Printing Images

[John D]

Hi Gerry,
That is very interesting. Like you I shoot in RAW but use Photoshop Elements for mainly sharpening and the smallest of tweaks. I also leave the camera colourspace in sRGB. However I have'nt profiled my monitor (an NEC MultiSyncFE770) using hardware, but have been fortunate to have found the 'colour profile provided by NEC' to give an adequate level of colour management. This is confirmed when a printed image is compared with the colours of the subject image and in turn compared with the monitor colours. (Some allowance must be made of course when comparing the print with the monitor colours due the difference in the way the colours/image is displayed.)
The printer again makes use of the 'colour profile' provided and papers used are also taken into consideration. I do 'tweak' the printer settings at times but this is very seldom.
In addition to the above I calibrate my monitor every 3/4 weeks using 'Quick Gamma' which I find to be very good.
So far I am very pleased with the prints obtained as they are in 'my opinion' and as far as 'my eyesight' can determine a very true representation of the original image.

John D

[zan]

I personally use photobox and have found them to be great. I don't have the money for a decent printer with ink\photo paper at the mo, and online printing works out ideally for me. Maybe if I started selling prints in large numbers, I would probably look into it, but it's too much to start on now.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by zan

I personally use photobox and have found them to be great. I don't have the money for a decent printer with ink\photo paper at the mo, and online printing works out ideally for me. Maybe if I started selling prints in large numbers, I would probably look into it, but it's too much to start on now.

Same here. I use there 15 free prints a month. I find their quality to be very good, and extremely quick. I can order at 10:30 at night and I get an email telling me they're in the post a few hours later! I had a poster done that was much better quality than I managed to get from my printer.

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by John D

I find the above all very interesting and can't believe the trouble most have in printing out their own photographs. I have printed out all my photos from day one and I have many, including calenders.
John D

Hi John, as a matter of interest, what program do you use for your calendars? I have done calendars for ages using different programs, but the ones I have been using have all got problems (one won't display jpg from my Fuji, one crashes as regularly as a clown's car). I have started using DTP, but I used to be able to do them for my diary and so on all in one swoop.

[MeadsMan]

When you use online printers,what size and format do you use,to email your potential prints ? Do you need to do anything to them,or are they generally enhanced at the printers ?

Mark.

[pressld2]

I usually upload full size jpegs which from my D70 means 3000 x 2000 pixels (unless I've cropped) at 100% quality. I haven't yet uploaded any from my D300 but I have had a few 30 x 20 inch posters done and for these I interpolated the images up to between 6000 and 7000 pixels on the longest side.

With the printing site I use (see above) they will enhance saturation and contrast by default but you can uncheck the box and stop them from doing that.

Dave P.

[Geoff F]

Firstly, before I forget, Calendar question from Meta Menardi. Can't speak for John D but I use Serif Page Plus for my calendars. Perhaps not the cheapest of desk top publishing software but I don't use any of the Windows text programmes so it actually works out OK pricewise.

Secondly, prints. I originally went digital to avoid the oversaturated 'colour corrected' prints that I was getting from my local developers. Most of my friends still use them with their digital images. But, if I take a photo of a green sea and a grey sky I don't want it coming back bright blue.

Doing your own printing does take a bit of getting used to but it isn't really difficult. I think the main principles are get a decent photo quality printer (it works out cheaper in the long run) and use top quality paper. Originally I used Epson printers (R800) but I found they did suffer from nozzle clog, although it is simple to automatically clean them if you do get problems. Wanting to go up to A3 I switched allegience and bought a Canon 9000. Seems OK so far; but a lot of professionals prefer the larger and more expensive Epson printers.

It cost me around £400 which I probably won't recoup although paying for an A3 print isn't cheap. I do sell a few seascapes and have found that A3 prints sell a lot better than A4.

So, if you get a lot of enlarged prints and you want total control over the process I think that printing your own is the only option.

[John D]

Originally Posted by Meta menardi

Hi John, as a matter of interest, what program do you use for your calendars? I have done calendars for ages using different programs, but the ones I have been using have all got problems (one won't display jpg from my Fuji, one crashes as regularly as a clown's car). I have started using DTP, but I used to be able to do them for my diary and so on all in one swoop.

Hi Meta, I have tried several but the one I used for 2008 was in fact Free on a CD attached to Digital Photo Magazine Nov 2007. I found this one to be very good, it included several alternative layouts/templates. It was just the case of selecting the preferred layout/template and dragging the selected image after opening in Photoshop Elements. It was also possible to edit layouts and add text as required.
I don't tend to buy if I can obtain an acceptable alternative for FREE.
John D