The original watercolor painting is first photographed with a high-resolution digital camera and a tripod. At this first stage of the process, very small details play large roles: The painting must be centered precisely within the frame, and care must be taken to ensure that lighting is even and no reflections occur. Raw image formats are used for capturing the highest levels of detail, and processes are used involving tonemapping, cross-polarization and high dynamic range software to optimize the images.
Using a computer program, the digital image of the original painting is altered to represent the coloring most accurately. Highlights are adjusted to bring out the whites of the painting properly. Accurately setting the shadow or black point adds contrast and keeps giclee watercolor prints from appearing flat. Gray balance often has to be adjusted, and the image must be cropped. While tweaking aspects like the photo's S-curve or adding an unsharp mask, the photo is matched to the original painting.
Each giclee print is created one at a time on a special type of printer. First, the printing medium is selected and attached to a spinning drum. Whether printing on canvas or paper, the optimized image is printed on the spinning surface by misting the inks at a rate of four million droplets per second, each smaller than a human blood cell; the final image resolution is approximately 1,800 dots per inch. Each giclee reproduction takes approximately 30 to 60 minutes to print.
Printed giclees must be cut to size and allowed to dry, typically overnight. Care is taken not wrinkle the paper or canvas while drying; prints should also not be exposed to debris that could dry with the ink. In order to preserve the high quality of giclee watercolor reprints, dried canvas prints are coated with varnish, while paper prints are matted and framed. This protects them from sunlight and other types of damage. Finally, canvas prints are stretched over a wooden frame.