I took along a Polaroid printer when I traveled to Cuba earlier this year. It enabled me to make prints of my iPhone photos via Bluetooth. I gave the prints to people I had photographed with my iPhone after I had photographed them with my Fuji X-T1. The printer is small (2.91" x 4.72") and lightweight (0.41 lb.), important since I travel as light as I can when visiting a country such as Cuba. Prior to traveling with the Polaroid printer I used a Fujifilm Instax Mini, an instant film camera. The quality of the images was “okay," and the … [Read more...] about Printing Images From Your Cell Phone While Traveling
Instant Replay: Lightroom Q&A
In this episode, Rob Sylvan and Levi Sim answer questions about Lightroom. There are several terrific gems and pro-user tips on tools like making presets, using the print module, adjustment brush presets, and more. Hosted by: Rob Sylvan and Levi Sim Produced by: Rich Harrington and Photofocus.com https://youtu.be/DXWIQZw25aA?t=6m37s … [Read more...] about Instant Replay: Lightroom Q&A
Instant Replay: Lightroom’s Print Module with Kevin Ames
You may have noticed that there's more to Lightroom than the Library and Develop Modules--there's also a Print Module, and it's incredibly awesome. Special guest Kevin Ames is going to reveal the secret powers of the Print Module and you'll find that it's really great for much more than making prints. Hosted by: Rob Sylvan and Levi Sim Produced by: Rich Harrington and Photofocus.com https://youtu.be/IsmIa1KXTPk?t=5m12s … [Read more...] about Instant Replay: Lightroom’s Print Module with Kevin Ames
Review: Photoboards from Sweet Pix
Recently, Sweet Pix reached out and requested a review of their 8 x 8 photo boards. These photo boards can be ordered directly from an iPhone through the Sweet Pix app, which is available on iTunes. After downloading the app, the process of creating the photo boards is fast and simple. The entire process took about 2 minutes and was completely painless. The toughest part was selecting images. I decided to go with the same photos I recently printed through Millers lab to compare the color quality. The price point is set at $25 for 2, $45 … [Read more...] about Review: Photoboards from Sweet Pix
Learn to Leverage Powerful Prints at WPPI
When I started photography in high school, I spent the majority of my time in the darkroom making prints from the few negatives I shot. It took a lot of time to finally see what I'd recorded on film. When I started digital photography I the complete opposite experience. I could now see my photographs immediately, but getting prints took much longer since I had to send out for them. However, when I got those prints from the lab, the impact was powerful for both me and my clients. The pictures I remember most are always those I have handled and … [Read more...] about Learn to Leverage Powerful Prints at WPPI
Lindsay Adler – The Story Behind the Photo
Join Photofocus' Melissa Niu and portrait/fashion photographer Lindsay Adler as they explore the story behind one of Lindsay's best photography discoveries. All it takes is a little exploration to change a boring location into a beautiful, dramatic image. https://youtu.be/MNJ17LFvINU Brought to you by LensRentals - http://bit.ly/pflensrentals SongFreedom - http://bit.ly/songfreedom Photofocus - https://photofocus.com About Lindsay Adler Lindsay Adler is a professional portrait and fashion photographer based in New York City. Her … [Read more...] about Lindsay Adler – The Story Behind the Photo
Pictage is Closing their Doors. What are Your Options?
If you're a photo studio or photographer who uses Pictage to host and sell your photos, you likely have quite a shock this week. On August 24th, Pictage posted the following message to their users: The Closing of Pictagehttps://discover.pictage.com/pictage-update-20150824 Please accept my sincere apologies for the Pictage web site being down since Thursday. The Pictage web site is currently recovering, but it is an extremely slow process due to the high number of images we store. We are doing everything we can to bring the web site online as … [Read more...] about Pictage is Closing their Doors. What are Your Options?
One Argument Against The Quest For More Megapixels
Nicole recently wrote a nice post explaining the megapixel madness were experiencing right now, and why in some cases it makes sense. I want to add to her article by sharing my perspective. I understand the argument for more megapixels when you want to print big. Its a valid argument. I know a lot and I mean a lot of photographers. I don't know very many at all who print big. In fact the majority of the photographers I know don't print much at all. So its unlikely they would need more megapixels for that purpose. But for those who do want … [Read more...] about One Argument Against The Quest For More Megapixels
Printing is the Lost Art of Photography
Why are prints are so important? Printing is a part of many photographers business or workflow that can be improved. Most of us don't know how to print or even understand the basics of printing. Sure, the ease of going from one screen to another is often easy, while figuring out how to print at the right size and the right output can be daunting. Why Print? Printing can bring another level to your photography and client base. Prints obviously do not require hard drives, cloud storage, or a powered on device to view. A print is a tangible … [Read more...] about Printing is the Lost Art of Photography
How Many Megapixels Do I Need for Printing?
This is a complex subject. Megapixels are a measure of quantity, not quality. An 8 megapixel camera phone isn't the same as an 8 megapixel DSLR camera. In short, not all pixels are compared equally. Simple formula to determine megapixels Multiply the width (in pixels) by the height (in pixels) then divide the result by 1 million For the sake of simplicity, we are going to assume you have a DSLR camera. I currently shoot with a Nikon D700 12.1MP camera for sports and a Nikon D810 36.3MP camera for portraits. To determine how many megapixels your … [Read more...] about How Many Megapixels Do I Need for Printing?
Review: Hand Painted Photos from Pixelist
Not long ago, someone from Pixelist reached out to see if I would try out and review one of their products, a hand-painted oil painting created from one of my photos. I don't do a lot of reviews, but when I went to their website I have to say I was intrigued! What a unique way to "print" a photograph. So I said yes, and sent them a photo I took of my dog, Kodak. In about three weeks, I received an email from them saying that the painting was finished. They included a photo of it and asked if there was anything that needed to be changed or … [Read more...] about Review: Hand Painted Photos from Pixelist
Joe McNally – The Story Behind the Photo
Join Photofocus' Melissa Niu and commercial photographer Joe McNally as they explore the story behind one of Joe's most memorable photos of a telescope shot for National Geographic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3pIZBqY8ug Brought to you by LensRentals - http://bit.ly/pflensrentals SongFreedom - http://bit.ly/songfreedom Photofocus - https://photofocus.com About Joe McNally is an internationally acclaimed photographer whose career has spanned 30 years and included assignments in over 50 countries. He has shot cover stories for TIME, … [Read more...] about Joe McNally – The Story Behind the Photo
Fixing What you see is NOT what you get when Printing
The most common printing problem of WYSINWYG "What you see is NOT what you get" is a non-calibrated monitor. Here is the scenario: You spent hours editing an image; selecting the right colors, making sure the shadows are just right, the black point isn't clipped and so on. You print the image and it's not what you see on your screen. You're confused. When you sent the same image off to a professional lab like Miller's, Bay Photos or Mpix, the image looks great. But when you print from home or print at Walmart the image looks bad. What's going … [Read more...] about Fixing What you see is NOT what you get when Printing
How to Deliver Images to your Client using Lightroom
You just finished a photo session and your clients are excited to see the final images.The next step is to decide which images you want to present and how to deliver them. Some photographers charge extra and give all images to the client. The client is responsible for printing. Other photographers, myself included, use a fulfillment service to host, view and print the images. Despite which method you use, we need to configure Lightroom to export a high quality image for viewing and printing. The Export Module To streamline our workflow, we are … [Read more...] about How to Deliver Images to your Client using Lightroom
How to Create a Canvas Gallery Wrap
Editor's Note: This post completes our weeklong look at getting more from Perfect Photo Suite. We hope you try the free demo (it works for 30 days) and that you enjoy it. Our goal was to help you learn more about this product. Be sure to check out other articles about this great tool. A lot of photographers want to get their images printed on canvas. When this happens, you need to either leave a lot of pad at the edges, or better yet create a reflected edge so it can be wrapped around the wooden frame. This creates a pleasant border that … [Read more...] about How to Create a Canvas Gallery Wrap
A Clear Understanding of Aspect Ratio for Your Prints
If you plan to print your photos, its essential to know that ratio to crop to. Otherwise you may end up with unexpected results. What is aspect ratio? Aspect Ratio of an image describes the proportional relationship between its width and its height. The most common aspect ratios are 4:3, 3:2 Other aspect ratios, such as 5:3, 5:4, and 1:1 (square format), are used in medium and large format cameras. During one of my first professional photography jobs I was taught to always leave room for crop. When I first started taking pictures of families … [Read more...] about A Clear Understanding of Aspect Ratio for Your Prints
Understanding Bleed and Trim Factor With Your Prints
When it comes to printing out photos, we want to make sure everything is perfect and part of perfecting printing is understand some aspects of what happens at the lab. You have your print ready, you send it to the lab and it comes back cropped in a little bit. Every lab has a bleed/trim factor you need to consider when submitting files. What is the bleed factor when printing? The bleed factor is the area to be trimmed off by the printer to account for a small amount of space due to movement of the paper and design inconsistencies. Bleeds from … [Read more...] about Understanding Bleed and Trim Factor With Your Prints
Looking back at our Creating Great Black and White Images in Lightroom Hangout
We're busy getting ready for our next Google Hangout on Lightroom Wednesday the 25th on the Print Module. Thanks to our partners we have some great prizes to win (like a free pass to Photoshop World!), but you must attend the hangout live to win. Back in February Levi, Rich, Gerard, and I were super psyched to get to hang out with Bryan O'Neil Hughes from Adobe to discuss and demonstrate various techniques for converting color originals to black and white masterpieces. Bryan is not only an incredible Photoshop and Lightroom resource, but he's … [Read more...] about Looking back at our Creating Great Black and White Images in Lightroom Hangout
Looking back at our Getting Organized in Lightroom Hangout
We're busy getting ready for our next Google Hangout on Lightroom Wednesday the 25th on the Print Module. Thanks to our partners we have some great prizes to win, but you must attend the hangout live to win. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDEIsMXVANU]Click here to RSVP and join the live Hangout. Tune in live to ask questions and enter the drawings for some terrific prizes. Our hangouts are brought to you in partnership with Mosaic Archive and Photoshop World. To learn more about how Google Hangouts work, click here … [Read more...] about Looking back at our Getting Organized in Lightroom Hangout
Join Our Free Lightroom Hangout: Print Module UnPlugged
You may have noticed that there's more to Lightroom than the Library and Develop Modules--there's also a Print Module, and it's incredibly awesome. Whether you want to print single pictures, multiple bundles, or specialized outputs... its all here. To help bring it to life we've invited a true expert, Kevin Ames. He is a pro photographer, Photofocus contributor, and Photoshop World speaker. He'll help us reveal the secret powers of the Print Module. You'll find that it's really great for much more than making … [Read more...] about Join Our Free Lightroom Hangout: Print Module UnPlugged
Adobe Announces 3D Printing in Just One Click
3D Printing is a relatively new industry that makes it possibly to print physical copies of objects. Adobe recently announced that Photoshop CC has radically simplifying the 3D print process for creatives. Need a perfect prop for your shoot... no problem. Need to make a prototype to show your client... you got it. With this new release, it is no longer difficult to create and print a beautiful, physical object. As part of a major update to Adobe Creative Cloud, the new 3D printing capabilities available in Photoshop CC enable Creative Cloud … [Read more...] about Adobe Announces 3D Printing in Just One Click
What is CMYK Color?
I was talking to a group of photographers and the topic of professional printing came up. A surprising number seemed unfamiliar or uncomfortable with CMYK color. Let's quickly review a few core concepts to help you feel more confident in your printing of photos. The Process The CMYK process uses four colors to simulate the full range of color that can be perceived by the human eye. The four inks are cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K, for key). Many inkjet printers and most professional printing options use this color … [Read more...] about What is CMYK Color?
How Much Do You Know About Megapixels?
If youre in the market for a new camera, it often seems like the number one criteria is megapixels. Im not saying that this is right, but it's the one of the few criteria that camera makers think that their customers can understand. I often think theres a lot of hype with cameras, so Id like to take a second and break down what a megapixel really is and help you figure out how many you actually need for your workflow. A megapixel is simply a unit of storage that describes the amount of data captured by a camera. It can be written to internal … [Read more...] about How Much Do You Know About Megapixels?
Follow Up To Yesterday’s Poll – How Do You Print?
[polldaddy poll=5686027] Yesterday, I asked how many of you print your photographs. Only a small percentage said never. So for those who do print, how do you make THE MAJORITY of your prints? ____________________ … [Read more...] about Follow Up To Yesterday’s Poll – How Do You Print?
Print Poll
[polldaddy poll=5683653] It's been a while since we did a poll - especially on this issue. Many people seem to be content to keep their images on their computers. How about you? Please answer this question based on what you DO - not what you plan to do, wish you did or haven't gotten around to doing :) Thanks! ________ Sponsored by the Amazon Digital SLR Store - Cameras, lenses, accessories and everything else. … [Read more...] about Print Poll
Should You Buy A Printer Or Use A Lab For Photographic Prints?
The answer is - much as it often is in the field of photography - it depends. BUY A PRINTER IF: 1. You have time to learn color management, printer profiling etc. 2. You are an artist and want complete control over the final product from capture to post to print. 3. You aren't in a high-volume situation where you need to make hundreds of prints a month. 4. You can financially justify the cost of the printer, ink and paper against what it would cost you to use a lab. USE A LAB IF: 1. You don't have time or interest in learning color … [Read more...] about Should You Buy A Printer Or Use A Lab For Photographic Prints?
Three Quick Tips For Getting Better Photo Prints At Home
If you print your own work, then you may have varying degrees of success when it comes to getting the results you hoped for. If you are having trouble, be sure to make sure you have these three things handled. One or more of them might be the reason you aren't getting great prints. 1. Use high-quality ink, preferably from your printer manufacturer. This is NOT the place to cheap out folks. The inks are expensive but not THAT expensive. And the profiles provided by most printer and paper manufacturers almost always rely on the manufacturer's … [Read more...] about Three Quick Tips For Getting Better Photo Prints At Home
Monitor to Print Matching (Part 3): Fast and Affordable Print Testing
Post by Above: Two screen shots from two popular pigment inkjet printer drivers showing a few of the different quality/speed options. The Canon PIXMA Pro 9500 Mark II driver is on the left, and the Epson Stylus Pro 3880 driver is on the right. In the previous two parts of this series (Part 1, and Part 2), I covered calibrating and profiling, how to use standard test images effectively (especially when viewing images on monitors), and the importance of controlling your lighting when evaluating prints. In this article I will cover some print … [Read more...] about Monitor to Print Matching (Part 3): Fast and Affordable Print Testing
Monitor to Print Matching (Part I): Choosing the Right Proofing Light
Post by One of the most common questions I'm asked by photographers is "Why don't my prints match my monitor?" As you may have deduced from the words "Part 1" in the title of this post, this is not a simple question to answer. There are many reasons why, but one of the main ones is due to incorrect print lighting when evaluating prints next to a calibrated and profiled monitor. Mr. Kelvin to the Rescue The key to choosing a light is to first understand color temperature. A typical warm incandescent light (like a standard light bulb) is … [Read more...] about Monitor to Print Matching (Part I): Choosing the Right Proofing Light
Scott’s Photoshop Printing Checklist
I no longer make my own prints. I am just too busy. But I made my own prints for 18 years in a wet darkroom and for another 13 digitally. Here's a checklist you might find useful if you want to get the best results from your printer. 1. Make sure you use the right ink, paper, printer and printer driver combination. 2. Size your image so that it matches the native resolution of your printer. 3. Soft proof your image so you know what it's going to look like when it prints. 4. Avoid resampling the image when you select your print size in the … [Read more...] about Scott’s Photoshop Printing Checklist
