Summary: <br> Today’s topic is printers. This is something that’s very interesting to me because I love printing. I love it so much I made an online course about it to help you get going quickly with creating fine prints. <br> <br> <br> <br> I recently finished an in-person class on printing and the student was just all smiles. She couldn’t believe the creative doors that had been opened because she learned to print. She was very timid going into it and almost afraid to make it happen. But by following my process and taking things one step at a time she quickly gained the confidence she needed to wrestle those various printer settings and controls to do what she wanted them to do and she made some excellent prints. <br> <br> <br> <br> If you want to add more “wow” to your photography I encourage you to learn to print fine gallery-quality images. Whether you do it on your own printer or if you use an online lab, it’s a valuable process to go through.<br> <br> <br> <br> Speaking of online labs, as I record this I’m in the middle of adding my bonus feature to the online course where I order from at least six different online labs. I walk you through the entire ordering process and do a print analysis at the end comparing the different print labs. I’ll turn this into a future episode of the podcast as well.<br> <br> <br> <br> Alright, on with the show, selecting a printer.<br> <br> <br> <br> In this episode I’m going to assume you’re buying a printer for the first time. I’m also going to assume you want to have maximum control and freedom of paper to put into your printer. Towards the end I’ll look at large format or grand format printers.<br> <br> <br> <br> Where to begin<br> <br> <br> <br> For me, the end result is all about the image on paper. The machine you use to make that happen is just an intermediary device. Your image is key, I can help you there, but not in this episode, and the paper is key. But even with paper, where to begin? There’s so many options available. It can get quite frustrating to tackle this daunting task of deciding which paper to go on. The reason I suggest you start here is so you can easily identify which printer you “Shouldn’t” be buying. Your end goal is to create fine gallery-quality images. And we’ll get there, but we need to also start there at least for a few moments so all the other decisions we have to make are the right ones that will help us achieve that end goal.<br> <br> <br> <br> Recommendations on paper manufacturers<br> <br> <br> <br> I really like Canson Infinity papers. There’s also Moab Papers and Hahnemühle. I just went for it and jumped to the finest quality papers on the planet. This may seem strange since this is not going to be your starting point when you make your first print. This is about understanding where you want to be with your print making once you have all the skills. There are literally hundreds of different paper types to choose from between just these manufacturers, and I’ve only mentioned three manufacturers. <br> <br> <br> <br> The first thing to do on these manufacturers websites is to simply read about the different types of digital papers they offer. Much of it won’t make any sense to you. That’s OK. Please do however look for some keywords that do interest you. Maybe it’s something like the word texture, or smooth, or warm tone. Anything like that. Just get a basic feel for it.<br> <br> <br> <br> Once you’ve looked at a few items to see if there’s anything that interests you, it’s time to look at their ICC profile downloads. This is THE reason I had you come to the paper manufacturers first. The ICC profile is a little tidbit of information that’s needed so the printer puts down the proper amount of ink on that specific paper it’s made for in order to get accurate color. It’s possible to make your own Profile, and I cover that in my online course,
