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While engravers have been LASER engraving photographs for a number of years now, it remains a very popular process Being able to permanently reproduce detailed photographs on a variety of substrates appeals to consumers in a wide range of markets including the gift market (ie.. graduation, baby and family portraits.) Additionally, awards and recognition products can be enhanced with photographs of all kinds. Memorials for humans and pets can also be personalized with pictures. In addition, photographs of buildings, landscapes and historical sites can be permanently laser engraved for a wide range of purposes.
The Equipment
If you are buying a machine for the purpose of making laser engraved photographs, it pays to shop around. Different machines can produce different results when laser engraving photographs. If you already have a machine, it pays to invest the time to fully understand how your system’s driver works. You can do this by first reading the manual and then experimenting. For optimal results, you will want to use a 1.5 to 2” focal length Lens. This will ensure that you get the necessary detail. Photographs are typically engraved at 600 DPI. Your Power and Speed settings will vary depending on the machine, the material, and the desired effect. When it comes to lasering photographs, practice does make perfect. The Photograph Whenever possible, pick photographs with contrast between the background and the image or, when possible, take the picture yourself. This way, you have more control over the variables needed to engrave quality photos such as contrast, brightness, and intensity. Knowing your graphics package will also assist you in altering and enhancing such features. The more you engrave photographs, the easier it will be. Make sure you charge accordingly for the photograph preparation as this can be very time consuming and starting with quality artwork is essential for producing quality results. Processing photographs requires more computer memory than other tasks, so that if you are going to be laser engraving photographs, make sure you have the necessary computer power. A minimum of 256 RAM is recommended. However, more is always better, and these days, extra memory is fairly affordable. We also recommend that you invest in a good Scanner, which will allow you to scan in existing photographs. Again, photographs will require more Resolution than other artwork, so make sure your scanner is up to the task. Software packages for processing photographs do vary. The most popular are CorelPHOTOPAINT or Photoshop. Additionally, some engravers use Photograv, which was designed exclusively for the laser engraving of photographs. What you use will depend on your level of expertise, your system, and your comfort with a certain software product. When starting with an existing, photograph, scan the image in at about 600 dpi, Set the output of your scanner at “millions of colors” (or the selection for the highest quality color possible.) Save as a TIFF file. Use a processing software program like Photoshop or CorelPHOTOPAINT to adjust the brightness and contrast, and then convert to a grayscale. Digital photos can be brought into these programs as well. You will want to brighten the light colors and darken the dark ones, usually controlled by an intensity setting. You can also use a sharpening filter to sharpen the image. Next, you will want to select a halftone pattern. Some laser drivers will do this automatically. This converts the image to black and white dots of various diameters. Small dots look better on some surfaces and large ones will look better on others. The Material For optimal results, you will want to look for materials that laser engrave with contrast. The detail of laser engraved photographs tends to get lost or will look washed out if the contrast is not there. Woods such as alder, oak, cherry, and maple work well. Acrylic, marble, coated metals, and leather are also favorable choices. Glass and mirrors will work but will produce more of a frosted surface etch. Materials that traditionally need additional color added for contrast, such as hard surface materials are not a good choice. Once you find materials that you are comfortable with, stick with them. Not only will you have the settings saved for optimal results, but you will have a really good sense of which ones work best for photograph engraving. Make some samples for your showroom as well, because nothing sells laser engraving like seeing it firsthand.
Conclusion
Investing in the necessary software, hardware and learning curve, will assure that you can be laser engraving beautiful permanent photographs for your customers for years to come.
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