Tom Dell Photography - Original Giclee Prints

I use the Giclée method of image reproduction because it offers such vivid colors and a dramatic sense of depth in my images and the ability to print on paper, canvas, cloth and many other materials.

Giclée (zhee-clay / gee-clay) is an advanced printmaking process for creating high quality fine art reproductions. The attainable quality that Giclée printmaking affords makes the reproduction virtually indistinguishable from the original artwork. The result is wide acceptance of high quality Giclées by galleries, museums, and private collectors.

Giclée is an individually produced, high-resolution, high-fidelity reproduction done on a special large format printer. Giclées are produced from digital files. Also, since many artists now produce only digital art, there is no "original" that can be hung on a wall. Giclées solve that problem, while creating a whole new vibrant medium for art. Giclée can be printed on any number of media, from canvas to watercolor paper to transparent acetates. Giclées can be superior to traditional lithography in several ways.

The colors are brighter, last longer, and are so high-resolution that they are virtually continuous tone, rather than tiny dots. The range, or "gamut", of color for Giclée is beyond that of lithography.

 Lithography uses tiny dots of four colors--cyan, magenta, yellow and black--to fool the eye into seeing various hues and shades. Colors are "created" by printing different size dots of these four colors. Giclées use inkjet technology, but far more sophisticated than your desktop printer. The process employs six colors--light cyan, cyan, light magenta, magenta, yellow and black--of lightfast inks and finer, more numerous, and replaceable print heads resulting in a wider color gamut, and the ability to use various media to print on. The ink is sprayed onto the page, actually mixing the inks on the page to create true colors.