Blog Number Two
Well I was wondering if a second blog post was the same as a rock bands second album, always know as difficult (unless of course you were the Beatles!.
Anyway here we go I wasn’t sure what to write about, equipment, aesthetics, locations etc. As I spoke about acquiring a printer in my first blog I thought I would talk a bit about making prints this time.
To me just seeing my images on social media is not fulfilling enough. It is a very transitory experience, view for a few seconds and then move on. Compare this to an image printed and framed on the wall of your home. You see it everyday, the more you look at it the more you see. You can also discuss it with family and friends when they visit. I also like handling prints particularly the tactile feel of a quality heavy paper.
So having made the decision to print, how do you go about it? Well there are two ways of achieving this, have someone else to do your printing or do it yourself.
Personally I am not keen on having someone else print for me as you can loose control of your process. The best option for this option is to work closely with a professional printing lab. This will however be an expensive option. If you rely on on-line printing you completely loose control of the output and this will often lead to disappointment.
As you might guess from the proceeding paragraph I strongly prefer to print my own work. I do understand that this is a personal choice and it better to print than not to print at all!
OK I am not going to write a tutorial on printing, there are many good resources on the web that will show you how to do it, but I am going to share a few points that, in my opinion, are key to successful printing.
Firstly a calibrated monitor is vital. There are a number of devices available I use the i1 Pro that works well for me and I calibrate my monitor every four weeks.
Secondly it is important to have a profile for the paper and ink you use. I use the Epson ink designed for my printer. Other inks are available, and I am sure that the reputable ones are good, but I prefer the manufacturers. For paper I use Fotospeed. Their products are excellent and the company is very helpful and supportive. If you use their paper they will produce a profile specific to your own ink and paper for free.
With these two actions complete you are ready to start printing. I print via Photoshop at the moment, and prior to printing it is important to “soft print” the image to ensure that the printed output matches the edited image on the screen. It is also vital that you choose the let Photoshop manage the colours option and that you use the appropriate profile for your ink and paper combination.
It is worth pointing out that however careful you are in calibrating everything it is very difficult to exactly match what you see on the screen with the printed output. This is entirely due to the fact that your image on the screen is seen via transmitted light, whilst a print is seen via reflected light. However if all the above is done well the differences are very small.
After the image has been edited and soft proofed all you have to do is load the paper and press print!
In a future blog I will talk about the type of paper I use to print my images.