HP used the HP Designjet L25500 and Z6200 Photo Printer to produce large format portraits for Chris FloydHP has teamed up with award-winning UK-based photographer Chris Floyd to demonstrate the capabilities of its large format digital inkjet technology in the area of art reproduction. The results are on display at the Host Gallery, 1 Honduras Street, London EC1Y 0TH from the 3rd to 17th November, entitled “One Hundred & Forty Characters”.
Floyd looked to HP for help with his project in order to reproduce his images as large format portraits. This involved working with the HP Bracknell-based team who used both the HP Designjet L25500 Printer - which runs aqueous-based HP Latex Inks - and the HP Designjet Z6200 Photo Printer to output the prints.
The concept was inspired by Floyd's interaction with the photographers, editors and other individuals he follows on Twitter. “One Hundred & Forty Characters” is designed to link the gap between traditional relationships and those formed through modern online communications.
Floyd said:
"The project essentially puts faces to 140 of the online names I have become familiar with and I wanted to show a mixture of around 100 portraits comprising both individual and group shots. I knew that due to the strong, harsh tones in this particular project, inkjet technology would deliver a far better result than would be achieved with traditional photographic prints."
Using the HP Designjet Z6200 Photo Printer, HP produced 100, 16 x 20 inch prints on HP Matte Litho-Realistic Paper. This smooth, fine-art paper was selected for its ability to successfully reproduce the strong black tones within Floyd's images. The Z6200 printer also allowed the team to output the entire job in just half a day.
Similarly, the specific attributes of the HP Designjet L25500 Printer proved critical in meeting the requirement to produce an additional 12 6ft high life-sized portraits.
Floyd added:
"The images are very stark, saturated black and white prints on white background, which required lots of heavy black ink", he said. "HP were great at being able to bring this out, adjusting the contrast to ensure it was reproduced faithfully in the printed portraits.
Victoria Walton, UK & Ireland Manager, HP Designjet Supplies commented:
"Using HP Latex Technologies ticked an additional set of boxes to ensuring fantastic output quality as well as odourless prints,” she said. “We used recyclable HP PVC-Free Wallpaper substrate with our water-based, HP Latex Inks which is indicative of the increased demand by photographers to be able to display their work as wall coverings and effectively promote their skill behind the lens."
According to Floyd, the printed results are exactly what he was hoping for: "I am absolutely thrilled to bits with the fantastic results achieved," he concluded.
More information is available at
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