(Click here for a larger version, Apple 27″ native)
Forest IV, Selangor, Malaysia. 57×22″ (145x56cm) printed area – Ultraprint on Permajet Portrait White matte cotton paper; $1,600 including DHL shipping anywhere in the world. Limited edition of 10 prints, never to be printed again at this size. Click on to order… It seems that some of the print offerings over on the gallery site are getting lost in the ether – so I will continue to offer some of what I feel are the exceptionally special images here.
Earlier instalments in the Forest series were created purely on the basis of aesthetics. This remains, of course, but in addition I now have a clear objective: to capture the essence and bring the experience of these places to the viewer in a very personal way. It is often unfeasible to travel to these places, and who knows how long they’ll remain? I intend to continue the series with a mix of conserved, natural and man-made plantations as a preservation and showcase of diversity.
Forest IV is part of a conserved primary rainforest at the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia; in the full size print it is clear that some trees bear tags – this is because they are either extremely atypical or extremely typical trees representative of the greater rainforest in Malaysia. Their health is being monitored in a relatively controlled environment as a barometer of the overall ecosystem. Purpose aside, FRIM is open to the public and a very calm and enjoyable place in which to pass a few hours in the company of nature and little else*. I chose to shoot it on an overcast and slightly rainy day to give the leaves a bit of glisten and sparkle to allow the print to brings that sense of moist, primeval calm to the viewer.
*Providing of course you brought mosquito repellant. I forgot, and incurred 27 bites in the hour or so it took me to make Forest IV.
The objective of the Ultraprint has never been to make an image that is a one-trick pony: I don’t want to make images that just look good for the first time, but lack depth on subsequent viewing. The last thing you want to hang in your home is something that fades into background after the 10th or 100th viewing, like the visual equivalent of elevator music. You want something calming that encourages contemplation and rewards closer viewing with something new every time.
To give you an idea of just how much information is in this print – and how much is lost in electronic viewing. The tiny red box in the top right navigator pane represents the area of a 2560px-wide 27″ monitor in relation to the whole image. Now, imagine all of that condensed down to 57″ wide. Click here for a larger version.
It started out with the desire to pack all of the captured information into a size that was manageable and accessible, but the desire to create deeply immersive images has lead to going larger – at the same level of detail. This particular image will also be the highest resolution print (approx. 0.65 GP) we’ve ever made using our proprietary Ultraprint process. Normal ‘excellent quality’ images are around 240-300 real PPI. We’re printing at 720PPI; it takes a loupe to register all of the detail, but the effect to the naked eye is one of continuous tone and detail; imagine a Retina screen but with four times the density. You can see the difference very clearly in this comparison.
Relative size – that’s a D750 above keeping the proof company. I ran out of dining table. Remember, this is a 720PPI print at native resolution; not upsized.
It was stitched from 59 Nikon D810/ Otus 85 images with approximately 1,500 manual control points, and represents a significant technical challenge both in capture and stitching – the slightest bit of wind will move leaves and branches and require starting again, or heavy manual correction (or both). it’s very easy to get lost in for hours and most certainly feels like you’re there – rather than looking at it in the form of a print or representation. The difference is subtle, but important. Those of you who’ve seen the Ultraprints will know what I mean; if not, you can get a fair idea from the testimonials below.
The image will be printed in a limited edition of 10, never to be printed again at this size. Forest III sold out in a couple of weeks, so you may not want to contemplate for too long. The printed area is 57×22″ (145x56cm) on Permajet Portrait White matte cotton rag. We’ve found this holds detail better than the previous Canson Platine Fiber Rag Baryta we used, whilst being much easier to handle and view in larger sizes due to the matte surface and better reflection control (not to mention a complete lack of baryta dust, of course). Wesley Wong at Giclee Art will take care of the printing.
Please note that this will be the final Forest image available to purchase online. Forest V onwards (up to XVII, currently) are available from Julian Sander at the Feroz Galerie in Bonn, with more locations to follow. Forest XII is currently available for viewing by appointment at Feroz.
Thank you in advance. Please click here to order and remember to include your phone number for the courier in the comment field at checkout.
Selected customer testimonials on previous Ultraprint editions
Michel Rubinstein: Dear MT, I LOVE your picture; framed it under 5 mm plexiglas; unbelievably rich, lush, luminous and quiet; the myriads of details just come out to make still more…contemplative, I would say. I would not call it « art » (whole can of worms); just wanted you to know it sits close to a large Candida Höfer, a David Lachapelle and a Greg Crewdson; and it is by far the one with which I have the strongest «relationship » , the incredible resolution conveying so well the calm and light; and at the end of the day, it is the one I am the proudest to own.
Roger Wojahn: I just received Black Island, my first Ultraprint! Ming, it’s just sensational in real life! Thanks so much for going to this much trouble to raise the bar for print making. It’s just incredible!
Gerner Christensen: With suitable presence of anxiety I opened the roll this morning. What a moment !!! To see this fantastic photo, to see this fantastic print art, this paper quality, to enter into the fantastic detailed and still silky soft universe of pure eye-bliss, yes it all took me away to dreamland. It is an exquisite pleasure all through to dwell with this photo presented in this ultimate way, I couldn’t get my eyes of it. Showing my wife having fetched a loupe to dive in further, we both got lost in time and space. It took 1/2 hour just to think about anything else. Amazing Ming. Now I am not sure, or am I, if anybody else, except of course those I know are taken by the experience themselves, would get such an ecstatic feel looking at this photo in Ultraprinted, but I am obsessed by the perfection this printed image really is. To view such a photo/print makes standard hi-rez prints look poor and uninteresting. Yes I even think I prefer the Ultraprint over a projected diapositive when it’s best. Thank you Ming making these type of prints available and please do not tempt me over the line to fill up all walls with your art 🙂
Praneeth Rajsingh: I received my copy of the Fog, Vienna today. I am really happy with the print. I placed the Ultraprint and another print of mine from Wesley side by side and the differences were as clear as night and day. Though this particular picture is different from the New Zealand series, the tree to the left of the frame really stood out for me and the detail was impeccable. Planning to get a loupe like you suggested on your certificate of authenticity and see what I can find then.
David Kimmel: I’ve followed all of the posts documenting the development of the ultra prints from the beginning but you truly cannot appreciate what they are and their importance until they are experienced in person. In that way, you have an uphill battle marketing them. I am very interested in purchasing a print. I think it will do 3 things: provide me with a reminder of what I learned in MOI, it will also provide me with an example of what to strive for technically and artistically, but most importantly it will be a beautiful piece of art to add to my home. The hard part is selecting an image. I absolutely loved ‘Matcha’ not only for the beautiful colours but the way it transports the viewer to a Japanese cafe (is that indeed where it was taken?). The other image that stands on in my mind is one of the landscapes from New Zealand of a lake whose name escapes me. I remember the beautiful subtle earth tones and the small isolated lake in the foreground on the right.
Christian Tekath: Just wanted to drop you a quick thank you for the excellent print/photo, which arrived in perfect condition on Monday. If you ever consider a workshop in Germany, let me know! 😉
Jan Martin: What a nice surprise. It is beautiful! It is perfect. It is my inspiration! This and the Swan are my two favorite photos of yours. It is going on the wall directly in front of my desk. I can’t wait to figure out how to frame it — any suggestions of what might be best? Do I need special archival mat boards, etc? The packaging was perfect — nary a dent — so I hope this worked for all your customers. I took the print to the best local framer I could find and I must say, he was very impressed with the image and the printing. He took out his magnifying glass to examine, and spent a lot of time thinking about framing options. We opted for matting (otherwise it’s against the glass and that didn’t seem right!) and a thin black frame. I didn’t do a dry mount because that also seemed damaging, so we are doing photo corners and I hope that will work well enough. If not, I can always have it dry mounted later. You guys rock!
Andre Yew: I got the Ultraprints today, and they are amazing! Anyway, the detail and tonality look great. I especially like the highlights off the tree trunks in the color picture. I feel like the paper’s texture almost detracts from the detail because it can get in the way of the actual detail. I also have to be careful with my light source so the specular reflection of the light doesn’t obscure detail. Looking at it through a 4x loupe, I feel like I could zoom in forever and still see more detail. It’s certainly a unique and special offering that no one else is even attempting, so it’s very valuable for that alone, despite the many other considerable qualities of the prints. Thanks for offering it again, and I for one hope you don’t get the Pentax, because I wouldn’t know what to do with bigger Ultraprints!
Marcos Hatada – Just received the ultraprints. They are incredible! So unbelievably beautiful!!
Harsh Agrawal: Forest II is the finest print I have ever laid my eyes on in my entire life. My vocabulary doesn’t have enough superlatives to qualify or quantify the magnificence of this art piece. It is beyond stunning.
Matthias Gaiser: The Ultraprint has arrived – and it’s everything I expected it to be. In fact, I’ll have to rearrange the pictures on my walls to make room for it in order to appreciate it fully, i.e. it’ll get the best spot available! Wonderful work – in all respects! Thank you both very, very much!
Bob Prangnell: Received the Ultraprint – very nice thank you. Beautiful colors and amazing detail and 3-d effect. I said to my wife that I could lock you in a bathroom and you’d come out with a dozen great shots – and you proved that today with “Towel”
Junaid Rahim: Very nice prints Ming, really enjoying them. Looking at forest II I kind of rue not getting the bigger prints for the tokyo set. But the colours are lovely and definitely some lovely detail in them. I think Forest II will have to be framed. Forest II is one of those shots that really grows on you with time as you start seeing more and more detail in it. So happy at least that one is the more ‘native’ size!
Junaid Rahim (second print): Finally got the print in my hand! A few things to let you know – the packaging was much better this time with the harder back to prevent bending, so please continue with this! Also has something changed with the printing process from last time? From my own eye, I perceive the print quality to be a bit better or is it simply down to the tonality of the colours being different from the Cuba pics vs the autumn in tokyo ones?
Very happy again and look forward to getting one from the 645Z – hope you put a run out Ming after your New Zealand trip!
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[…] sorts of things can and generally do go wrong at the 11th hour. Did I sell more prints? Sort of. Forest IV mostly sold out, and I also printed a one-off Forest VII as a 5x6ft Ultraprint on a lightbox […]