Printing

Yes, the instant print camera popularized by the one and only Polaroid is back and in a new form factor for 2015. The long awaited Socialmatic doesn't use film but rather snaps and shares your photos via the web and social media options along with delivering nifty adhesive prints of your photos. Wrapped in an Android based OS that shares to Facebook, Twitter and of course Instagram, I'm interested in seeing how people respond to its release come January.

Each year, TIME Magazine picks and highlights the best photography books of the 12 months prior. This year, they’ve put a special focus on the growing trend of bucking the traditional publishing system as many of their choices fall in the realm of self-publishing and self-promotion. This was made most evident when many of TIME’s editors picked the same book for the top spot, Magnum Photographer Peter van Agtmael’s self-published Disco Night September 11, an often brutal look at America post-September 11.

Over the past couple of decades, technology has changed every aspect of modern life both at work and at play. We now live in a digital era dominated by high-end digital cameras, mobile phones, smart tablets and even intelligent watches. However, what we often forget is that each shutter click on these devices captures a slice of history, a moment which felt significant enough to pull out our gadget and press that all-important shutter button. Most of these images stay rooted deep inside our device’s memory never to be viewed again. That is until now, where next month we see the release of ZenCam, an application which enables intelligent printing for portable devices.

I absolutely love seeing the photos I have taken hanging up in my client's house. However, I dread the time it takes to get together and try to sell large prints or canvases as I know I could be using the time for other things. Finally, I've found a solution that I am super excited about that will make the experience for both my clients and I enjoyable, quick and easy. The end result is a win-win for both of us. Swift Galleries is about to change everything!

Announced this morning, preceding PhotoPlus Expo, is the brand new Epson SureColor P600. Kicking off the new SureColor P line, the P600 uses Epson's UltraChrome HD Ink to deliver high quality and affordable prints from your home. However, the biggest announcement from this 13" printer comes in it's black intensity, at black density with L values as low as 2 (~10 shades of black density).

Growing up in the family's studios and labs, I learned a thing or two about mounting and framing prints, and I also ruined a lot of them in the process. In this video, I'll demonstrate a version of my process so you can skip the lab and mount your own prints, fresh from your home or studio printer.

Professional-quality photo printers and paper are expensive. It can be difficult to justify the steep price of the machine and upkeep for most photographers who shoot as a hobbyist or even a starting professional. Outsourcing your printing needs to a pro photo lab alleviates the cost, but there are some inherent complications in not being able to print from home. These four helpful steps will minimize the disconnect when sending out your images to the lab.

Color banding is a problem we encounter when retouching many of our images or making them ready for print, but in many of the cases we just ignore it hoping no one will notice. In this long and detailed video, photographer / illustrator Lee Varis explains why banding appears in our photos, how we can recognize it, and shows the best methods we can use to fix it.