Being a photographer in the digital age can make you lazy. It’s all too easy to take hundreds and thousands of images and do absolutely nothing with them, leaving them to lie abandoned in some obscurely named folder on the remotest part of your hard-drive. As for getting them printed – who ever heard of such nonsense!!
However, as the organiser of The RPS advisory days, in Bath and now at the new HQ in Bristol, I have become more aware of the importance of good quality printing and how the impact of getting it right can make all the difference to your assessment result.
I don’t generally print any of my images as I sell them on sites such as Fine Art America where it’s done for me. Any printing I have had to do in the past, i.e. previous Associate panels, has been done by a very good man that likes to print, aka my husband John.
The Power of Printing
As I embarked on the final leg of my fellowship journey, I decided that now was as good a time as any to take a closer look at how to print my own work and see what was involved. So it was with a little trepidation that I booked myself onto one of the Imaging Warehouse print courses (home of the Permajet papers) , Print with Confidence, led by Leigh Preston FRPS and Pete Johnson LRPS. The course is one of several currently run by The Imaging Warehouse.
If I’m totally honest the thought of attending a print course sent me into a semi-comatose state so you can image my surprise at how enjoyable the course was AND how much there was to know about printing!!
Who knew about printer profiles and paper profiles and matching the printer profile with the paper profile for a unique personal profile? I DO . . . now.
The course was brilliantly presented by Leigh and Pete with plenty of geeky titbits thrown in. There was no ego-inflating spiel from either gentlemen just lots of enthusiasm and a willingness to impart wisdom and information about the different types of paper available and the images each paper would suit. Likewise, Steve from The Imaging Warehouse was available throughout the day to give additional guidance on the different types of Permajet papers. Although special offers were available if you bought on the day there was no pressure to do so – which is always nice.
For anyone thinking about improving their printing skills or want to know more about the printing process then the course is highly recommended.
What next?
As for me – I’m now on the look out for a new printer and am determined to get this beast mastered. Profiles at the ready. (Update, I got me a very nice little Canon Pro-10s and the prints are gorgeous!)
You might now be wondering which paper I settled on for the panel? Museum Heritage 310 all the way for these images.
And as for the subject matter – well you’ll just have to hang on a little bit longer – sorry!!