During recent talks to various camera clubs and to the online Camversation Community I have received a number of questions about printing so i felt it was forth publishing a Blog post to answer these questions.
What Printer do I use? I use a Canon Pro 9000 Markii which is an A3+ printer This is now quite an old printer and you are able to purchase more sophisticated modern printers. I would recommend looking at the online collective reviews of printers and going with one of the ones that is repeatedly one of the top picks from the reviewers. One point be aware of is the inks that you use! If you keep changing brand then you need to keep recalibrating also cheap inks are often not stable in UV light and you print will fade over time.
Where do I get my prints developed? For commission work I always get my print from Whitewall the range of media will meet the needs of any client and the quality of the product is amazing however it does come at a price. For general printing of images I would produce my own as above however I have asked a few people and DSColour labs does get a good press however take care when using these labs that you read the requirements carefully and ensure you apply any required profiles correctly.
What Brand of Paper do I use for printing my images?
I must be honest I have never gone in for using fancy papers as I feel my image should sell itself and provided I use a the right format (gloss, mat, satin) of a decent quality paper then in most cases that is good enough and staying with one brand means i have printer profiles at hand for each type as continually generating paper profiles is expensive and time consuming. The brand I use is OLMEC which I have always found to be adequate for club photography. This paper is available from a range of outlets.
If I were producing a commission print then I may use a specific paper that meets the clients needs.
How do you calibrate your monitor and printer?
I use an X-Rite ColorMunki Photo which is capable of calibrating a monitor and a printer.
I have been asked the question does it matter if you don't calibrate and in the vast number of cases it does not matter if you don't. This is provided you are happy with the fact that what you see on you monitor is not what you shot and what you print in not what you are seeing n the screen. There are however times when you need an image to be correct.
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