavoidable and I do not offer a money-back guarantee.
What type of paper or canvas will my print be printed on?
Only the best – i.e. either Canson, Hahnemühle or Innova and first-class, photo-prepared canvas for the limited editions, namely Lyve. Being the artist, it is my decision which particular paper type to use to create the most exquisite final print. All papers are minimum 310 gram per square meter (gsm).
All paper types are matte, no prints come on glossy surfaces (thus the resemblance with graphic prints and the word PhotoGraphics).
Unique works can be printed on water-colour paper such as Waterford or Canson and also on special handmade papers – and, if so, it is indicated. Some are printed on various types of metal such as aluminium or steel; these will be used or scrapped metals that have scratches, marks and perhaps colours etc and therefore can never be re-produced.
Details will be indicated on the print documentation you receive with your print (see below).
What formats/sizes can I buy?
Formats are stated next to each work in the Shop. In general, my prints come in the following sizes:
A4 = 210 x 297 mm or 8.3 x 11.7 inches;
A3+ = 329 x 483 mm or 12.95 x 19.01 inches;
A2 = 420 x 594 mm or 16.53 x 23.38 inches;
A1+ = 610 x 914 mm or 24.01 x 35.97 inches.
Not all works are printed in all four sizes; for instance, certain prints contain such fine details that small formats will not do them justice. The sizes available for each print are indicated next to each work in the shop.
Should you wish something bigger than A1+, please write to me and we shall find the best solution. Such prints are more expensive.
How is the printing done, on what printer and by whom?
I do the printing of the work you purchase on my Epson Stylus Pro 7800 inkjet printer. My computer, software, large screen and printer is an integrated system with both standard and hand-made colour profiles and therefore superior to the results from mass-producing shops. No light-based process is used; you get a genuine quality inkjet print even on canvas and metal.
After it has been printed, I let the pigment sink in and dry for a few hours or a day, sign and number the print and finally it is sprayed for protection purposes.
Limited editions, numbered and signed
I don’t do mass production. You get an exquisite piece of art that exists in only very few copies, all signed, number and accompanied with an authenticity document signed by me (see next section).
The edition run will be small, 12 or less. The print you purchase will be numbered like “3/12” meaning it is the third in an edition of max 12.
The edition size for the same work will never be increased at a later point. When an edition of, say, 12 has been sold, that work is sold out forever. As the artist and printer, I reserve additionally up to 5 copies for my own use, archive and exhibition. These are signed A.P. – Artist’s Proof.
Authenticity and print document
With each print you purchase comes a detailed data sheet signed in hand by me. It contains the work’s title, often the location of the image, year, a number, paper quality and size. This is your guarantee that you obtain a genuine, unique print the print run of which will never exceed the number stated.
Copyright
Copyright remains with me as the artist. All prints are sold for private single use and no re-production/scanning is permitted after you have purchased it.
Reproduction
If you find an image here that you’d like to obtain a licence to reproduce for a publication or for an advertising purpose – or for a newspaper or magazine – please contact me and we shall find a solution. I often have more versions of an image or can make it. Prices depend on the purpose and other circumstances in each case.
How should I handle the print upon arrival?
Prints are sent in sturdy tubes. Be careful not to damage your print when pulling it out of the tube. Always hold the print at the edges, avoid touching its surface. These fine arts papers are very sensitive. If you need to touch any part of the surface, be sure your fingers are absolutely clean and dry, perhaps use a cotton glove.
When the print has been sent to you in a tube it may be somewhat rounded when you take it out. Let it rest for some days on a flat clean surface but do not put any heavy items on top of your print. It will surely flatten out by itself after some time. Put the silk wrapping paper in the tube over them to avoid dust or insects leaving marks on it.
The paper must be flat before you get it framed.
Can I get my print framed?
In principle not. How you want to frame the work is up to you. All prices here are for the print itself and do not include a frame. The only exception is where unique works have been framed as shown in the Shop catalogue.
What will be the best type of frame for the image?
Here is what I would suggest that you take into consideration:
– First of all, the fine art paper with its texture, tone of white, edges and thickness is a part of the art work.
– The glass of the frame should never touch the printed area.
– If you like, you may use a passepartout, but I would avoid that quite old-fashioned method of display.
– What I recommend is a kind of box or show case frame: the print is fixed (acid-free tape!) to a back sheet (acid-free again!) and hangs freely a few millimetres out from it, so there appears a shadow around it when light falls upon it.
Something like this:
In this case, you will see the whole paper and its edges; you let the paper “live” and won’t have to struggle with finding a passepartout that matches the print. This means that the frame profile must be a few centimetres broad to permit the elevation of the paper and space between the print and the glass – thus more like a thin box.
Normal glass is cheap and good, but it also gives you all the reflections from lamps, the viewer or the room in which it hangs – which can be distracting from the work itself. A more expensive solution is to use the new type of glass – sometimes called “museum glass” – with a higher crystal content that eliminates virtually all reflections without distorting the image you see.
Depending on where you hang it you may also consider to not have a glass in front of it at all.
Preferably have your frame made by a professional rather than buying a mass-produced frame.
What about prints on canvas?
In principle, photographic prints look best on fine art papers. But there are categories – such as Photo Paintings, Portraits and Collages and for photographic works that are hand-coloured – for which canvas may be interesting too.
Please note that they will be printed in the same formats as papers and not on bigger canvases to be mounted on a tenter; the work is simply printed on canvas instead of paper and you mount it like a graphic print, as described above. I have always thought that canvas was an interesting media for photography but it does not have to be used on a tenter.
In summary
You will get an exquisite, unique piece of art in a very limited edition with all possible guarantees.
I sincerely hope it will be a daily source of joy for a long time!
Other questions? Please use the Contact menu above.