Posted by Doyle Thomas on April 10, 2007 at 5:05 PM
In the days of film the end result was always a negative or transparancy selected for printing and display. Portfolios were almost always prints, sometimes slides. It was the only way to have the work seen.
I am wondering just how many of the images we see posted on these fourms ever make there way out of the ether?
It's funny, I was thinking the same thing the other day. I think it depends on what you do with your images - if you sell prints, then you're printing. If you primarily sell to ad/marketing agencies, stock agencies, or publications, then you don't have to print your images, you can just send the digital file. Of course, to get that kind of work in the first place, you usually have to introduce the firm to your images with a postcard or some promo piece, so I guess you might print some of them to entice an agency to use your stuff. But, as for myself, while I'm fairly new at this, I've only had to print contact sheets a few times, almost everyone is fine with a pdf contact sheet to decide if they're interested or not.
That's also why I find it very important to be careful in compressing one's images for use on a website; after all, for most of us, that website is now our portfolio and it needs to sell just as well as a printed piece.
Posted by Kent Mearig on April 10, 2007 at 7:36 PM
I like to see my photos as finished prints and I print myself, so I would guess that roughly half the photos I post on NPN get printed at least once.
Posted by Robert Helms on April 10, 2007 at 8:13 PM
I was also just thinking about this subject a couple of days ago. Myself, I love to print and most of my images that I consider decent get printed. I print mostly at home and usually make a 11x17 of the selected images. In my opinion it's the only way to view and share ones work. A web presentation is about has horrible of an environment to view images as there is, but it can also be the only way to share images with others.
I only have so much wall space and some of it is reserved for memebers of NPN whose images I have obtained, or have yet to obtain. Then I have a few of my own images on the wall and I'm working on adding at least one more. The rest I share with other's and then file away in my storage box for later viewing.
Most images I post end up as prints in my portfolio books as well as images on my website. As electronically biased as I am, I still like having a portfolio of 8 1/2 X 11 prints to show friends and buyers.
I guess I'm the contrarian. Most of my images remain intangible. I was a slide shooter for many years. The only time people saw my photographs was the rare time they were projected. Update to this century: I print less than I ever projected. A tiny fraction of what I've shot ever makes it to a print. The prints mostly just sit in a drawer, so I'm not especially motivated to make more. Showing and viewing in the ether is quite alright for me.
I don't sell any of my work at this point yet I still print quite a bit. Looking at a really great print is wonderful, and it satisfies me to see my images come "full circle". Viewing an image on a screen just isn't the same. I know many on this forum are excellent printmakers as well as photographers, and I would wager that many would do the same even if they weren't selling. It's one of those "for the love of it" things.
Posted by David Senesac on April 11, 2007 at 2:09 PM
The last few years all my work has been either 4x5 Provia transparencies or for closeups, a small digital camera with my current model a 7 megapixel Coolpix. I've been around nearly three decades starting with a 35mm SLR so things have evolved and changed. I have a website ( http://www.davidsenesac.com ) where I market large fine art prints and display lots of the Coolpix images. I don't bother with stock. If I move into the art fair circuit, I would also make small prints from many of the Coolpix shots, however for the present am only interested in marketing the more expensive large prints. I have printed Lightjet masters at indicated sizes of all those images as well as older 6x7 and 35mm, that I use for exhibit purposes. My website fine art images are displayed online at larger sizes than one will find at the majority of other photographer sites so viewers can evaluate the images somewhat reasonably. My 4x5 transparencies are all in easily accessed or viewed quad polyethylene hanging file sheets that are alpha-numerically indexed with computer files.
...David
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on April 11, 2007 at 2:34 PM
Although large high resolution monitors are great, it's hard to beat the joy of looking at a good print. However, I print only the best and don't feel the need to fill photo albums with prints.
I recently put together a 240 image "slideshow" of an 8 day Grand Canyon raft trip. I was amazed at the quality of the current 50" plasma displays. From that set, there are 15 that have been printed large (20" to 40"). The others will remain electronic.
Bill Gates, when he was building his new house, was probably one of the first to use flat panel displays for exhibiting art work. He had them throughout the house and the displays change based on the tastes of the person in the room. Mere mortals could hardly afford a single flat panel display back then. I suppose in the future, they could actually compete with print technology. As others have commented. there is only so much wall space available. A single 60" super hi-res display is maybe all we will ever need.
Any image I consider "significant" gets printed. In fact most get printed multiple times until I feel happy with the results. In my opinion prints have a very different quality that screen display or projection cannot convey (and vice versa).
I still prefer to print, although I will only print what I consider worthy of a mat and frame. We are not in business full time but we sell enough for the "hobby" to pay for itself. I have found that we do more business locally that we ever get via the internet and so prints are a great way to display locally.
I think that one reason that we get more local business is because we live in a rather mundane part of the country. There are no spectacular mountain vistas or Yosemites or Yellowstones here and we have had to resist the temptation to succumb to the "If Only's" and rather strive to bloom where we are planted. The locals seem to appreciate that we can often find beauty and unique perspective in a familiar and sometimes uninspiring land.
Discussion
10 repliesI am wondering just how many of the images we see posted on these fourms ever make there way out of the ether?
That's also why I find it very important to be careful in compressing one's images for use on a website; after all, for most of us, that website is now our portfolio and it needs to sell just as well as a printed piece.
I only have so much wall space and some of it is reserved for memebers of NPN whose images I have obtained, or have yet to obtain. Then I have a few of my own images on the wall and I'm working on adding at least one more. The rest I share with other's and then file away in my storage box for later viewing.
Pete D.
...David
I recently put together a 240 image "slideshow" of an 8 day Grand Canyon raft trip. I was amazed at the quality of the current 50" plasma displays. From that set, there are 15 that have been printed large (20" to 40"). The others will remain electronic.
Bill Gates, when he was building his new house, was probably one of the first to use flat panel displays for exhibiting art work. He had them throughout the house and the displays change based on the tastes of the person in the room. Mere mortals could hardly afford a single flat panel display back then. I suppose in the future, they could actually compete with print technology. As others have commented. there is only so much wall space available. A single 60" super hi-res display is maybe all we will ever need.
Guy
I think that one reason that we get more local business is because we live in a rather mundane part of the country. There are no spectacular mountain vistas or Yosemites or Yellowstones here and we have had to resist the temptation to succumb to the "If Only's" and rather strive to bloom where we are planted. The locals seem to appreciate that we can often find beauty and unique perspective in a familiar and sometimes uninspiring land.
Loves yas
Bob