Digital Prints

Advances in technology at the end of the twentieth century led to the creation of new printing methods, including printing directly from digitally based images. Digital printing has revolutionized the way that images are created and distributed, and is used for archival quality photographs as well as artworks that were digitally created or manipulated. Both inkjet and laser printers may be used in the production of final digital prints, depending on the preference of the artist. Kiki Smith, an accomplished printmaker who works in many traditional print media, began experimenting with new technology for digital prints in the 1990s. She made prints such as Untitled (Nest/Trees) (1997) by scanning a series of photographs, then digitally manipulating them and collaging them together. The result was printed on a fine art inkjet printer and is known as an Iris print.

Digital printing drastically changed the production of photographic prints, making it possible to digitally manipulate and then print photographs. Digital printing also made the creation of large-scale prints, which previously had to be made using complex chemical processes, much easier and more widespread. High quality inkjet photographic prints are often referred to as pigment prints, meaning they are printed with pigment-based ink, which is archival and thus can maintain its color for a very long time. The process can be used to print photographs that were originally taken using analog, as well as digital, camera. Some photographers who have produced digital pigment prints include Wolfgang Tillmans, Martha Rosler, Richard Misrach, and Lisa Yuskavage.