1840's - First Photographic Print! Now we have the means to print digitally its a completely different technique to get it rite.
As a Photographer you should be able to physically produce images as prints to a good quality hence why we are going to learn how.
Most of the time when an image has been printed wrong it is due to us wrongly viewing it digitally on a computer screen etc therefore not knowing wha it truly looks like. You must always assess and change printing settings so you can make sure it is an accurate representation.
Some of the initial major issues that people can face when printing are:
- Printed too Light (Making it washed out)
- Printed too Flat (Lack of contrast)
- Printed too Dark (Unable to see properly)
- Printed too much contrast (Tones are unrealistic)
However these are all to do with another Issue with is the most problematic and that is Colour!
To make sure colour is printed as accurately as possible you always need to take into account the paper and printer profiles otherwise it will cause problems when you don't:
- Papers for printing will have different profiles for your computer which when used then make sure that the printer attached to the computer knows how to accurately print for this specific type of paper. This is why if you buy a cheaper paper with no print profile it can be less successful.
More Colour Related Issues:
- Print Colour too saturated (This means too much ink has been put on the paper)
- Print Colour too weak (This means too little ink has been put on the paper)
- Print Colour Shift/Tonal shift (This means wrong profile and settings or no profile)
- Print Colour Shift and Saturation (This means too much ink and profile problems)
- Print Colour Shift and weak (This means too little ink and profile problems)
Printing Black and White will not solve any of these colour issues as you will still have contrast and tonal issues!
Colour Profiles:
When viewing colour profiles (Colour Sync) the brighter and more saturated a colour in your image is the further out this colour will sit in the diamonds. The highlights sit at the top and the shadows then sit at the bottoms. Here is an example of a colour profile diamond...
If your input profile (photo's Profile) is larger than your output profile (computer monitor Profile) colours will get cut off. These colours will look duller and the representation you see of them is untrue.
On Macs you can try and calibrate the screen however this can be counter productive as this makes your colour profile smaller or just shifts the shape around.
Camera Raw files when put on a computer will then be embedded with 'ProPhoto RGB' Colour Space/Profile into the images.
Colour Spaces for Printing can usually be smaller because they make colours with physical ink which has less possibilities then a computers Colour Spaces which use pixels being displayed on a screen.
Now that we have discussed the principles for printing and the theory behind it we then went on to learn how to use the Colour Calibrated Monitor for Printing Purposes:
-Before you start you need to check the Colour Calibrated Monitor is on the rite setting/profile. Use the Mode button on the screen to scroll through the different settings. Cal means Calibrated which is what we use as this means we can set it for the environment.
- Firstly you must click on the programme 'ColourSync Utility' or 'Colour Navigator' depending on what your screen/monitor has available.
- Then once in this click on the 'Printing' option in this window and then click 'Adjust'. Then there will be an option to Calibrate the Monitor for the Room.
- When you press 'Proceed' on this option a censor will pop up from the monitor and begins measuring light within the room then uses its readings to build its own colour space so that it can represent colours as accurately as possible.
- When its done you can click 'Finish' to save and then exit this area.
- Next you will need to go and download the profile for the type of paper you are using. Profiles will download as a ICC file. Copy this ICC file to: Mac- Library- ColourSync- Profiles.
- Now you have your printing profile ready you can get your image ready. Go into Lightroom and open up the image you want to print.
- Take this image into the Develop Section of Lightroom and click on the 'SoftProofing' bar at the bottom of this window. This will let you start proofing you profiles etc on the screen.
- Now you have a profile drop down menu on the right where you cans select your Printing Paper Profile which you previously saved. This will let you preview it on the screen as accurately as possible.
- You also have the option under the profile drop down to select 'Perceptual' or 'Relative'. You must decided which one of these options works the best for your print as it can differ.
This process is allowing you to simulate the print on screen in Lightroom as long as you have the correct paper/colour profile and he monitor is calibrated correctly.
Next we moved on to look at what you should check on the Printer Settings etc to make sure it prints well:
- Before you print you should go onto 'System Preferences' then 'Printers and Scanners' then 'Utilities' then 'Open Printer Utilities' and then from here you can complete a 'Nozzle Check' where by its prints a pattern out for you on a piece of paper. If any of the lines are broken on this pattern print then you must clean the heads/nozzles of the printer.
- Another thing to bear in mind is that the Black Ink in this printer is different for printing Matte then it is fro printing Glossy as they work slightly differently. Check the rite one is in the printing for the type of printing you are wanting to do.
- The Print Setup Menu is where you can sort out basics such as the size of the print etc.
- Print Settings also allows you t choose the correct printer and also to check what inks you have in the printer so you an see if your black is currently a matte or a glossy option and you can change it accordingly if needs be.
- Print Quality should be set to 16bit as this is high but not Superphoto. Super photo is not worth it for the amount of ink it uses and the little difference it makes.
- Print Job (bottom right hand corner of screen) then Colour management Profile will then let you select the rite paper/profile for what you are printing onto therefore making the colours and tones print correctly based on the preview you have seen in Lightroom.
- A good rule is that every time you begin using the printer and overtime you change the ink you should complete a Nozzle check. Also Test Prints are always a very good idea so that you can make sure you have everything set up okay.
Today has been very helpful and I now have a lot more confidence in myself to be able to print my own photos in a much more accurate and professional manor.
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