I have been wondering lately if printing myself is a good idea at all (financial point of view). My local lab uses the very same printers (Epson K3 inks et al) and papers.
1. Instant gratification
2. Fix that blob that was not so obvious on the monitor
3. Tweak the Photoshop curves just a little more
4. Resize, add a different border, select a bigger paper size because the resolution is terrific
5. Take out the Costco paper and insert the Canon paper and do a final print for show & tell.
6. Frame it and hang it the same day I took it
All this costs me about $500 per year in ink (ultrachrome K3), $100 per year in Costco paper, $100 per year for Canon paper (I really like it), and straight-line depreciation on my Epson R2400 printer of ~$107 per year ($745 original price). Luckily gratification trumps ROI.
Well I just made my first photo prints yesterday. For me, the reason I bought the printer (Canon PIXMA Pro 9000, 13"x19") was mainly as a toy : something I enjoy doing, learning about, and getting instant gratification from. If I make a lot of large prints (a whole lot), I'd imagine it will be cheaper to have the printer. If I make a lot of 8x10's or smaller, or need to save time, it would probably have been better/cheaper to get them done somewhere else. You do lose some control though, and the ability to print some different versions easily.
You might want to search the forums for the posts where people have asked for printer recommendations. I remember a few responses suggesting not buying a printer at all. There's probably some good info there.
really, besides taking pictures, there isn't any other thing in photography that beats making your own prints. for all of us who were there in times of color prints from the lab dark room (yuk!), this is the real thing.
it does cost sg, much less then lab dark room color prints (again, yuk), but finally I feel like an artist being able to finish my own work the way I want it to!
georg
Speed, cost and control. And quite honestly, here in central Ohio, I have yet to find anyone who can do the work better than I can. Unfortunately, this is more a comment on the quality I have gotten locally than one on my abilities
If you are only doing a few prints (or need them in mass quantities) *and* you are satisfied with the quality of their work, then it probably does not make much sense to do the work yourself.
From a total cost basis, it is probably more expensive to do your own printing.
However, if you like the look and feel of fine-art matte papers, it is much harder to find a lab that will do these at a low cost.
For up to 16" wide prints, I much prefer to do my own for control, speed and personal pleasure. If I send it to the lab, I'll probably accept whatever comes back. If I print it myself, I'm much more likely to experiment and fine tune the print.
For me the biggest advantage of having a printer at my disposal is the ability to make test prints. Even though I work with a well caliberated monitor, have good profiles for my printer/ink/paper combo, and make extensive use of Photoshop's soft-proofing feature, I find I still need to make test prints - sometimes several of them. If I were to go to a pro-lab to get these test prints done, not only would it take an enormously large amount of time to finish work on a single photograph, but the cost would be phohibitive.
I agree that once I have a "master file", that I am satisfied with, it may be cheaper to get the actual printing done elsewhere; specially if the service provider is using the same printer/ink/paper combo that I used when preparing the master file. However, that is the easy part, don't you think so? The real benefit of having a printer at home (for me at least) is the invaluable aid it provides during the process of creating the master file.
Everything said above. Test prints are crucial. You will make a lot of changes on an image you thought was done once you see a print. And then change it again. And then change it again. It gives you total control and you will fine tune things much more printing yourself. Also, it is very rewarding to hold a print in your hand after you have worked on it. Immediate gratification.
Well, heck, I'll jump in just cause I can. I do NOT print at home, cause I have neither the time to do it, nor the equipment to really scan/optimize correctly. And I have no plans to start any time soon because I don't have the time to set everything up, nor the money to justify the equipment to.....well, you get the picture.
All that said, as soon as I CAN I probably will print at home because of what Michael said - 100% control.
To me, the art is in the print. That's what goes on the wall with my signature.
Posted by Tom Nevesely on May 18, 2007 at 11:34 AM
I really enjoy printing my own. Couple reasons - it's instant and I don't need to drive downtown to my lab to pick up the prints. - I can see dust spots, and other things I may have missed better than I can on screen.
I'm an old school photographer. Meaning I spent far too many hours in a darkroom sucking down the various fumes as I slaved away to create prints that met my expectations. And in hindsight I still miss that experience at times. But now that the digital world is here to stay I still don't feel that the effort of "my photography" is complete until I have a finished print in hand that I made from start to finish.
The idea of going to an outside vendor for my printing just doesn't meet "my" paradigm of creating powerful images. Having the joy of sitting in a "Lightroom" vs a "Darkroom" to do my mad art just plain ROX!!! And ahem so does Adobe Lightroom!!!!
So yeah doing my own printing completes my efforts to create compelling art and until I actually have a print in hand that I made my job just isn't done yet.
We're "bipolar," I guess. A bit of all this sprinkled in. For our studio we do no printing except on short notice emergencies. All that work goes to a lab. For nature test prints and anything 13x19 and under we on our own, but for us the larger stuff is much more economical to farm out. As much as I enjoy making a great print, the time factor is certainly the key element. In the studio durability in small prints is the deciding factor against "home" printing. Canvases on stretchers are our big moneymakers there, and those come from the lab too. A considerable advantage of using the lab for big prints is recourse when problems occur: You can send the prints back for replacement.
I too print myown stuff for the same reasons as most of you. Also I do enjoy seeing the final work come together for me especially after walking miles to get a photo of a certian flower or animal.
For me, it's the pleasure of creating something tangible, which is also one of the main reasons I enjoy shooting 4x5.
It's not rationale perhaps, but having a piece of film, a print that I made myself... it makes the experience much more personal for me. I enjoy shooting digital, and I have my larger prints made at a local lab, but if all of my effort was encompassed by digital capture, ftp upload and collecting my print at a lab, I don't think I'd enjoy it nearly as much. To me, a beautiful print rolling off the printer is as gratifying as viewing a beautiful tranny on the light table.
There are many reasons why I make my own prints but if I had to "condense" all these reasons into a single answer I would say that it is because the process of creating a fine art print doesn't end when the master file is completed.
In fact, at that stage -when the master file is ready to print- a new process starts, and this process is making the actual fine art print. While it is tempting to think that this process involves nothing else but pressing a few keys on the keyboard and making a few selections in dialog boxes, nothing is further from the truth.
As Guy accurately says, it's about control. It's also about knowing what we want in a final print and working towards achieving it on paper as well as preventing the many potential problems that can occur while making the print, curating it, mounting it, matting it and so on so that the result is not only beautiful but also flawless.
Discussion
21 repliesWhat do you do? and why?
2. Fix that blob that was not so obvious on the monitor
3. Tweak the Photoshop curves just a little more
4. Resize, add a different border, select a bigger paper size because the resolution is terrific
5. Take out the Costco paper and insert the Canon paper and do a final print for show & tell.
6. Frame it and hang it the same day I took it
All this costs me about $500 per year in ink (ultrachrome K3), $100 per year in Costco paper, $100 per year for Canon paper (I really like it), and straight-line depreciation on my Epson R2400 printer of ~$107 per year ($745 original price). Luckily gratification trumps ROI.
You might want to search the forums for the posts where people have asked for printer recommendations. I remember a few responses suggesting not buying a printer at all. There's probably some good info there.
it does cost sg, much less then lab dark room color prints (again, yuk), but finally I feel like an artist being able to finish my own work the way I want it to!
georg
If you are only doing a few prints (or need them in mass quantities) *and* you are satisfied with the quality of their work, then it probably does not make much sense to do the work yourself.
However, if you like the look and feel of fine-art matte papers, it is much harder to find a lab that will do these at a low cost.
For up to 16" wide prints, I much prefer to do my own for control, speed and personal pleasure. If I send it to the lab, I'll probably accept whatever comes back. If I print it myself, I'm much more likely to experiment and fine tune the print.
For me the biggest advantage of having a printer at my disposal is the ability to make test prints. Even though I work with a well caliberated monitor, have good profiles for my printer/ink/paper combo, and make extensive use of Photoshop's soft-proofing feature, I find I still need to make test prints - sometimes several of them. If I were to go to a pro-lab to get these test prints done, not only would it take an enormously large amount of time to finish work on a single photograph, but the cost would be phohibitive.
I agree that once I have a "master file", that I am satisfied with, it may be cheaper to get the actual printing done elsewhere; specially if the service provider is using the same printer/ink/paper combo that I used when preparing the master file. However, that is the easy part, don't you think so? The real benefit of having a printer at home (for me at least) is the invaluable aid it provides during the process of creating the master file.
All that said, as soon as I CAN I probably will print at home because of what Michael said - 100% control.
CJ
The idea of going to an outside vendor for my printing just doesn't meet "my" paradigm of creating powerful images. Having the joy of sitting in a "Lightroom" vs a "Darkroom" to do my mad art just plain ROX!!! And ahem so does Adobe Lightroom!!!!
So yeah doing my own printing completes my efforts to create compelling art and until I actually have a print in hand that I made my job just isn't done yet.
Guy
William
It's not rationale perhaps, but having a piece of film, a print that I made myself... it makes the experience much more personal for me. I enjoy shooting digital, and I have my larger prints made at a local lab, but if all of my effort was encompassed by digital capture, ftp upload and collecting my print at a lab, I don't think I'd enjoy it nearly as much. To me, a beautiful print rolling off the printer is as gratifying as viewing a beautiful tranny on the light table.
In fact, at that stage -when the master file is ready to print- a new process starts, and this process is making the actual fine art print. While it is tempting to think that this process involves nothing else but pressing a few keys on the keyboard and making a few selections in dialog boxes, nothing is further from the truth.
As Guy accurately says, it's about control. It's also about knowing what we want in a final print and working towards achieving it on paper as well as preventing the many potential problems that can occur while making the print, curating it, mounting it, matting it and so on so that the result is not only beautiful but also flawless.
Exactly!