Fine Art Inkjet Printing, 1st Edition

Book description

In an era of digital capture, digital darkrooms, and online galleries, serious photographers still have a deep respect for the photographic print. There is a profound difference between posting your image to a website and printing and sharing your photographic work. For many, the photographic print is the only way to complete the photographic process that begins with the image’s capture. In Fine Art Inkjet Printing: The Craft and the Art of the Fine Digital Print, photographers learn all they need to know to be able to create beautiful prints worthy of building a print portfolio, selling to clients, or hanging in a home or gallery.

Author Jim Nickelson—photographer, master printer, and educator—guides you through the entire process step by step, beginning with the principles of creating a fine print. In Fine Art Inkjet Printing, you’ll learn all about:• Hardware considerations, including Epson and Canon printers• The color management process, from camera to software (Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop) to your printer’s color profiles• The best ways to capture images for maximum post-processing flexibility• Both global and local adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop• Sharpening and noise reduction for printing• Creating black-and-white conversions for optimal printing results• Soft-proofing• Print settings for both hardware and software• Different paper options, including surfaces, substrates, brightness, color, thickness, and optical brightening agents (OBAs)• Finishing and protecting your print (flattening, drying and outgassing, trimming, signing, and using protective sprays)• Printer maintenance• How to make artistic choices based on intent and interpretation

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Table of contents

  1. About the Author
  2. Introduction
  3. 1 Fine Art Inkjet Printing
    1. The Craft and Art of the Fine Digital Print
    2. Be the Director of Your Final Print
    3. What Makes a Fine Art Print?
    4. Why Print?
  4. 2 Printing Hardware and Environment
    1. Choosing a Computer
    2. Choosing a Display Device
    3. Choosing an Inkjet Printer
    4. Making the Choice
    5. Printing Environment
  5. 3 Color Management for Printing
    1. Introduction to Color Management
    2. Setting Up Color Management
  6. 4 Optimizing Your Workflow from Capture to Print
    1. Optimizing Your Photographic Capture
    2. Optimizing Your File
    3. File Formats
  7. 5 Image Editing
    1. Image Editing Overview
    2. Print Interpretation
    3. Editing Your Image
    4. Basic Sharpening and Noise Reduction
  8. 6 Global and Selective Adjustments
    1. Global Image Adjustments
    2. Selective Image Adjustments
  9. 7 Making the Print
    1. Basic Printing Workflow
    2. Soft Proofing
    3. Resizing for Print
    4. Output Sharpening for Print
    5. Final Review for Defects
    6. Paper Handling
    7. Print Settings and Making the Print
    8. RIPs
  10. 8 Evaluating and Correcting the Print
    1. Environment for Print Evaluation
    2. Evaluation of the Print
    3. Correction of the Print
  11. 9 Choosing a Paper
    1. Overview of Inkjet Papers
    2. Considerations in Choosing Paper
    3. Choosing a Paper
    4. Recommended Papers
  12. 10 Editing for Print Interpretation
    1. Artistic Intent and Print Interpretation
    2. Print Interpretation Examples
    3. Editing Print Interpretation Summary
  13. 11 Printing Black-and-White Images
    1. Challenges of Printing Black-and-white
    2. Black-and-White Printing Methods
  14. 12 Post-Printing
    1. Handling the Print
    2. Signing the Print
    3. Protective Sprays
    4. Storage
    5. Shipping
  15. 13 The Next Level
    1. Getting Better at Printing
    2. Printing Large
    3. Emphasizing the Print as a Physical Object
    4. The Print Statement
  16. 14 Considerations for the Fine Art Market
    1. Signatures, Edition, and Other Information on the Print
    2. Archival Considerations for the Fine Art Market
    3. Printing for Portfolios
    4. Printing Your Own Marketing Materials
  17. Appendix
    1. Artistic Intent Should Drive Your Decisions
    2. You Have to Know Where You Are to Know Where to Go
    3. Optimize Your Starting Position
    4. Do No Harm
    5. There Are Many Ways to Get There from Here
    6. Consistency, Usually
    7. You Have to Go Too Far to Know That You’ve Gone Far Enough
    8. Problems Are Opportunities
    9. Live with Your Prints
    10. The Print Is What Matters
    11. It’s Only Paper
    12. If You Think You’ve Seen Every Printing Problem Occur, You Are Wrong
    13. Paper Choice Can Be Key for Achieving Artistic Intent
    14. Emphasize and Deemphasize to Direct the Attention of Your Viewer
    15. Paper Color Matters, Especially for Black-and-White Prints
    16. Keep On Printing
    17. Look at Great Prints
    18. Embrace the Physicalness of the Print
    19. Harmony with Your Print Statement
    20. Don’t Let Your Presentation Bring Your Prints Down

Product information

  • Title: Fine Art Inkjet Printing, 1st Edition
  • Author(s): Jim Nickelson
  • Release date: March 2017
  • Publisher(s): Rocky Nook
  • ISBN: 9781492020721