Dye transfer is virtually the only color photographic printing process accepted by curators and museums as collectible art objects.

Dye transfer prints will last much longer than color photo prints made with the traditional light-sensitive chemical paper which is subject to light exposure and color degradation. Commercial printing is ephemeral and artificial.

By contrast, dye transfer printing is a painstaking and expensive process whereby a transparency is separated into color separation negatives & matrices representing the three basic colors. They are printed using cyan, magenta, and yellow natural dyes, that are transferred in perfect registration producing the best high quality prints accepted as collectible art objects.

Why are dye transfers more valuable than regular photographs If you've asked yourself how dye transfers are priced and couldn't find an answer, here are some reasons.

First, dye transfer printing is a delicate, painful, labor intensive technique, requiring meticulous handling of every aspect of the process. (click here to see some of the steps in the printing process). This process adds hours of work to a photographer's job and allows you to acquire not a photographic reproduction but an original piece of art. It also gives each image a unique personality not transmitted by any other photo printing technique.

First, dye transfer printing is a delicate, painful, labor intensive technique, requiring meticulous handling of every aspect of the process. (click here to see some of the steps in the printing process). This process adds hours of work to a photographer's job and allows you to acquire not a photographic reproduction but an original piece of art. It also gives each image a unique personality not transmitted by any other photo printing technique.

Secondly, because of it's use of natural dyes, dye transfer prints last much longer (400 years or more) than common chemical printing. Regular, commercial photographs begin to fade over time and the color definition is vastly inferior to that produced by the dye transfer process. In fact, dye transfer is the only printing process accepted as museum quality.

Another consideration is that the actual dye transfer process is rather expensive and limited. Usually no more then 100 copies of each photograph are created, and in most cases much less, instantly increasing their Est. Value. Actually, some of the IIPA's Permanent Collection images belong to limited editions of 2 and up to 5 prints. You see, after an original mold has been created it can print only so many prints before it brakes down. Once it does it can never be accurately reproduced.

What's more, having been printed does not mean it is still available. Many prints disappear, get lost, are destroyed, or are misplaced, thus adding Est. Value to those who remain, especially those, like the one's housed in the IIPA's Permanent Collection which not only have survived, but are still in mint condition.

So, as you can see, owning a dye transfer limited edition print is equivalent to owning a unique painting where beauty and Est. Value combine with quality, physical condition, desirability, and availability to form a masterpiece.

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