Printing 101

[robdickinson]

Hi people!  I have mostly up until now hid my head in the sand on printing , relying on professional printers to do my work for me! I have had great results this way but its time to start learning and working on my own prints, if not for sale just for me. I am working on a dell 2711 calibrated and prints from shops come out looking right.

I've been lucky to have just been gifted a canon Pixma pro 1.  I know this has some limitations but in general it looks a decent A3+ printer I can certainly get good prints out of.

Except I dont know where to start! I normally just send stuff to my (mg-6150) multi function without doing a whole lot. I use windows (8.1) and photoshop cc.

I will setup the printer this evening, download canons pack of ICC paper profiles, and have a general muck around. Every time I look at printing it seems to rapidly fall down a rabit hole of colour managent etc often with options in apps I cant find etc.

[Chris_Brown]

I recommend "The Digital Print" by Jeff Schewe. It covers everything you need to get a good print.

[Mark D Segal]

Luminous Landscape "From Camera to Print" video tutorial. Check it out on this website's Shop.

[robdickinson]

Thanks, will check them both out. was hoping for an online option so the video may work better.

[Tony Jay]

...Every time I look at printing it seems to rapidly fall down a rabit hole of colour managent etc often with options in apps I cant find etc.

You may have been led down rabbit holes previously.
Actually with Ps or Lr, the printer and its driver, as well as the appropriate ICC paper/printer profiles you have all you need to deal with colour management as far as setting up an image to print appropriately.
I am making an assumption that you are already using a good monitor that is correctly calibrated and profiled.
The CPS tutorials already recommended will quickly allow you to integrate your entire workflow.

Tony Jay

[robdickinson]

Thanks Tony. Yes a dell U2711 calibrated.

I have the printer, PC with windows 8/1 above monitor, Photoshop CC. I have loaded ICC profiles into PS before and soft proofed but I think thats abotu as far as I have got.

I dont really have any specific paper as yet, just some test stuff and old stuff. My comercial prints tend to be on canson or ilford gallery but home printing will be more of an experiment.

So I will load up the driver, and get the printer running tonight

What are the top (3?) most important things to do?
Do I let the printer colour manage?

Will experiment and have a look at that video.

[aaronchan]

Instead of Jeff's which is a great material, I would also like to suggest:
"Color Management & Quality Output: Working with Color from Camera to Display to Print: (The Digital Imaging Masters Series)" by Tom P Ashe.
This book tells you everything you need to know from capture to post processing to output.


Aaron

[Erland]

If video is something you rather have, then Youtube. Search for Fine art print seminars. It's by EDU something something. Kinda boring, yet covers the topic entirely.
Also Lynda has an inkjet tutorial with 4-5 hours maybe of good material. Helped me a lot.
And last, the search function here, there are tremendous amounts of good threads about printing here.

[Erland]

Thanks Tony. Yes a dell U2711 calibrated.

I have the printer, PC with windows 8/1 above monitor, Photoshop CC. I have loaded ICC profiles into PS before and soft proofed but I think thats abotu as far as I have got.

I dont really have any specific paper as yet, just some test stuff and old stuff. My comercial prints tend to be on canson or ilford gallery but home printing will be more of an experiment.

So I will load up the driver, and get the printer running tonight

What are the top (3?) most important things to do?
Do I let the printer colour manage?

Will experiment and have a look at that video.

The 3 most important things I would say (and I think other will say other things...):
1. Get a good paper to start with, and use this until you are comfortable with it before using other. I recommend a cheap one so you can use some without anger for the cost.
2. Get profiles for the papers you are going to use, and learn how to use them in PS.
3. Edit your images in ProPhotoRGB or at least Adobe RGB.

[robdickinson]

The 3 most important things I would say (and I think other will say other things...):
1. Get a good paper to start with, and use this until you are comfortable with it before using other. I recommend a cheap one so you can use some without anger for the cost.
2. Get profiles for the papers you are going to use, and learn how to use them in PS.
3. Edit your images in ProPhotoRGB or at least Adobe RGB.

Thanks, great tips! I will go hunt down some a3/a4 paper that looks good but not too expensive - this being NZ that might not be easy! Time to see my mates at Photo & video..
Probably find a glossy and a matte.

I will find/download all the profiles I can!

And I edit in aRGB by default, never tried ProPhotoRGB, its a bigger colour space but not sure if its any use?

[Tony Jay]

...And I edit in aRGB by default, never tried ProPhotoRGB, its a bigger colour space but not sure if its any use?

I would edit in ProPhotoRGB if I were you.
The gamut of the printer is likely much biger than sRGB so you will be leaving print quality on the table.
The Epson 7900 that I use has a gamut (depending a bit on the paper too) that exceeds even AdobeRGB in parts.
Moral of the story - always edit in the largest colourspace you can.

Tony Jay

[Erland]

Thanks, great tips! I will go hunt down some a3/a4 paper that looks good but not too expensive - this being NZ that might not be easy! Time to see my mates at Photo & video..
Probably find a glossy and a matte.

I will find/download all the profiles I can!

And I edit in aRGB by default, never tried ProPhotoRGB, its a bigger colour space but not sure if its any use?

AdobeRGB, while bigger than sRGB, still isn't enough for rich Yellows and Cyans that your printer can make. If you shoot portraits, maybe it is not as important, but landscapes can often contain colors that are outside AdobeRGB's gamut, but still within your printers.

[robdickinson]

AH I didnt realise that, no one I print with talks about larger colours paces than aRGB.

Sadly half the people you talk to dont even understand there is one!

Will edit in prophoto from now on

[Tony Jay]

AH I didnt realise that, no one I print with talks about larger colours paces than aRGB.

Sadly half the people you talk to dont even understand there is one!

Will edit in prophoto from now on

Rob you really owe it to yourself to get stuck into the CPS tutorials.
Such good grounding there...

Tony Jay

[Mac Mahon]

Thanks, great tips! I will go hunt down some a3/a4 paper that looks good but not too expensive - this being NZ that might not be easy! Time to see my mates at Photo & video..
Probably find a glossy and a matte.

Rob

Greg at Photo and Video can supply a range of Ilford papers that are good.  Try the Ilford Smooth Pearl, or Gold Fibre Silk for a beautiful semi gloss finish.

and:  Yes, get the Ilford profiles for those papers in your printer, don't be tempted to use third party inks, and edit in ProPhoto RGB to get the best from them.  You'll be chuffed!

 Tim

[robdickinson]

Rob you really owe it to yourself to get stuck into the CPS tutorials.
Such good grounding there...

Tony Jay

By CPS you mean these?
https://luminous-landscape.com/videos/camera-print-screen/

[robdickinson]

Rob

Greg at Photo and Video can supply a range of Ilford papers that are good.  Try the Ilford Smooth Pearl, or Gold Fibre Silk for a beautiful semi gloss finish.

and:  Yes, get the Ilford profiles for those papers in your printer, don't be tempted to use third party inks, and edit in ProPhoto RGB to get the best from them.  You'll be chuffed!

 Tim

Yep I need to pop in and see Greg about my 50mm etc soon anyhow.

I have ilford (and canson) profiles by canon for the pro 1 which are supposed to be better than the paper manufacturers ones, already installed (well some of them)

[digitaldog]

And I edit in aRGB by default, never tried ProPhotoRGB, its a bigger colour space but not sure if its any use?

The benefits of wide gamut working spaces on printed output:

This three part, 32 minute video covers why a wide gamut RGB working space like ProPhoto RGB can produce superior quality output to print.

Part 1 discusses how the supplied Gamut Test File was created and shows two prints output to an Epson 3880 using ProPhoto RGB and sRGB, how the deficiencies of sRGB gamut affects final output quality. Part 1 discusses what to look for on your own prints in terms of better color output. It also covers Photoshop’s Assign Profile command and how wide gamut spaces mishandled produce dull or over saturated colors due to user error.

Part 2 goes into detail about how to print two versions of the properly converted Gamut Test File  file in Photoshop using Photoshop’s Print command to correctly setup the test files for output. It covers the Convert to Profile command for preparing test files for output to a lab.

Part 3 goes into color theory and illustrates why a wide gamut space produces not only move vibrant and saturated color but detail and color separation compared to a small gamut working space like sRGB.

High Resolution Video: http://digitaldog.net/files/WideGamutPrintVideo.mov
Low Resolution (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLlr7wpAZKs&feature=youtu.be

[robdickinson]

Thanks Andrew ,

I'm convinced about bigger colourspace, I know the theory behind it, its the practice I am lacking! I will watch the video will have lots to learn from it I am sure.

[robdickinson]

Try the Ilford Smooth Pearl, or Gold Fibre Silk for a beautiful semi gloss finish.

 Tim

Left with some smooth pearl and some cotton textured (gold? cant remember)

And damned, a sigma 50/1.4 art too...