How to Mount a MASSIVE Landscape Photography Print AT HOME - Using a cold roll DryTac Laminator

[@thilaisimpson]

This was GREAT; thank you☀️

[@MrNegative]

I’m glad it was helpful! I need to make an update to this video

[@WildSotaPhoto]

Just found your channel and am enjoying the content. One thing to keep in mind when comparing those cost of outsourcing vs. doing it all yourself is your time invested. When your outsourcing for anything you're paying for their incurred labor but you also need to include that in your own pricing estimates. Don't sell yourself short. Any time you're spending on the that whole process is time missed out shooting and creating. I prefer to do as much of it (printing, finishing, matting & framing) as well but going on 60 one of the most important things in my life now is my time.

[@MrNegative]

Those are excellent points. It’s something I have struggled with as often I’ll pass on going out to shoot because I’ll think of the backlog of work I still have ahead of me (developing and scanning film, processing etc.) and decide I don’t want to add to the backlog.

[@MarkWodjykl]

As a photographer capturing, processing, printing, mounting, and framing fine art prints, I agree there is a need to outsource sometimes. I generally try to offload tasks to skilled helpers who work in my studio, under my direct supervision, so that customers are not getting prints drop-shipped from Bay Photo and never touching the hands of the artist. I recall that Ansel Adams hand-printed every single one of his prints through an enlarger, dodging and burning by hand, and every painter puts every single brushstroke on a painting, so the more I can do, the better.

[@colinfwalters]

Thanks for this informative video

[@MrNegative]

I’m glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching

[@nealcrum6404]

Thank you for some technical content about your processes on printing and framing, I've been missing this on KZbin. Enjoying your work!

[@MrNegative]

So glad you're enjoying it! That's a large part of why I started this channel. I felt there was a gap in content of actually printing and finishing images. Thank you for watching!

[@drb9705]

More great information, thank you!👍

[@janbrand2075]

New to your channel really great info.

[@MrNegative]

So glad it’s helpful! I have some more printing videos coming up soon.

[@usablellc6735]

Much appreciated. I make my own picture frames and I've traditionally matted my work under glass. It seems as if nowadays people are looking for work which is and I've been scratching my head about the best way to do this. I'm going to look into that substrate that you mentioned. That said, I would like to find an alternative to a laminator such as the one you're using. I'm just not sure I have the budget or even the space for one more piece of equipment.

[@MrNegative]

I ended up going with a bigger laminator. For small prints, the little one is fine. However, on longer panos it’s really difficult not having a take up reel. I also found the adjustment knobs to be difficult to get paralleled. If they’re not perfect, the print will feed through skewed. Again, not much of a problem on smaller prints but the six foot prints were really challenging. I’m glad the video was helpful though. I plan to make some updated mounting videos soon.

[@MarkWodjykl]

This is just what I need. Thank you. Do you ever apply a laminate film to protect the print (probably wouldn't work on bamboo but on a smooth paper like Moab slickrock). If so, what film do you use? I am hoping to find something optically clear, like the adhesive film used for acrylic facemounts, but with adhesion on just one side as I wouldn't use acrylic.

[@MrNegative]

When using a rag paper I use a varnish (I show this process in my most recent video). This is how I finish most of my prints. When I have an image that I want the highest level of detail I will print on a gloss RC paper and laminate with a Drytac laminate. The process is largely the same as mounting but you have to be extra careful with dust as even a small bit of dust will show as a bubble in the laminated print.

[@MarkWodjykl]

@@MrNegative Awesome and thank you. I am concerned about the market appeal of dye sub on aluminum. People like the pop, but I don't like the CMYK color gamut compared to my 11-color Canon 4100. I will try the method you mention, while also putting out varnished canvas and rag prints (I just saw your awesome video on that) on dibond.

[@MrNegative]

@user-kp1jk5fe4v I’ve never been a fan of dye sub. It’s definitely eye catching and has the benefit of being very durable but the images always look a little Soft to me due to the nature of the process

[@MarkWodjykl]

At 9:22, when you gently feed the adhesive through the roller and stick it to the table, there is another method that works. Simply bend the adhesive sheet around the front edge of the leader board so that it sticks to the bottom of the leader board. Then when you feed the leader board through the rollers, the adhesive sticks to the top of the leader board and you are off to the races. No sticking to the table, and no cutting is needed.

[@MrNegative]

Ah! That’s brilliant! I’ll definitely use that going forward. Thank you!

[@mppulidot]

In order to be more archival can you use an archival adhesive instead of the plastic adhesive film to mount the picture? did you evaluate that deviation in your process?

[@MrNegative]

Marco, that’s a great question. For items I want to be archival I will either hinge mount or use a repositionavle rag mount adhesive that I dry mount. However, when laminating through a cold roll laminator there really is no such thing as archival. (Some will claim but they’re not truly archival) Archival items shouldn’t be mounted and laminated in the first place. The mounting adhesive I used here (dytrac multitac) has a ph of 6 which is almost neutral. I typically look at mounting solutions two ways - if I want it to last at least 20 years and look exactly as it does now (with proper display conditions of course), I mount to a rigid substrate with a neutral adhesive and then laminate. If it’s a piece I want to last as long as I will (my darkroom prints for example) I will use a museum archival mounting substrate with either hinge mount or reposition able dry mount. Hope this helps!

[@MarkWodjykl]

@@MrNegative the Drytac spec sheet for multitac says it is ph 6, but I checked with multitac and they reported it is in fact ph 6.8, which is basically acid-free. Should add a few years of life at the back end!