Looking for images to Print

For the past few weeks I have been revitalized with my photography.   I have been learning how to use photoediting software and my first project was to make a few T-shirts.  It's a bit different selecting images to be printed directly onto garments, rather than printed on photo paper.  For printing on cotton or other materials your image can be more forgiving.   It can be less sharp and less technically perfect

Printing on photopaper is less forgiving and subject to closer scrutiny.  If you are a photographer you will generally put your nose right up to the print and see how sharp it is, look at your focus and check to see if your horizon is level.   A few years ago I bought a wide carriage Canon Pro 9000 mark 2 printer.  I have printed many 13" x 19" prints, matted and framed them .  I bought a small Logan mat cutter and cut the mats myself.

I had not used this printer for perhaps,  3 years and I was worried that the heads had clogged.   It is a common problem with Epsons and that is why they tell you to make a print once in a while to keep the ink in the heads "flowing".   Of course I just turned mine off and left it there to gather dust.  I wanted to get back into printing and was looking at buying a newer wide carriage printer, something along the lines of an Epson 3880 but then I have a few packs of expensive Canon Pro Platinum paper which would have been useless if I changed brands, so I did a quick nozzle check . . .  (maintenance item in software).   I didn't believe my eyes when the print pattern looked normal, so I did a second nozzle check, just in case to double check.   Seems like my Canon is "good to go"  so I did my first test print above and the print looks normal with colour as it should be with no smears or missing ink patterns

I am not sure how many of you out there print your own photos.  It's not about saving money as it generally costs more to do it yourself but there is a satisfaction of following your vision from start to finish.   From looking at the image in your camera, snapping the photo, editing and then printing your final product and framing it if necessary.   I do it all.

It took me a while to understand how to make my own prints.  It is not just a matter of loading up your image file and clicking the print button as you would do on consumer grade printers.  You only have to go to photo forums to understand that it is not that easy to match the colour of what shows on your monitor and presume that your print will look exactly as you saw on the screen.  Then there are those different brands of photo paper with different absorbsion rates.   Different papers would print differently as to what you see  on your monitor.   Higher grade printers and higher quality papers have custom print files available from their web sites.  Even Costco+ and Walmart have print profiles available for their machines

After I sorted out my printer and decided that it was ready to print something more serious I went to Canon Support and downloaded (Upgraded all my software) which included Canon Easy-Photoprint EX and the latest upgrade to Canon DPP: Digital Photo Professional as well as all the latest print drivers for my printer model.

Of the three photos directly above, the top left is Canon Glossy, the right is Canon Pro Platinum as is also the bottom.  These photos look like they came out of a commercial lab.  I am particulary fussy and they meet my approval.  These images were all resized and set at 300 dpi before printing.   I started to leave white borders on my photos so you could just put them into a standard frame without having to cut mats for them

Also while I was going through my archives I came across some photos from April  2009.  Recently some of you were mentioning that they liked to hum music from Gordon Lightfoot

    Gordon Lightfoot in concert                                     Orpheum Theatre,  April,  2009

Well,  he sang all the songs that he was known for

and he also threw in a few stories about his life and about the time he got sick and was not expected to live

    Gordon Lightfoot with Mrs Skoot                                   VIP reception at the Orpheum Theatre

Of course I could not get into this photo as I had to stand behind the camera

    Mrs Skoot,  David Suzuki and myself

but I managed to get into this photo with David Suzuki