As with the prior edition of Fine Art Printing for Photographers, this second edition is filled with the same useful and wonderfully clear descriptions about what is needed to create exhibition quality prints using inkjet printers. It continues to provide the necessary information and techniques to make the most of this rapidly growing area of photography.
The turnover time of new technology has always been around every 12 to 18 months and this is about how long it has been since the first edition of Fine Art Printing for Photographers was introduced. As with the first edition, it brings to you all of the information you need to up your game in the creation of fine art prints, but now adds 60 more pages of information, to 314 pages, and has been thoroughly updated to reflect the newest printers, inks, and papers that are now available to you. Fine Art Printing for Photographers contains eight chapters and three appendixes.
Fine Art Printing for Photographers acknowledges that while there may be many ways to print photographs, this book is focused on the use of inkjet printers, and in particular, their use for the creation of fine art printing. It is expected that your expertise level is one of an ambitious amateur to professional photographer. This book does not cover pre-press techniques or commercial printing, but strictly exhibition grade photographic prints created from inkjet printers.
Chapter 1, "Printing Techniques," covers the fundamentals of printing beginning with the basic building block: a pixel. You will learn about the terms of the trade such as pixels per inch, resolution, the different types of printing and printers available to you, and how each works. You will see the various types of inks and how they differ, and finally, what to look for in a printer and how to get the one that is just right for you.
Chapter 2, "Inks, Papers, and Print Permanence," examines the two most important materials that go in to producing a fine art print: the paper and the ink. Although the topic of fine art papers is a hot topic, it is really the compatibility of the ink and the paper that is the key to great prints. Here you will learn about display and print permanence, surfaces, pigments, handling, and how other characteristics come into play.
Article comments
1 - Damien Franco
Having read the first edition only, I can say that the book does help amatuer Fine Art Photographers get through the steep learning curb that is gallery printing. As artists, photographers in particular seem to have a unique desire to reproduce, in every minute detail of color and clarity, the nuances of their images. Perhaps the fault lies with having too many tools to manipulate and enhance images in multitude that we just never seem to be satisfied with results. Especially if you're just starting out and have no idea the technical difficulties that can arise from trying to print your own work.