Gary, I have two questions or maybe talking points for your follow up video. 1. Regarding the running costs. Back when inkjet printers were a the new kid on the block, they used to have a lot of problems with the print heads clogging up, inks drying out etc. You either had to print regularly or you ended up having to chuck a set of inks and buy a new one not because you've run out, but because they quickly became unusable. Is this still the case nowadays? 2. Photo books. My preferred end-product is not a set of single, gallery-style prints, but a photo book. How feasible would it be to print one at home, provided you would find someone to the binding? I.e. are good quality papers for double-sided printing available in quantities that make sense for printing at home?
Gary great video as always I used to have a printer but found too technical and expensive so is it possible to visit a professional printing lab in the high street and request how you want your print be.
Thanks, what if I don't want to crop to an A size and keep it full frame? Can it create a borer automatically? Also, can I do this in Lightroom Print module? Thank again.
@@clivewoolley4492 Clive - my recommendation - NEVER use a "high street" print lab. There are some excellent ones though which I can recommend such as DS colour or loxley
I think paper choice and the aspects of colour matching between the edited and printed images need a bit more coverage Gary. All the printing videos I've seen concentrate on home printing but would be nice to have a video really focused on colour printing through a good lab e.g. Loxley, Print Space etc.
Thank you Gary Gough. Your tutorial video is well presented. I am now in that phase of choosing my images and printing them myself. I learned a lot from you vlog.
I have just been given a real injection of enthusiasm to get back to printing. You manage to lift spirits with the enthusiasm you bring to your work. As we say here in Norn Iron " Keep 'er lit, keep 'er lit" Gary, Keep 'er lit.
Gary that was one of the most interesting blogs on printing your own pictures I have ever seen on here! It wasn't about you, or your cameras or going out to some wonderful location, it was all about the end of the photography story and that is the finished Picture! I have always said there is no substitute for a finished picture hand produced by yourself, I am long retired but from day one I have always printed (not so much now because I have to watch the finances) but I have always printed my own pictures to A3-A3+ now I just print my favourite shots of family and places I like toA4, and at some point those will be left for my family when I am long gone! Its so easy just to put out pictures on social media and some photographers think they are the top of the game for doing that but that's only the beginning of the story! The only problem now is storage, I do have a loft full of pictures mounted on 20x16 mounts some day they will have to be sorted! Thank you for telling the story of what photographers should be doing instead of just putting their pictures out to graze on social media. Your presentation was just perfect, thank you.....
I have been printing for a few years. My first printer was the Epson 3880 and then the next model released. I interest in photography and sold of my gear and printer back in 2017. I got back into photography in 2019 with m4/3 system. I plan on getting the Epson P900 sometime later this year. I have settled on one type of matte paper and then Baryta II as the paper for Photo Black ink. I enjoy spending a little extra time to get a really great print. It is well worth it. I love the feel a nice heavy paper. I have dealt with a single local print company for larger than 16x20 or for canvas, acrylicfaced prints and they do a great job. They are a small business that take great care of doing things right. Screens are backlit and prints reflect light.
Great video as expected. Of course ‘back in the day’ we didn’t always end up with prints, we often shot transparencies (slides) and viewed them using a handheld monitor and occasionally a projector.
So much of what you say in this resonates with me. I'm from the era of home developing and printing and when I hear younger photographers describe home printing as expensive, I just have to smile. Fitting out an old chemical darkroom makes the cost of modern inkjet printers pale into insignificance and I have not even begun to talk about the reams of photographic paper that ended up in the bin as test prints. Learning the craft was also much more expensive as you factored in the cost of film. In short, digital photography is so much less expensive than the days of film and chemicals. Another plus for home printing which you touched on is (in my experience) I have yet to get a commercially produced print that I have been 100% happy with. Home printing means you are in control. Moving on, I very recently came across an old film of Ansel Adams on you tube. It showed him in his home playing the piano before moving to shots of him on location with his plate cameras etc. A point that caught my attention was the walls of his lounge had lots of his prints hung on them but what surprised me was that the majority where mounted in a mat BUT WERE UNFRAMED!. I thought to myself 'what a great way to show of your prints' You can produce your own mat mounts very cheaply, they are very easy to hang with scotch velcro stick-ons and you can easily swap the prints on a regular basis without making new mounts. No need to go to the expense of buying frames with all the hassle of using rawl plugs to hang them. I was surprised when you started talking about not ever having calibrated you screen. What you said subsequently made perfect sense. I would add that my own preference is to make 5X4 inch test prints before committing to a large print. I also have found that around a third of a stop increase in exposure is better for prints. Finally, as you said no one will ever put one of your prints next to the PC monitor to compare them so the final print quality is the final arbiter. Thanks for tackling a rather thorny subject. It was great to watch you go through the print process. Super video.
Thanks for the tutorial. Have many people complaining about my not printing and like you said, the costs to send out all the time can run quite high. Gives me a lot to think about. Again, thanks.
Thanks for being honest about calibration of screens Gary,some people would have you think printing is total rocket science, and it tends to put me off printing photos!
I was so grateful for this clip, because for some time I have been umming and ahing about printing. This clip more than others that have popped-up on the Pro-300 has aided in me making up my mind. It wasn't so much the cost - I was sure beforehand that it would be rather cheaper than traveling to a printing service only to see the results were less than I was wanting. The tips you provided were most welcome, too. Hopefully, I don't sound too much the heretic when I say my delight is not so much the feel of the paper print in my hand, as I am satisfied that I have "completed" my process by producing a print. Hopefully something I can frame and hang on a wall with pride.
Yes agree once the intial outlay is done printing at home is cheaper, and there is nothing better than watching the print come to life as it come out and you get that little tingle, i have been through the curve of learning that it will not always come first time you have learn your own steps
I just visit the Photography Gallery in Soho, it is amazing to see that work of art, it is nice to see pictures in the computer or phone, but nothing like a finished job, the printed picture.
I watched your video with interest, I am also full-time photographer and have Canon Pro-1000 printers. I agree that it is really great to print your own work, however I felt that your glazed over the need to frequently use your printer, ie every week at a minimum. I am in a fortune position that I sell enough prints to ensure that the printer is used at least once a week on an A3+ or A2 print (Pro-1000), however on the few occasions when it is not use for longer the cleaning cycles use ink. Therefore although the cost of an individual print is very low, this is on the basis of frequent use. In addition in this covid environment the supply chain issues particularly paper , ink and maintenance cartridges can mean your print has to become idle! Thanks again for the video will be interested in you providing feedback on your longer term experience, my comments are based on using these printers for 4-5 years now.
What a refreshing difference to the many printing vlogs out there. Your advice in many ways is at complete odds to those other productions, but yet it makes sense, and saves money too. I have watched so many printing vlogs, that I have to say it put me off as the advice is to only bother if you invest in an expensive monitor, printer, printer papers and calibration tools, and thats before the colour profiling for each paper type they advise. I appreciate that the likes of a good quality monitor and printer are fundamentals to achieving good images, but this has shown that you don't have to go to what now I believe are the extremes. All in all Gary this has sparked a flame. Well done and many thanks.
I recently bought a Canon Pixma iP8760 (about a third the price of a Pro 300) and and am very happy with the results on Canon Pro Platinum paper. I use “Printer manages Color” and get brilliant colors and a full tonal range of black to white.
I’ve always felt that my photos aren’t filling a purpose, and I’ve been thinking that I should start to print them. Thank you for this guide, I have no excuses left not to print!
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I’ve been printing at home on a Pro 100 for several years. What you suggest is one way of doing it. I’ve tried it in the past, but using the plugin Canon provides for free from Photoshop, Lightroom or Canon’s own Digital Photo Professional (also free if you have a Canon camera) is much simpler and gives excellent results. Just get the raw conversion looking like you want in any image editor of your choice, export it as a 100% quality JPEG in Adobe RGB colour, then use the Canon plugin to print the exported file. Within the plug-in, it’s trivial to choose the ICC profile if you stick to Canon papers. Select “Perceptual” and soft-proofing. It will print perfectly (taking into account everything you say about monitor calibration and brightness). You can also just use the SOOC JPEG in sRGB and the Auto setting in the plugin if you want. It doesn’t make much difference really.
I took up photography around 16 months ago, very gingerly after many years away from a camera in any meaningful way. Your videos have inspired me to try different things, tips are always super helpful and I came across this video - so timely as I have decided I want to be able to print my images at home. I had a few done at the end of 2023 and you are so right about seeing and feeling your image physically on paper. I have slides from many moons ago that I am going to print too. Thank you for your channel and for sharing your expertise in such an easy to understand way 😬👍
Everybody's doing print videos this week, and why not? I took the plunge last Black Friday and went for an Epson Eco Tank 8550 and I have no regrets. The ink tanks just keep going and the results continue to blow me away. The personal profiles from Fotospeed are spot on every time, but even using Epson's own premium papers I am getting results that I am more than happy to hang on the wall. I am not a pro so do I care about prints not lasting 100 years, not really. Looking forward to your 2nd instalment Gary, thanks for sharing.
I am very guilty of not printing my work. I have a decent printer, a Canon Pro 100S, so I have no excuses. So my project is to print more of my photos and experiment with different papers. Thanks Gary for encouraging me to move forward in printing my photos!
I have been doing my own printing for more than 20 years.Initially with an HP printer (which was terrible and the inks faded quickly), then subsequently with Epson and Canon printers (currently Pro-100). I have not calibrated a monitor since I switched from CRT to LED flat screens. I have only one recommendation to make on your video. When you are setting the Printer Properties for paper type, print quality, orientation, etc ..... click on [ ] Preview before printing. I can't recall how many times this has saved me from some 'glitch' I have overlooked in the setting, thereby saving paper and ink.
Thanks Gary, you've finally convinced me, the printer is due on Monday (friday today). I look forward immensley to the satisafaction of seeing my images physically not virtually.
Great video, Gary. I too, started printing, back 20 years . I could not wait, to push control+P for the first time, not more waiting. There is a cost, printing at home, but you can't put a cost on control. I will print up to, A3 Plus. Thanks, hope others will give it try . KB
Hey Gary, Brilliant tutorial! I have been printing in a different way and have just reprinted using your method. The results are amazing! Many Thanks 👏
I'm going to have a go at this printing lark, my better half has a printer for work stuff she does. She's not into photography but loves watching your videos as do I.
I remember years ago buying a photospeed inkflow system. I also went with advice to just keep with the photospeed range of papers. I was really impressed with the quality of images, especially the black and white. However after finding less time for photography due to other commitments I was having issues with the heads blocking up. For the amount of photography I do now I get them done commercially. I still use fine art paper. All I do now is save all my work up and have it printed in batches of about five or ten. Or we get a few orders from camera club members to help keep the cost of postage down. I find the quality from sim lab great and the turnaround is amazingly fast. I do miss printing myself and as you say there is something quite special about it. Taking a photo in the morning and having it on The wall the same day. I think its something you can only fully appreciate if you used film. Great video Gary really enjoyed it
I love this video!! Still saving up money to get a pro printer. It's hard to justify the purchase when I don't really make money from photography.. this hobby is definitely expensive. I can only afford a Selphy printer. Still fun though!!!
Love your videos as always. Most of the pictures around my house are ones that I've taken and printed, I move them around the house regularly, and try to be seasonal. so I'm up there with you. We dont print enough 👍👍.
Gary I always admire your enthusiasm while sharing your Photography secrets with us. That's always keeps me coming back to your Videos. Thanks for putting the 'Printing' ideas in my mind. That paper sound is really the sound of your art speaking to you and saying Thanks for creating me :) I will try to take your advice and Print more.
Hi Gary, I really liked this video. I agree with you that printing photos completes the process. I have been printing for about five months. Although it is not a photo printer, Epson L6460 gives decent colour prints. I really enjoy holding the A4 prints in my hands. And I view the album once in a while. Thank you very much 🙂
Gary I hear what you are saying about not calibrating your monitors, but I have seen a marked degredation over time on my good quality monitors as well, the main reason for me calibrating is to make sure I have consistant results on other peoples monitors in competitions (hopefully they also have propper calibration) 🙂 It is not that calibration makes a world of differance, but 1% differance is sometimes all you need.
I have just taken the plunge and bought a Pro 300 after watching a few videos on printing images. This has been really helpful and hopefully I can now produce some great images. Thanks.
Great tutorial Gary. As you say we are all guilty of not printing our image's, I certainly am. After watching this video i think it's about time i did. Cheers Gary.
Interesting approach. I have literally just bought the same printer on a deal through PermaJet to replace my aging pro10. I do up the exposure of my files before printing also I think this is because our screens are back lit. Keep up your good work.
Gary I follow you from Italy with admiration for all your videos that stimulate and entice you to photograph consciously !!! Finally we talk about printing photos with the printer and at home. I share all your thoughts and proudly own a Canon Pro-1000. I hope you learn more about the printing technique. Thank you
Great video Gary which helped make my mind up I have just bought a Dell monitor and a Canon Pro 300. It would be great to see a video regarding printing and papers. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for another great video, I am one who just uploads photos to social media, you are right in what you say about not viewing photos again, that is unless it pops as a memory on your time line, today I got a reminder of photos I took 2 years ago whili was staying in Brighton. I think you will know the old joke regarding " photos do not bend " To which the answer was " oh yes they do" while using the hands action
😁 I fear the young will never be able to look embarrassingly at 30 year files in the future. When their hard drives and cloud spaces are full, I'm sure they just delete those old images they rarely look at! That's sacrilege!
Hi Gary. If you can accommodate an A2 printer, the costs of ink fall dramatically. If fact the extra cost of an A2 printer is normally the price of the extra ink. I have a too quality BenQ screen. I did calibrate it. But apparently I don't need to. However, after buying BenQ was blown away with display. That's when I started colour photography.
I have been a professional photography printer for years, worked for Eastman Kodak (awhile ago..) and several custom labs...and of course now I have boxes and boxes pf prints of my own. I have the latest/greatest Epson 17" wide printer still in the box from a year ago. I don't need to spend $400 a set of ink to let more pix sit in boxes. How do you make your printer pay its own way?
I sell prints David. The point is not about the cost, it's about touching the view! As I said in my video, the younger generation won't be able to dig out really old photographs, and that's a real shame!
Great vlog/video Gary. I don't print nearly enough but I do print some and frame and hang on walls around the house. Great tip on increasing exposure before printing. Will have to try that next time. Never thought of doing that.
Congratulations with your printing! I love printing and framing my photos myself. It feels so good to manage and be responsible for the whole process. The feeling of taking a photo, selecting the paper, printing and framing it and having it on my wall within an hour is truly amazing. Calibration is not difficult or expensive, I got a "spider" it comes with software my grandmother can operate and the calibration takes
I do like printing at home and agree that the cost of ink per print is minimal however my canon printer seems to drink £10 of ink when I switch it on! It knows how long the printer is off and compensates so doing a batch does not seem to reduce the thirst. A solution may be to buy a printer with the minimum of colours or with a large cartridge capacity. What I particularly like about home printing is the choice of paper finishes and the ability to print a 5x7 crop to evaluate if a large print is worth it and the settings are good. eg matt finishes seem to need a higher contract on the screen.
hi gary great videos as always i print my own images myself since gettung oc and a3plus prinrer and do it myseld yeah i dpnt sell as many as yourself but enjoy the process i use the canon ip8750 a3plus printer and use fotospeed smooth pearl paper which is a great paper
A few weeks ago I was wondering what would happen to all those photos I took. Who would ever see them? They would probably just end up in the digital junk heap in the sky. So I decided to have them printed into books. They look great and at least my grandchildren will be able to say these are the photos our granny took. I also print more by myself too.
Hi Gary, I’m surprised you’d guarantee it would only cost 50p in ink to print an A3/A3+ print on the Pro 300. A full set of inks for the Pro 300 are about £150 so that’s 300 prints using your calculations. I have the Pro 300 and have printed only 50 prints/pages of various sizes some of which are only Nozzle Check Patterns and I have used 2 sets of cartridges, that works out at £6 a print. I only print images occasionally so print Nozzle Check Patterns to keep the printer from drying out, I’d be surprised if this action was the cause of my high ink usage. Am I doing something wrong or has my printer got a fault, I don’t know!!! I’d be very interested to know how you get on with your Pro 300 so more video’s please 🙏. Keep up the good work👍.
Hi Nev, I’m very surprised by your ink usage, I have a pixma 300 and have printed about 45 images of 12x12 and A3 and am only just about to change my first ink cartridge, maybe those nozzle checks are using more ink than you think.
Hi Steve, I must admit I’m very disappointed with the ink usage to date but really enjoy being able to print my own images so will persevere. I only print nozzle checks during long periods of none use to keep the printer in good order, perhaps if I was a better photographer I’d have something to print more often 😂
I agree with you. I use the pro 300 and don’t print very often, although when I do it’s generally A3. I too find that I’m regularly ordering cartridges at £16 each. I think the ink cost is much higher than 50p per print.
Hi Gary, I have this printer too and would have to agree with the other comments here - at approx £160.00 for a full set of inks your looking a cost per print of more like £5 rather than 50p
I have been printing my photographs for a number of years, firstly on the Epsom 1400, (which I still have and use) and now on the Canon Pro 10s. I have been calibrating my monitor every four weeks and have never seen any difference between the 'before and after'. So after watching your video I checked my 'BENQ' monitor and made sure Adobe RGB was selected, then I did two more prints and increased the exposure by half a stop, and got a near perfect print to what I was seeing on the screen. I also run a 6x4 test print every week to try and stop the machine from needing to be cleaned , as quite rightly mentioned in a previous comment it use's a lot of ink when it does it automatically. thank you for sharing..
I took a break from printing my photos because when they were displayed in a local shop window, to my horror they started to fade in strong sunlight (yes, we do occasionally get that on the Lancs/Yorks border!) I had been using an Epson 1500w with dye based inks. Then I was given a Canon Pixma Pro-10S which uses pigment inks. The difference just blew me away. I've had a test print in the window for several weeks now and it's still as vibrant as the day it went in. I'm also printing on Pinnacle 300gsm Lustre paper which doesn't seem to buckle over time inside the frame, compared with lighter weight papers.. In addition, I found that I couldn't tell any difference between Highest Quality and Standard Quality on the final print (maybe I would do under a magnifying glass) except that now the ink in my cartridges lasts waaaay longer if I print Standard! Finally I tend to use Perceptual rather than Colormetric for the simple reason that years ago I was told Perceptual is better for photos while Colormetric is better for graphics. I have no knowledge as to the truth of this because I can't tell any difference myself! But it would be interesting to get a definitive answer on that.
Beware Heather, the pigment prints will still fade in sunlight, it will just take longer. Print Survival when protected from UV light is measured at about 100 years. Depending on how direct and long the print is exposed to UV the life of the print will dramatically be reduced. I’m sure there are papers on this subject that would be worth a scan. Of course UV protective glass is an option if you want these prints to have a longer life.
I have a different experience of home printing. I bought an A3 photo printer some years ago, primarily to print documents but chose a photo quality model to also be able make prints of my photos. Despite being happy with the quality I rarely use it for this purpose now. To explain why: 1) I do not sell prints so how many do I have wall space for? 2) Costs: each home print may cost less than £2, but once you add in the cost of matting, framing and non-reflective glass the cost per print rockets. 3) If you do not use the printer regularly print heads block and ink costs rise. 4) A professional lab producing giclee prints will use printer profiles generated for their own specific printer for each paper type used and will provide these for soft proofing. 5) All of the post processing and image adjustments up to the point of hitting the print button will be essentially the same if you print at home or send a file to a lab so I don’t feel I have lost control My approach now is to make books of my images instead of albums using a company such as CEWE or BLURB. I can still send files using the Adobe 1998 colour space. My latest 27x21cm hardcover book containing 70 images worked out at just over £1/image. As Ansel Adams said 6 top quality images per year is a good crop so it is not excessively expensive to have a few of my best images printed by a specialist lab if I want to hang them on my walls.
Really good vid Gary. I concur with everything you said. I use to do my own printing in a darkroom in the 70/80s and the digital age has made us/me lazy. Purchased the same printer as you beginning of this year, got profiles and good paper. Love every bit of it and its re invigorated my photography 300%. Makes doing all the taking and post editing worth it. Looking forward to your follow up...
Having only gone digital for one year now and haven't even got light room or any way of producing my pictures yet. Seeing you go through printing stages looks like I have my work cut out. I have only use snapbridge to send pic to friends and family so far🤞
Hi Gary, I am lucky enough to belong to a camera club, where I have been a member since 2006. We have a competition each month where we enter one mono and one colour print. i have been doing all my own prints since then. This has taught me a lot about printing. I do have an eizo monitor which calibrates itself. One problem I always had was that a lot of my prints were printing too dark, even though I lowered the kelvin. I finally worked out that if when I have finished working on photo in Photoshop, I set the monitors background to white, if the photo is too dark it shows up more than when working on a dark background. Now I don't waste inks and paper. Thank you once again for an enjoyable video Gary/
Excellent video Gary ,I like many used to home print ,I was in charge of the camera clubs printer and would print members print ,but the problems arose when the printer was not used for a few months over the summer and the dreaded printer head blockage,after using a full set of ink costing the best part of £200 the head was deemed knackered, I now use sim lab along with Keith Saint our club chairman and we share the costs,an average 12-16 print on lustre for club comps costs about £1.05 a print ,and is really good quality ,but I still loved doing my own printing but the outlay now is to much for the amount I print , maybe 15-20 prints a year. Keep the good work up.cheers mal
A great video and yes you've hit the nail on the head here Gary. I'm not a pro but I print on a relatively cheap Epson A4 printer for my own use If I want A3 I can get it done locally while in the premises (I haven't much room for anything over A4 anyhow to be honest) My last Laptop was calibrated using my club's Spyder, however it's not compatible with my New Laptop Like you I've learnt to increase the exposure and I print trough photoshop and let it control the printing. The prints are not of a professional standard but they're mine almost on tap and have been admired by friends I won't mention my 'Elephant in the Room', the quality of the photographs 😱 Cheers E.
Very interesting video Gary. At the moment i am still learning the art of post processing and only printed off several photos to date that i have been happy with, so my concerns would be that of the ink jets clogging up if not being used on a regular basis and thus adding to cost if they needed cleaning out all the time (if that is the case). Fully get the benefits of printing your own and its also great to get my prints framed (another expense) and on the wall, but for me, untill i get better with post processing i will use a reccomended quality photo lab which offers quick delivery and great backup, but no doubt one day a quality printer could be on the cards. Thanks again and looking forward to the follow up,
Well you got me thinking about it again Gary. My last foray into home printing ended up in the opposite experience. The A3 Epson printer was relatively low cost compared to a camera or lens, but the ink cost was very high. What made it worse is the print head clogged (manufacturer inks) after a few weeks and couldn’t be cleared, which I guess then massively upped the effective cost of the printer.
Nice video Gary on a topic which many find quite scary. I moved to home printing some time ago and have never looked back - better quality than online print shops...mostly. I used an excellent lab which gave me good results. I don't think its fair to say that they don't care "its just an order" - if they produced bad work they would lose business. For me the equation changed when I started to use fine art papers. That's when control and turnaround is important. I get what you say about screen calibration - a modern high quality screen with large gamut is rarely going to give you any noticeable problems and many of the better ones now have built in hardware calibration. The one really important area you gloss over though is the importance of the printer profiles. This makes an enormous difference. I've found that off the shelf profiles just don't cut it so I always use custom profiles - any good paper supplier will generate these for free.
Printing has always scared me,and any I have done I got done at a lab, but you have explained this in a great way and made it look easy, I might have to give it a go, I got some nice images on my trip and it will cost a fortune at a lab to print, thanks for sharing Gary.
I recently got the Pro 200 and it's very good indeed, although the inks are crazy expensive. I take images straight from my camera or my phone and they look very good. I have been a photographer for 60 years and made many prints but the only ones that have lasted are the ones printed with proprietry inks and paper and theres no getting round it.
I have been printing for years with 3rd party inks, and as long as you keep them away from direct sunlight they will last for ages. I only print on fairly basic A3 paper and using the cheaper inks, if they do eventually fade, just print them again to last for a few years more. I guess you will want to change your photos displayed around the home eventually anyway.
Hi Gary, wondering your advice on which type of Canon printing paper for colour and for mono prints. I see that you have 'premium matt' and 'lustre' in this video. Love your videos, great inspiration.
Interesting viewing Gary ,as with a lit of things in life i guess its down to personal choice . I've been toying with the idea of getting a photo quality printer as I really want to get more prints done. Looking at the initial outlay & watching your video has made the decision for me . I think I'll stick with the 2 Pro labs I currently use . Only had 2 small issues both of which were sorted immediately , delivery within 2 working days packaged as I requested ( flat is preferred ). Although...then again , I might splash on a printer 🤔 My biggest worry is getting the home prints wrong & wasting paper & ink . Would be great if it was possibly to do a "try before you buy " with a printer ..wonder if anyone would do that 🤔 Interesting point on the calibration , my monitor is from 1999 , never been calibrated & doesn't have that function of choosing RGB profile that yours has . All the images I've had printed have turned out exactly as I see them on the monitor & I don't use the labs color profiles either. I get the pee taken out of my little monitor but it just works 😊 Cheers & look forward to the follow up 👍
Very very useful tutorial. Thanks Gary! I've been thinking about getting a decent printer for a while so I can print at home. Maybe Canon, maybe Epson. In any case, I think nowadays they are all quite good.
colour profiling of a monitor is waaaaaaay more than setting a monitor to an in built profile. colour calibration is a about brightness and contrast as well as colour gamut. As far as labs, sorry your description of labs is a strong generalisation. as someone who runs a professional lab, printing mounting and framing, I control the quality of all the images generated from my lab, NOT a machine. I find your comment to very off the mark in generalisation of pro labs
Apologies once again for generalizing about Labs. I did however say in the video they serve a very good purpose. I still use them today for bulk orders.
Hi Gary, great video again, and a few elephants get a cull. I always work on the cost of an A3 print as £5. The main thing is you have to use your printer regularly which stops a lot of the cleaning cycles. Also it would be worth checking out the next size up which not only prints A2 but the inks are cheaper per ml. Lastly try using canon print shop program, really good and you can do a print proof sheet, with a number of thumb nails at different exposures which is brilliant.
Thank you Gary, excellent video. I pretty much do as you suggest in the video but it is good to have confirmation lol. Just a suggestion. Have you looked at Marrutt papers? A British compeny with a great choice of paper types and sizes. They also provide a print profile for your specific printer. Not affiliated at all, I just use them and find the quality is superb and the price is very good.
Very well explained. When I tried your way of printing with new paper sized white canvas, in the print dialog the preview showed a plain white paper. When I opened the same image on a new tab and pressed Ctrl + P, in the print dialog the image was shown in the preview. Any ideas what I did wrong the first try Gary?
Hi Gary. I am about to purchase the Canon Pro 300. I am currently using a 2020 Apple 27" Imac. I have a Xrite Colormunki Display Calibrator which I usually use. Should I be using that or the Mac Adobe RGB 1998 profile which seems a lot warmer. I shoot RAW. Adobe RGB Nikon Z8. No skin tones to worry about. Thank you for a inspirational video.
Interesting video Gary. My main issue currently is I don't have the room for a printer able to print A2 & Panos and from what I can tell from others who regularly print they do test prints, priming/declogging of jets, pro inks etc so I think the cost differential isn't quite as big. I therefore use a Lab BUT I agree if I did have a home printer I'd print more. Whether the quality of those prints would match some of the good pro labs I am not so sure. Ultimately I will get a printer when my son's move out and I get the extra rooms😂😂I also respect all the caveats you mentioned re calibrating monitors but I note the colours on my BenQ photo monitor do vary a bit over the month between my calibrations. I choose to recalibrate monthly but accept depending on how accurate a match you want with the printed version it may not be essential.
How about taking a look at the Epson ET8550 which has low ink costs as it uses bulk ink tanks, A3+, and functions as a general printer. Make it easy and relatively low cost would encourage more printing?
Hi Gary, Really encouraged by this. Can I ask what scree you have. I am operating off my laptop and want a decent screen and one that has built in colour options sounds ideal? Ta
I love your enthusiasm but as the " every day man" I find that the majority of people that I would like to show my images DON'T want to look at a print. They view images through their phones, on their tablets or computers. Then there is the problem of the printer itself. If you don't use it every week I have found that the inks dry up and the heads get clogged. Most times you only find out when you try to make a print so after using many cleaning methods you end up wasting many expensive sheets of paper and a lot of expensive inks. As for printing A3 or A2 prints I haven't got anywhere large enough to put a printer of that size. I can see the benefits for a professional photographer who has to deliver high quality prints to clients but for someone who is keen but not professional digital perhaps unfortunately means digital unless you don't want to share your images with anyone but your granny.
Hi Garry, very interesting your workflow on printing images, I would have preferred if you done a colour image instead of black and white. Maybe you can do one with colour too?
To help satisfy the elephant in the room , what Dell monitors are you using? I'm currently using both the UP2716D and the U2715H. I do calibrate but its to get the monitors to match. P.S. love the printing and have to agree tht unless you can feel it, handle it, make noise with it, it's not real. P.P.S. I print on the Pro-1000. :)
I agree that printing adds significantly to my photography experience. My trouble is figuring out what to do with the prints. I would love to have A3-ish prints from my favorite photos, but I'm getting a couple of what I think are print-worthy images per week. What would I do with them? Wall space is finite. Cost of framing is outrageous. Flat storage in drawers defeats the purpose. I've resorted to printing just 4"x6" snapshots and sticking them into photo albums. What do people do with larger prints? Help!
I will be making a follow-up video, so if you have any questions regarding printing or papers etc then please leave a comment.
Gary, I have two questions or maybe talking points for your follow up video.
1. Regarding the running costs. Back when inkjet printers were a the new kid on the block, they used to have a lot of problems with the print heads clogging up, inks drying out etc. You either had to print regularly or you ended up having to chuck a set of inks and buy a new one not because you've run out, but because they quickly became unusable. Is this still the case nowadays?
2. Photo books. My preferred end-product is not a set of single, gallery-style prints, but a photo book. How feasible would it be to print one at home, provided you would find someone to the binding? I.e. are good quality papers for double-sided printing available in quantities that make sense for printing at home?
Gary great video as always I used to have a printer but found too technical and expensive so is it possible to visit a professional printing lab in the high street and request how you want your print be.
Thanks, what if I don't want to crop to an A size and keep it full frame? Can it create a borer automatically? Also, can I do this in Lightroom Print module? Thank again.
@@clivewoolley4492 Clive - my recommendation - NEVER use a "high street" print lab. There are some excellent ones though which I can recommend such as DS colour or loxley
I think paper choice and the aspects of colour matching between the edited and printed images need a bit more coverage Gary. All the printing videos I've seen concentrate on home printing but would be nice to have a video really focused on colour printing through a good lab e.g. Loxley, Print Space etc.
7:59 the passion for photography in his eyes and he is proud of his work.
Thank you Gary Gough. Your tutorial video is well presented. I am now in that phase of choosing my images and printing them myself. I learned a lot from you vlog.
I have just been given a real injection of enthusiasm to get back to printing. You manage to lift spirits with the enthusiasm you bring to your work. As we say here in Norn Iron " Keep 'er lit, keep 'er lit" Gary, Keep 'er lit.
Cheers Brian 👍👍
Gary that was one of the most interesting blogs on printing your own pictures I have ever seen on here! It wasn't about you, or your cameras or going out to some wonderful location, it was all about the end of the photography story and that is the finished Picture! I have always said there is no substitute for a finished picture hand produced by yourself, I am long retired but from day one I have always printed (not so much now because I have to watch the finances) but I have always printed my own pictures to A3-A3+ now I just print my favourite shots of family and places I like toA4, and at some point those will be left for my family when I am long gone! Its so easy just to put out pictures on social media and some photographers think they are the top of the game for doing that but that's only the beginning of the story! The only problem now is storage, I do have a loft full of pictures mounted on 20x16 mounts some day they will have to be sorted! Thank you for telling the story of what photographers should be doing instead of just putting their pictures out to graze on social media. Your presentation was just perfect, thank you.....
I have been printing for a few years. My first printer was the Epson 3880 and then the next model released. I interest in photography and sold of my gear and printer back in 2017. I got back into photography in 2019 with m4/3 system. I plan on getting the Epson P900 sometime later this year. I have settled on one type of matte paper and then Baryta II as the paper for Photo Black ink. I enjoy spending a little extra time to get a really great print. It is well worth it. I love the feel a nice heavy paper. I have dealt with a single local print company for larger than 16x20 or for canvas, acrylicfaced prints and they do a great job. They are a small business that take great care of doing things right. Screens are backlit and prints reflect light.
Great video as expected. Of course ‘back in the day’ we didn’t always end up with prints, we often shot transparencies (slides) and viewed them using a handheld monitor and occasionally a projector.
So much of what you say in this resonates with me. I'm from the era of home developing and printing and when I hear younger photographers describe home printing as expensive, I just have to smile. Fitting out an old chemical darkroom makes the cost of modern inkjet printers pale into insignificance and I have not even begun to talk about the reams of photographic paper that ended up in the bin as test prints. Learning the craft was also much more expensive as you factored in the cost of film. In short, digital photography is so much less expensive than the days of film and chemicals.
Another plus for home printing which you touched on is (in my experience) I have yet to get a commercially produced print that I have been 100% happy with. Home printing means you are in control.
Moving on, I very recently came across an old film of Ansel Adams on you tube. It showed him in his home playing the piano before moving to shots of him on location with his plate cameras etc. A point that caught my attention was the walls of his lounge had lots of his prints hung on them but what surprised me was that the majority where mounted in a mat BUT WERE UNFRAMED!. I thought to myself 'what a great way to show of your prints' You can produce your own mat mounts very cheaply, they are very easy to hang with scotch velcro stick-ons and you can easily swap the prints on a regular basis without making new mounts. No need to go to the expense of buying frames with all the hassle of using rawl plugs to hang them.
I was surprised when you started talking about not ever having calibrated you screen. What you said subsequently made perfect sense. I would add that my own preference is to make 5X4 inch test prints before committing to a large print. I also have found that around a third of a stop increase in exposure is better for prints.
Finally, as you said no one will ever put one of your prints next to the PC monitor to compare them so the final print quality is the final arbiter.
Thanks for tackling a rather thorny subject. It was great to watch you go through the print process. Super video.
Thanks for the tutorial. Have many people complaining about my not printing and like you said, the costs to send out all the time can run quite high. Gives me a lot to think about. Again, thanks.
Cheers Randy 👍👍
Thanks for being honest about calibration of screens Gary,some people would have you think printing is total rocket science, and it tends to put me off printing photos!
Cheers Neil 👍👍
You are spot on Gary. 99% of my photography stays buried on a hard drive. It's time to print! thank you for the boost!
I've been trying to justify laying out the money for a printer. So this video was just what I needed!
It’s sometimes possible to find a good deal on a used printer as well.
I was so grateful for this clip, because for some time I have been umming and ahing about printing. This clip more than others that have popped-up on the Pro-300 has aided in me making up my mind. It wasn't so much the cost - I was sure beforehand that it would be rather cheaper than traveling to a printing service only to see the results were less than I was wanting. The tips you provided were most welcome, too. Hopefully, I don't sound too much the heretic when I say my delight is not so much the feel of the paper print in my hand, as I am satisfied that I have "completed" my process by producing a print. Hopefully something I can frame and hang on a wall with pride.
Yes agree once the intial outlay is done printing at home is cheaper, and there is nothing better than watching the print come to life as it come out and you get that little tingle, i have been through the curve of learning that it will not always come first time you have learn your own steps
I just visit the Photography Gallery in Soho, it is amazing to see that work of art, it is nice to see pictures in the computer or phone, but nothing like a finished job, the printed picture.
I watched your video with interest, I am also full-time photographer and have Canon Pro-1000 printers. I agree that it is really great to print your own work, however I felt that your glazed over the need to frequently use your printer, ie every week at a minimum. I am in a fortune position that I sell enough prints to ensure that the printer is used at least once a week on an A3+ or A2 print (Pro-1000), however on the few occasions when it is not use for longer the cleaning cycles use ink. Therefore although the cost of an individual print is very low, this is on the basis of frequent use. In addition in this covid environment the supply chain issues particularly paper , ink and maintenance cartridges can mean your print has to become idle! Thanks again for the video will be interested in you providing feedback on your longer term experience, my comments are based on using these printers for 4-5 years now.
What a refreshing difference to the many printing vlogs out there. Your advice in many ways is at complete odds to those other productions, but yet it makes sense, and saves money too. I have watched so many printing vlogs, that I have to say it put me off as the advice is to only bother if you invest in an expensive monitor, printer, printer papers and calibration tools, and thats before the colour profiling for each paper type they advise. I appreciate that the likes of a good quality monitor and printer are fundamentals to achieving good images, but this has shown that you don't have to go to what now I believe are the extremes. All in all Gary this has sparked a flame. Well done and many thanks.
Great analysis of running costs of printing at home. I've decided to finally do home printing. Thank you
Glad it was helpful!
I recently bought a Canon Pixma iP8760 (about a third the price of a Pro 300) and and am very happy with the results on Canon Pro Platinum paper. I use “Printer manages Color” and get brilliant colors and a full tonal range of black to white.
It's a great printer too. Cheers 👍👍
One of the simplest and easy to follow instruction on how to print, brilliant Gary.
I’ve always felt that my photos aren’t filling a purpose, and I’ve been thinking that I should start to print them. Thank you for this guide, I have no excuses left not to print!
I’ve been printing at home on a Pro 100 for several years. What you suggest is one way of doing it. I’ve tried it in the past, but using the plugin Canon provides for free from Photoshop, Lightroom or Canon’s own Digital Photo Professional (also free if you have a Canon camera) is much simpler and gives excellent results. Just get the raw conversion looking like you want in any image editor of your choice, export it as a 100% quality JPEG in Adobe RGB colour, then use the Canon plugin to print the exported file. Within the plug-in, it’s trivial to choose the ICC profile if you stick to Canon papers. Select “Perceptual” and soft-proofing. It will print perfectly (taking into account everything you say about monitor calibration and brightness). You can also just use the SOOC JPEG in sRGB and the Auto setting in the plugin if you want. It doesn’t make much difference really.
I took up photography around 16 months ago, very gingerly after many years away from a camera in any meaningful way. Your videos have inspired me to try different things, tips are always super helpful and I came across this video - so timely as I have decided I want to be able to print my images at home. I had a few done at the end of 2023 and you are so right about seeing and feeling your image physically on paper.
I have slides from many moons ago that I am going to print too. Thank you for your channel and for sharing your expertise in such an easy to understand way 😬👍
I agree with you Gary. I always print my images at home. Great video as always 👍😊🙏
Thanks Cath 👍
Everybody's doing print videos this week, and why not? I took the plunge last Black Friday and went for an Epson Eco Tank 8550 and I have no regrets. The ink tanks just keep going and the results continue to blow me away. The personal profiles from Fotospeed are spot on every time, but even using Epson's own premium papers I am getting results that I am more than happy to hang on the wall. I am not a pro so do I care about prints not lasting 100 years, not really. Looking forward to your 2nd instalment Gary, thanks for sharing.
Printing is infectious so be warned! 😁😁
I am very guilty of not printing my work. I have a decent printer, a Canon Pro 100S, so I have no excuses. So my project is to print more of my photos and experiment with different papers. Thanks Gary for encouraging me to move forward in printing my photos!
Did you manage to print more in past weeks?
I have been doing my own printing for more than 20 years.Initially with an HP printer (which was terrible and the inks faded quickly), then subsequently with Epson and Canon printers (currently Pro-100). I have not calibrated a monitor since I switched from CRT to LED flat screens. I have only one recommendation to make on your video. When you are setting the Printer Properties for paper type, print quality, orientation, etc ..... click on [ ] Preview before printing. I can't recall how many times this has saved me from some 'glitch' I have overlooked in the setting, thereby saving paper and ink.
I normally do have my printer preview on. I'm not sure why I didn't in the video. It's saved me plenty of time too. Cheers 👍👍
Thanks Gary, you've finally convinced me, the printer is due on Monday (friday today). I look forward immensley to the satisafaction of seeing my images physically not virtually.
Great video, Gary. I too, started printing, back 20 years . I could not wait, to push control+P for the first time, not more waiting. There is a cost, printing at home, but you can't put a cost on control. I will print up to, A3 Plus. Thanks, hope others will give it try . KB
Cheers Ken 👍👍
Great video. I have pro 200 and love printing.
That's awesome! Cheers Mike 👍👍
Excellent Gary . 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Hey Gary, Brilliant tutorial! I have been printing in a different way and have just reprinted using your method. The results are amazing! Many Thanks 👏
I'm going to have a go at this printing lark, my better half has a printer for work stuff she does. She's not into photography but loves watching your videos as do I.
I remember years ago buying a photospeed inkflow system.
I also went with advice to just keep with the photospeed range of papers.
I was really impressed with the quality of images, especially the black and white.
However after finding less time for photography due to other commitments I was having issues with the heads blocking up.
For the amount of photography I do now I get them done commercially.
I still use fine art paper. All I do now is save all my work up and have it printed in batches of about five or ten. Or we get a few orders from camera club members to help keep the cost of postage down.
I find the quality from sim lab great and the turnaround is amazingly fast.
I do miss printing myself and as you say there is something quite special about it.
Taking a photo in the morning and having it on The wall the same day. I think its something you can only fully appreciate if you used film.
Great video Gary really enjoyed it
I love this video!! Still saving up money to get a pro printer. It's hard to justify the purchase when I don't really make money from photography.. this hobby is definitely expensive. I can only afford a Selphy printer. Still fun though!!!
Love your videos as always. Most of the pictures around my house are ones that I've taken and printed, I move them around the house regularly, and try to be seasonal. so I'm up there with you. We dont print enough 👍👍.
Cheers 👍👍
Thank you Gary for your kindness.
Fantastic tutorial Gary 👍
Gary I always admire your enthusiasm while sharing your Photography secrets with us. That's always keeps me coming back to your Videos. Thanks for putting the 'Printing' ideas in my mind. That paper sound is really the sound of your art speaking to you and saying Thanks for creating me :) I will try to take your advice and Print more.
Say it like it is, Gary ! That's why I like & watch your videos - down to earth advice. Keep it up !
Hi Gary,
I really liked this video. I agree with you that printing photos completes the process. I have been printing for about five months. Although it is not a photo printer, Epson L6460 gives decent colour prints. I really enjoy holding the A4 prints in my hands. And I view the album once in a while.
Thank you very much 🙂
Gary I hear what you are saying about not calibrating your monitors, but I have seen a marked degredation over time on my good quality monitors as well, the main reason for me calibrating is to make sure I have consistant results on other peoples monitors in competitions (hopefully they also have propper calibration) 🙂 It is not that calibration makes a world of differance, but 1% differance is sometimes all you need.
I have just taken the plunge and bought a Pro 300 after watching a few videos on printing images. This has been really helpful and hopefully I can now produce some great images. Thanks.
Great tutorial Gary.
As you say we are all guilty of not printing our image's, I certainly am.
After watching this video i think it's about time i did.
Cheers Gary.
Interesting approach. I have literally just bought the same printer on a deal through PermaJet to replace my aging pro10. I do up the exposure of my files before printing also I think this is because our screens are back lit. Keep up your good work.
Gary I follow you from Italy with admiration for all your videos that stimulate and entice you to photograph consciously !!! Finally we talk about printing photos with the printer and at home. I share all your thoughts and proudly own a Canon Pro-1000. I hope you learn more about the printing technique. Thank you
Great video Gary which helped make my mind up I have just bought a Dell monitor and a Canon Pro 300. It would be great to see a video regarding printing and papers. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for another great video, I am one who just uploads photos to social media, you are right in what you say about not viewing photos again, that is unless it pops as a memory on your time line, today I got a reminder of photos I took 2 years ago whili was staying in Brighton. I think you will know the old joke regarding " photos do not bend " To which the answer was " oh yes they do" while using the hands action
😁 I fear the young will never be able to look embarrassingly at 30 year files in the future. When their hard drives and cloud spaces are full, I'm sure they just delete those old images they rarely look at! That's sacrilege!
Great tutorial for an old man who has only been into photography since lockdown; very informative. Thank you Gary. 👍
Hi Gary. If you can accommodate an A2 printer, the costs of ink fall dramatically. If fact the extra cost of an A2 printer is normally the price of the extra ink. I have a too quality BenQ screen. I did calibrate it. But apparently I don't need to. However, after buying BenQ was blown away with display. That's when I started colour photography.
I have been a professional photography printer for years, worked for Eastman Kodak (awhile ago..) and several custom labs...and of course now I have boxes and boxes pf prints of my own. I have the latest/greatest Epson 17" wide printer still in the box from a year ago. I don't need to spend $400 a set of ink to let more pix sit in boxes. How do you make your printer pay its own way?
I sell prints David. The point is not about the cost, it's about touching the view! As I said in my video, the younger generation won't be able to dig out really old photographs, and that's a real shame!
Great, great video!! I absolutely agree: photographs must have a PHYSICAL realization. Greetings from a Mexican follower residing in Canada!
Cheers Alejandro 👍👍
@@GaryGough Cheers Gary!
Great video Gary … as the philosopher René Descartes said “I print, therefore I am”
I got into photography to print. Capture and create
Great vlog/video Gary. I don't print nearly enough but I do print some and frame and hang on walls around the house. Great tip on increasing exposure before printing. Will have to try that next time. Never thought of doing that.
Hi Gary , great tutorial liked it very much. I really liked the photo you printed off , it is lovely.
Cheers Stephen 👍👍
Congratulations with your printing! I love printing and framing my photos myself. It feels so good to manage and be responsible for the whole process. The feeling of taking a photo, selecting the paper, printing and framing it and having it on my wall within an hour is truly amazing.
Calibration is not difficult or expensive, I got a "spider" it comes with software my grandmother can operate and the calibration takes
Cheers 👍👍
I do like printing at home and agree that the cost of ink per print is minimal however my canon printer seems to drink £10 of ink when I switch it on! It knows how long the printer is off and compensates so doing a batch does not seem to reduce the thirst. A solution may be to buy a printer with the minimum of colours or with a large cartridge capacity.
What I particularly like about home printing is the choice of paper finishes and the ability to print a 5x7 crop to evaluate if a large print is worth it and the settings are good. eg matt finishes seem to need a higher contract on the screen.
hi gary great videos as always i print my own images myself since gettung oc and a3plus prinrer and do it myseld yeah i dpnt sell as many as yourself but enjoy the process i use the canon ip8750 a3plus printer and use fotospeed smooth pearl paper which is a great paper
One point, it is my understanding the ppi needs to match the printer, Edsons using 240. Your flow I believe was showing 300.
A few weeks ago I was wondering what would happen to all those photos I took. Who would ever see them? They would probably just end up in the digital junk heap in the sky. So I decided to have them printed into books. They look great and at least my grandchildren will be able to say these are the photos our granny took. I also print more by myself too.
Awesome idea Maggie. You should print one every year!
Hi Gary, I’m surprised you’d guarantee it would only cost 50p in ink to print an A3/A3+ print on the Pro 300. A full set of inks for the Pro 300 are about £150 so that’s 300 prints using your calculations. I have the Pro 300 and have printed only 50 prints/pages of various sizes some of which are only Nozzle Check Patterns and I have used 2 sets of cartridges, that works out at £6 a print. I only print images occasionally so print Nozzle Check Patterns to keep the printer from drying out, I’d be surprised if this action was the cause of my high ink usage. Am I doing something wrong or has my printer got a fault, I don’t know!!! I’d be very interested to know how you get on with your Pro 300 so more video’s please 🙏. Keep up the good work👍.
Hi Nev, I’m very surprised by your ink usage, I have a pixma 300 and have printed about 45 images of 12x12 and A3 and am only just about to change my first ink cartridge, maybe those nozzle checks are using more ink than you think.
Hi Steve, I must admit I’m very disappointed with the ink usage to date but really enjoy being able to print my own images so will persevere. I only print nozzle checks during long periods of none use to keep the printer in good order, perhaps if I was a better photographer I’d have something to print more often 😂
I agree with you. I use the pro 300 and don’t print very often, although when I do it’s generally A3. I too find that I’m regularly ordering cartridges at £16 each. I think the ink cost is much higher than 50p per print.
My Epson service person said that the head cleaning operation consumes more ink.
Hi Gary, I have this printer too and would have to agree with the other comments here - at approx £160.00 for a full set of inks your looking a cost per print of more like £5 rather than 50p
I have been printing my photographs for a number of years, firstly on the Epsom 1400, (which I still have and use) and now on the Canon Pro 10s. I have been calibrating my monitor every four weeks and have never seen any difference between the 'before and after'. So after watching your video I checked my 'BENQ' monitor and made sure Adobe RGB was selected, then I did two more prints and increased the exposure by half a stop, and got a near perfect print to what I was seeing on the screen. I also run a 6x4 test print every week to try and stop the machine from needing to be cleaned , as quite rightly mentioned in a previous comment it use's a lot of ink when it does it automatically. thank you for sharing..
I took a break from printing my photos because when they were displayed in a local shop window, to my horror they started to fade in strong sunlight (yes, we do occasionally get that on the Lancs/Yorks border!) I had been using an Epson 1500w with dye based inks. Then I was given a Canon Pixma Pro-10S which uses pigment inks. The difference just blew me away. I've had a test print in the window for several weeks now and it's still as vibrant as the day it went in. I'm also printing on Pinnacle 300gsm Lustre paper which doesn't seem to buckle over time inside the frame, compared with lighter weight papers..
In addition, I found that I couldn't tell any difference between Highest Quality and Standard Quality on the final print (maybe I would do under a magnifying glass) except that now the ink in my cartridges lasts waaaay longer if I print Standard!
Finally I tend to use Perceptual rather than Colormetric for the simple reason that years ago I was told Perceptual is better for photos while Colormetric is better for graphics. I have no knowledge as to the truth of this because I can't tell any difference myself! But it would be interesting to get a definitive answer on that.
Beware Heather, the pigment prints will still fade in sunlight, it will just take longer. Print Survival when protected from UV light is measured at about 100 years. Depending on how direct and long the print is exposed to UV the life of the print will dramatically be reduced. I’m sure there are papers on this subject that would be worth a scan. Of course UV protective glass is an option if you want these prints to have a longer life.
@@normstangl3499 Thank you. Of course, even a print from a top quality lab will fade in strong light over the years 😊
I have a different experience of home printing. I bought an A3 photo printer some years ago, primarily to print documents but chose a photo quality model to also be able make prints of my photos. Despite being happy with the quality I rarely use it for this purpose now. To explain why:
1) I do not sell prints so how many do I have wall space for?
2) Costs: each home print may cost less than £2, but once you add in the cost of matting, framing and non-reflective glass the cost per print rockets.
3) If you do not use the printer regularly print heads block and ink costs rise.
4) A professional lab producing giclee prints will use printer profiles generated for their own specific printer for each paper type used and will provide these for soft proofing.
5) All of the post processing and image adjustments up to the point of hitting the print button will be essentially the same if you print at home or send a file to a lab so I don’t feel I have lost control
My approach now is to make books of my images instead of albums using a company such as CEWE or BLURB. I can still send files using the Adobe 1998 colour space. My latest 27x21cm hardcover book containing 70 images worked out at just over £1/image. As Ansel Adams said 6 top quality images per year is a good crop so it is not excessively expensive to have a few of my best images printed by a specialist lab if I want to hang them on my walls.
Yep, I get that John. 👍👍
That's a lot of elephants in the room :D I miss printing and will get into it if I ever have the money.
Really good vid Gary. I concur with everything you said. I use to do my own printing in a darkroom in the 70/80s and the digital age has made us/me lazy. Purchased the same printer as you beginning of this year, got profiles and good paper. Love every bit of it and its re invigorated my photography 300%. Makes doing all the taking and post editing worth it. Looking forward to your follow up...
Cheers Nigel 👍👍
Having only gone digital for one year now and haven't even got light room or any way of producing my pictures yet. Seeing you go through printing stages looks like I have my work cut out. I have only use snapbridge to send pic to friends and family so far🤞
It's not difficult, I promise you. Cheers Ian 👍👍
Hi Gary, I am lucky enough to belong to a camera club, where I have been a member since 2006. We have a competition each month where we enter one mono and one colour print. i have been doing all my own prints since then. This has taught me a lot about printing. I do have an eizo monitor which calibrates itself. One problem I always had was that a lot of my prints were printing too dark, even though I lowered the kelvin. I finally worked out that if when I have finished working on photo in Photoshop, I set the monitors background to white, if the photo is too dark it shows up more than when working on a dark background. Now I don't waste inks and paper. Thank you once again for an enjoyable video Gary/
Excellent video Gary ,I like many used to home print ,I was in charge of the camera clubs printer and would print members print ,but the problems arose when the printer was not used for a few months over the summer and the dreaded printer head blockage,after using a full set of ink costing the best part of £200 the head was deemed knackered, I now use sim lab along with Keith Saint our club chairman and we share the costs,an average 12-16 print on lustre for club comps costs about £1.05 a print ,and is really good quality ,but I still loved doing my own printing but the outlay now is to much for the amount I print , maybe 15-20 prints a year. Keep the good work up.cheers mal
A great video and yes you've hit the nail on the head here Gary.
I'm not a pro but I print on a relatively cheap Epson A4 printer for my own use
If I want A3 I can get it done locally while in the premises (I haven't much room for anything over A4 anyhow to be honest)
My last Laptop was calibrated using my club's Spyder, however it's not compatible with my New Laptop
Like you I've learnt to increase the exposure and I print trough photoshop and let it control the printing.
The prints are not of a professional standard but they're mine almost on tap and have been admired by friends
I won't mention my 'Elephant in the Room', the quality of the photographs 😱
Cheers E.
Brilliant as usual Gary, thanks for sharing your knowledge
Brilliant Gary, thank you for showing us this
Very interesting video Gary.
At the moment i am still learning the art of post processing and only printed off several photos to date that i have been happy with, so my concerns would be that of the ink jets clogging up if not being used on a regular basis and thus adding to cost if they needed cleaning out all the time (if that is the case).
Fully get the benefits of printing your own and its also great to get my prints framed (another expense) and on the wall, but for me, untill i get better with post processing i will use a reccomended quality photo lab which offers quick delivery and great backup, but no doubt one day a quality printer could be on the cards.
Thanks again and looking forward to the follow up,
Well you got me thinking about it again Gary. My last foray into home printing ended up in the opposite experience. The A3 Epson printer was relatively low cost compared to a camera or lens, but the ink cost was very high. What made it worse is the print head clogged (manufacturer inks) after a few weeks and couldn’t be cleared, which I guess then massively upped the effective cost of the printer.
Great video Gary
Thanks 👍
Nice video Gary on a topic which many find quite scary. I moved to home printing some time ago and have never looked back - better quality than online print shops...mostly. I used an excellent lab which gave me good results. I don't think its fair to say that they don't care "its just an order" - if they produced bad work they would lose business. For me the equation changed when I started to use fine art papers. That's when control and turnaround is important. I get what you say about screen calibration - a modern high quality screen with large gamut is rarely going to give you any noticeable problems and many of the better ones now have built in hardware calibration. The one really important area you gloss over though is the importance of the printer profiles. This makes an enormous difference. I've found that off the shelf profiles just don't cut it so I always use custom profiles - any good paper supplier will generate these for free.
Printing has always scared me,and any I have done I got done at a lab, but you have explained this in a great way and made it look easy, I might have to give it a go, I got some nice images on my trip and it will cost a fortune at a lab to print, thanks for sharing Gary.
Glad it was helpful! It really isn't difficult John 👍👍
I recently got the Pro 200 and it's very good indeed, although the inks are crazy expensive. I take images straight from my camera or my phone and they look very good. I have been a photographer for 60 years and made many prints but the only ones that have lasted are the ones printed with proprietry inks and paper and theres no getting round it.
I have been printing for years with 3rd party inks, and as long as you keep them away from direct sunlight they will last for ages. I only print on fairly basic A3 paper and using the cheaper inks, if they do eventually fade, just print them again to last for a few years more. I guess you will want to change your photos displayed around the home eventually anyway.
Hi Gary, wondering your advice on which type of Canon printing paper for colour and for mono prints. I see that you have 'premium matt' and 'lustre' in this video. Love your videos, great inspiration.
Interesting viewing Gary ,as with a lit of things in life i guess its down to personal choice .
I've been toying with the idea of getting a photo quality printer as I really want to get more prints done. Looking at the initial outlay & watching your video has made the decision for me . I think I'll stick with the 2 Pro labs I currently use . Only had 2 small issues both of which were sorted immediately , delivery within 2 working days packaged as I requested ( flat is preferred ).
Although...then again , I might splash on a printer 🤔 My biggest worry is getting the home prints wrong & wasting paper & ink . Would be great if it was possibly to do a "try before you buy " with a printer ..wonder if anyone would do that 🤔
Interesting point on the calibration , my monitor is from 1999 , never been calibrated & doesn't have that function of choosing RGB profile that yours has . All the images I've had printed have turned out exactly as I see them on the monitor & I don't use the labs color profiles either. I get the pee taken out of my little monitor but it just works 😊
Cheers & look forward to the follow up 👍
You're welcome to come and try mine anytime. 👍👍 Didn't mean that to sound creepy btw :)
@@GaryGough ...😅😅 ...thats very generous of you Gary ,I may take you up on that at some point 👍 You up for trying the seals again this year ?
Very very useful tutorial. Thanks Gary! I've been thinking about getting a decent printer for a while so I can print at home. Maybe Canon, maybe Epson. In any case, I think nowadays they are all quite good.
colour profiling of a monitor is waaaaaaay more than setting a monitor to an in built profile. colour calibration is a about brightness and contrast as well as colour gamut.
As far as labs, sorry your description of labs is a strong generalisation. as someone who runs a professional lab, printing mounting and framing, I control the quality of all the images generated from my lab, NOT a machine. I find your comment to very off the mark in generalisation of pro labs
Apologies once again for generalizing about Labs. I did however say in the video they serve a very good purpose. I still use them today for bulk orders.
Hi Gary, great video again, and a few elephants get a cull. I always work on the cost of an A3 print as £5. The main thing is you have to use your printer regularly which stops a lot of the cleaning cycles. Also it would be worth checking out the next size up which not only prints A2 but the inks are cheaper per ml. Lastly try using canon print shop program, really good and you can do a print proof sheet, with a number of thumb nails at different exposures which is brilliant.
Thank you Gary, excellent video. I pretty much do as you suggest in the video but it is good to have confirmation lol. Just a suggestion. Have you looked at Marrutt papers? A British compeny with a great choice of paper types and sizes. They also provide a print profile for your specific printer. Not affiliated at all, I just use them and find the quality is superb and the price is very good.
Very well explained. When I tried your way of printing with new paper sized white canvas, in the print dialog the preview showed a plain white paper. When I opened the same image on a new tab and pressed Ctrl + P, in the print dialog the image was shown in the preview. Any ideas what I did wrong the first try Gary?
Difficult to say Bill without going through it with you. As long as it's sorted now though 👍👍
Absolutely brilliant, thank you very much!
Great video and very interesting..very expensive the printer, ink and paper my 93yr fathers not well off so it's on the wish list for the next life..
I get that Ashley. Thanks for watching 👍👍
Hi Gary. I am about to purchase the Canon Pro 300. I am currently using a 2020 Apple 27" Imac. I have a Xrite Colormunki Display Calibrator which I usually use. Should I be using that or the Mac Adobe RGB 1998 profile which seems a lot warmer. I shoot RAW. Adobe RGB Nikon Z8. No skin tones to worry about. Thank you for a inspirational video.
The only way of knowing is to take a couple of small test prints and compare.
Interesting video Gary. My main issue currently is I don't have the room for a printer able to print A2 & Panos and from what I can tell from others who regularly print they do test prints, priming/declogging of jets, pro inks etc so I think the cost differential isn't quite as big. I therefore use a Lab BUT I agree if I did have a home printer I'd print more. Whether the quality of those prints would match some of the good pro labs I am not so sure. Ultimately I will get a printer when my son's move out and I get the extra rooms😂😂I also respect all the caveats you mentioned re calibrating monitors but I note the colours on my BenQ photo monitor do vary a bit over the month between my calibrations. I choose to recalibrate monthly but accept depending on how accurate a match you want with the printed version it may not be essential.
How about taking a look at the Epson ET8550 which has low ink costs as it uses bulk ink tanks, A3+, and functions as a general printer. Make it easy and relatively low cost would encourage more printing?
I'm a Canon fan boy, sorry 😁
Hi Gary,
Really encouraged by this. Can I ask what scree you have. I am operating off my laptop and want a decent screen and one that has built in colour options sounds ideal? Ta
I'm using a Dell U2711 It's pretty old but still works a treat.
I love your enthusiasm but as the " every day man" I find that the majority of people that I would like to show my images DON'T want to look at a print. They view images through their phones, on their tablets or computers. Then there is the problem of the printer itself. If you don't use it every week I have found that the inks dry up and the heads get clogged. Most times you only find out when you try to make a print so after using many cleaning methods you end up wasting many expensive sheets of paper and a lot of expensive inks. As for printing A3 or A2 prints I haven't got anywhere large enough to put a printer of that size.
I can see the benefits for a professional photographer who has to deliver high quality prints to clients but for someone who is keen but not professional digital perhaps unfortunately means digital unless you don't want to share your images with anyone but your granny.
Thank you for this insightful video. Could you please share the model of your Dell monitor.
Really useful vid....
Re your screen with the built in calibration, see that's no longer available. Do you have any recommendations on a replacement?
Hi Garry, very interesting your workflow on printing images, I would have preferred if you done a colour image instead of black and white. Maybe you can do one with colour too?
"Ooh, that's an old picture. I bet that's at least 12/15 years old ...".
I wish I was still young enough to consider 12/15 years ago as "old". 🤣
To help satisfy the elephant in the room , what Dell monitors are you using? I'm currently using both the UP2716D and the U2715H. I do calibrate but its to get the monitors to match. P.S. love the printing and have to agree tht unless you can feel it, handle it, make noise with it, it's not real. P.P.S. I print on the Pro-1000. :)
Very helpful. Many thanks.
I agree that printing adds significantly to my photography experience. My trouble is figuring out what to do with the prints. I would love to have A3-ish prints from my favorite photos, but I'm getting a couple of what I think are print-worthy images per week. What would I do with them? Wall space is finite. Cost of framing is outrageous. Flat storage in drawers defeats the purpose. I've resorted to printing just 4"x6" snapshots and sticking them into photo albums. What do people do with larger prints? Help!