For this Live Event, I will be doing a full workflow edit. I will start with some background on the location and thoughts about my vision while I was on the scene. I will then begin working on the RAW image and transition it into Photoshop. I will show my entire workflow from beginning to end and even discuss the final print.
We are going from the start to the art in the forest walk that leads to Sol Duc Falls in Olympic National Park with the 10th episode in the Start to the Art Series!
I will show the following:
• Raw Workflow with IP² Chroma
• Zone System Express Panel
• Palette Effects Panel
• Dodge and Brun Pro Panel
• The all new: Blend If Panel
• The deals discussed in this event may not be available if you viewed this after March 28th, 2022 •
Just curious,… Is it possible to do a soft proof for the Mpix papers? Do they offer profiles for their various papers?
I’m pretty certain they would give you that information if you emailed them. Their customer service is top-notch!
I can not view this because this is appearing on the screen …
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Cheers
RLF
You are receiving this because you have either an ad blocker, firewall, or anti virus program (Norton, Windows Defender, etc) that is being a little overactive. This is simply an embedded video and is not collecting data, so I am not sure why that is happening.
Either try another browser or view this in an incognito window to resolve it. You could also add my website to the safe list of websites in your ad blocker / firewall / anti virus program.
I had the same issue using Bitdefender on chrome. I click on the 3 dots in the upper right corner of chrome, select More Tools, Extensions and turn of Bitdefender’s anti-tracking. The hardest part is remembering to turn it back on.
Blake, This is very interesting and informative. I don’t own a high-end photo printer nor do I plan to invest in one. Having said that, I agree with you that it’s a great feeling to see your images printed, especially large. I have had a lab print acrylic face mount prints both framed and unframed with a floating back. For my most recent prints, I have obtained the ICC Profiles from the print lab. soft proofed the images, and then performed final upsizing and sharpening. I also have an Adobe RGB monitor. It’s interesting how printers tend to have less color options than what you see on the monitor. I have had some prints where I can get the original and print version very close, but other times where that does not seem possible. I would be very interested in a printing course from you but understand your reservations. My monitor was factory calibrated, but I am not going to calibrate it again. It would be interesting to see how your MPIX prints look of you get their ICC profiles and soft proof before submitting. When you print on the various MOAB papers, do you use the specific ICC paper profile for you Canon printer? Thank you or all your great content!
For sure! So I did not get the ICC profiles from Mpix, this was a test to see what would happen if I just sent the files as is, like most people do. I was shocked by how well they came out for not proofing.
I use the ICC profiles on my printer for the paper I use. Each paper has its own ICC profile, so I use the profile for that paper directly from the manufactures website.
As for paper vs print. The HUGE variable is that your monitor is RGB and a print is CMYK. Furthermore, your monitor is backlit and your print is a reflected light surface. Some colors will NOT translate exactly because it’s almost like a different language. For me, getting it close, is all I need.
Thank you Blake,
I agree that all you need to do is get the colors close. I have seen some amazing detail on my prints thanks to your Enhanced Contrast 2.
I have another question the members may be interested in. I agree with you that we should not place borders on our images when we are viewing them on screen. If I submit a 4×6 vertical image to Instagram, I will use a black border to fit the image into the IG space. For prints, do you prefer to display just the print on a floating frame, or have the print framed with a mat border. I prefer just the floating frame, but my wife definitely prefers the frame and border. I admit they look good both ways.
Thank you!
You know when it comes to that it really depends on where it’s going to be displayed and how that space would work with the print. I like both a lot. But I tend to lean on the flat mount. But that also limits your print media too. Paper is best displayed in a frame I think.
LOVE the print discussion!
I print with White Wall, or I print on my a bit older Canon Pixma – it is PRICELESS to hold a print of my own work in my hands!!
When printing with White Wall I even switched their optimize option off recently, because in several cases it worked against my artistic intend.
Prepping for print I usually add a brightness contrast layer and add about 10% brightness, sharpen a bit more than I normally would do and most times – on my own printer – arrange small testprints side by side on a larger sheet of paper to finetune the result. The small tests do not show all detail but show a good impression of how tone and color come across.
And in several cases I added a 2% blue layer in blendmode color on top of everything to balance the color of the paper. I print with Hahnemühle Fine Art Rag Papers or with their Baryta papers and love the results.
Your smaller test prints could be of just an important area – they don’t have to be the whole print. I can get 9 6X4’s on a large sheet of paper, printing with the file name. The file name is altered to include the relevent changes between each print. (sharpening, colour grading – any difference)
Chris
I’m just lazy, lol. I have no excuse. As a kid in college, I made so many test prints. Now I just go all in! Lol. If it turns out awesome, then I win on the first try. If it doesn’t? I just give that print away to a friend haha
Well – I missed this again! Just TOO darned early in Australia! However, I am grinning from ear to ear. After reading and watching Youtube videos for months I have just purchased my first photo printer [Epson Ecotank ET 8550], and discovered a whole new world of pain! Most was solved by purchasing an excellent dedicated printing program and when I printed my “once in lifetime image” (19×13″) of a Falcon diving at my head I almost keeled over! In your video and I have read many times that photography is not over until you hold a photograph in your hands. I just stood there and to quote a famous American I said to myself “Did I do that???” In answering “yes”, that included 10 years of birding, purchasing a DSLR and long lens, paying Arthur Morris USA $30 on how to set my camera up for birds in flight, being a founder member of f64 Elite to learn amazing PS skills and finally printing it myself. Satisfaction plus! YES – I DID do all that!
Can not wait for the printing roller coaster. Bring it on.
Thank-you so much for sharing all of your Start to the Art series Blake. I am really glad you decided to continue on with this series and look forward to future episodes. It’s great to see your workflow processes in action and help to ingrain a solid foundation for incorporating ZSE & PE in to my own workflow. They have also helped with my struggle of expressing my artistic vision in my images. I often felt I was adding too much color or saturation or deviating too far from the ‘actual’ image (I guess I was following a lot of ‘realist’ photographers) and often felt constrained by these feelings. So big thanks all around!
Tap into your vision and let it play! Your vision is a blend of your imagination and the reality captured. Our vision is the thing that decides how much imagination is included in reality or not. Experiment and play, don’t restrict yourself and see where your vision takes yo with each image.
Print course? What’s that? Pure rumor. Bwhahahaha. Fingers crossed for 2025. 🙂