Now that we're firmly in the digital age, printing photos has been relegated to an optional step in the photographic process, one that many photographers rarely (if ever) take advantage of. This great video talks about why one photographer feels printing photos is so important (even in this age) and how he goes about it.
Coming to you from Simon Baxter, this great video talks about both why he prints his photos and the basic process in doing so to ensure quality results. I think Baxter is really on to something when he talks about "living with photos" and how this can change both your process and the way you view the value of a photograph. In today's age of lightning-fast consumption, it's easy to spend hours working on a photo, only to throw it into the digital wild for a quick round of likes and comments and never think of it again, which is a shame, especially when you put your artistic heart and soul into your work. Excellent quality photo printers are now quite affordable, and it's rather straightforward to do the entire process at home by yourself, and you're left with a permanent manifestation of your work.
I would love to print my photos myself but when you look at the price of ink cartridges, the purchase of quality paper, the price of a printer that in addition may break down due to the number of impression we will make with. I unfortunately gave up, I prefer to speak to a printing company. Print your self is too expensive
Start selling those prints. Than it becomes well worth it.
it's sure that if it happens to sell them it's different. so invest in a large format printer it's worth it, only for commercial purposes
Gotta find someone willing to buy them. :P
That's why labs exist, they'll do it better than you and it's not too costly
exactly, there are some good quality papers with some affordable prices.
I would gladly put my prints next to any lab and dare someone to see the difference. Today's printers are really good and if you use a decent paper and understand how to 'tune' your printer, the results are stunning.
I sell my prints and judging by the comments I get from my customers, my Epson P800 is doing a very good job. I only wish I had the dinars to afford a 44" printer. :-)
Having said that, if you're only printing once in a while, it's not worth it. The only thing I recommend is if you have a shot that is something special, use a professional lab.
Don't know about your area, but labs around me are pretty costly to print at... Also, unless you have a lab willing to work closely with you, printing at a lab means that you lose control over a lot of decisions in the printing process from choice of paper, inks, and even potentially the color of the final print.
A good lab works for museums and art galleries, her ein Paris we have a good choice. I'd be cool to buy a printer if I had enough sales to support it, but sellin a few / years isn't going to cut it ever, and I wouldn't be able to make large prints anyway.
A good lab is also not really cheap—very much the opposite. If you're only printing a couple of things a year, then it might still be more cost effective, but it doesn't take a whole lot of volume for a printer, ink, and paper to be cheaper than using a lab.
Have been printing my pictures for past few months and its an absolute pleasure to see them on the wall.
Ordered an old Nikon FM-2 with and 50mm 1.4. Hopefully will get some hands on with film, scanning and printing too.😀