Lucid (Lucid Imaging)

Lucid, Piezography® print studio in Croydon

Lucid, formerly Lucid Imaging, is a fine art print studio run by artist, photographer and printmaker Denise N Ebanks, based in Croydon, Greater London. The studio presents itself as the UK home of Piezography® Pro and states that it introduced large-format split-tone monochrome carbon pigment printing to the country in March 2021, when it converted one of its four large-format printers for this purpose.

Its work is aimed at artists, photographers and galleries, and combines printing with collaborative project support. According to the website, the studio has collaborated remotely with clients as far afield as Hong Kong and Taiwan to produce exhibition prints.

Piezography® Pro and large-format colour

The studio's main technique is Piezography® Pro, a monochrome printing system using carbon pigment inks which, according to the website's description, uses ten black inks: four cool tones, four warm tones, a Photo HD black, a Matte UltraHD black and a Gloss Chroma Optimiser to eliminate gloss differential. The result is reproducible split-tone archival prints on a wide variety of papers up to 44 inches wide.

The studio also offers wide-gamut archival pigment colour printing and Advanced Black & White Photo on a 64-inch printer, capable of printing up to 64 inches on the shortest side. It also sells A4 test prints so that clients can assess their image in Piezography® Pro or wide-gamut colour.

Papers, certifications and partners

Lucid works with archival fine art papers and canvases from brands such as Hahnemühle, Awagami, Canson-Infinity, Ilford Galerie, Moab and Breathing Color, and declares itself open to archival paper proposals from its clients. The studio presents itself as a Hahnemühle Certified Studio Platinum, Canson Infinity Certified Print Lab and Awagami Factory Digital Print Lab; in the case of Awagami, the website notes that its washi is made entirely by the Fujimori family in Tokushima, Japan.

The page listed as new for 2026 the addition of Hahnemühle Photo Gloss Baryta X 320 g/m² and Natural Line Hahnemühle Gloss Hemp 305 g/m² papers. It also mentions recognition as Certified Mentor of the Year 2025 and Platinum Studio 2026, and its participation as printer for the Photo London X Hahnemühle Student Award 2023.

Flextight scanning and complementary services

The studio carries out virtual drum scanning with a Hasselblad (Imacon) Flextight scanner, which the website describes as possibly sharper than the Hasselblad Flextight X5. It scans negatives and transparencies from 35 mm up to 4 x 5 large format, generating 16-bit files ideal for printing with Piezography Pro.

Complementary services and products include ICC profiling with X-Rite i1iO 3, gift cards and the sale of the Hahnemühle Signing Pen Duo, a case containing an archival-quality pigment liner and graphite pencil for signing works on matt, satin and gloss paper. Clients receive this case with editions of five or more, and it can also be purchased separately.

Collaborations and printed work

The website details collaborations with artists and exhibition projects. Lucid was the official print partner for the Peckham 24 2024 open call, whose curatorial theme was BACK TO THE FUTURE and which offered an emerging curator or collective the opportunity to present an exhibition at the festival.

The studio has produced archival prints for gallery artist Hannah Hughes, whose collages and still life studies have been exhibited with Robert Morat Galerie at Photo London 2022 and Paris Photo 2023; it also produced the special print inserted in the artist's book Mirror Image, published by Jane & Jeremy and launched at Photo London 2023. Other works and projects cited include the installation An Internal Odyssey by Tzion Essel (2024), the project Morphogenesis by Eugénie Shinkle (2022), the exhibition Memoryscapes by Ursula Schulz-Dornburg at Large Glass (2023), the series Hollow Earth by Lucy Rogers, Beloved by Sarah Garland, The Book of Sand by Julie F Hill at HS Projects (2024), Blue Parrot by Alex Mourant and works by Lakruwan Rajapaksha, Cristina Filimon and the Black History Month exhibition by Alternative Arts.

Working process and consultation

The studio approaches commissions as a collaborative process that begins with a free 30-minute consultation or an in-person printing session, whose cost indicated on the website ranges from £200 to £800 and includes prints. The collaborative experience arose, according to the company's account, from a day of testing with artist, photographer and photography reader Eugénie Shinkle, in which they compared Piezography® Pro prints on different papers with an original darkroom print from a twenty-year-old transparency.

The website also mentions that the studio offers freshly ground coffee to its visitors. The Piezography® brand is a registered trademark of Cone Editions Press, Vermont, United States.

Location and contact

Phone: 020 8681 2424 · Email: print@lucidimaging.co.uk · Hours: Monday to Friday 10:00 to 16:00