5 Printing MISTAKES I see ALL THE TIME 

Nice! One additional mistake I would point out is not calibrating one's monitor. All the custom printer profiles in the world won’t help if one's screen isn't reproducing the colors or tonal range properly while one is editing.

I use my own printer and have started printing for competition and so far have done quite well. But despite using a calibrated screen and correct ICC profiles found I was printing up to 10 times to get the light correct. We recently had a workshop with a professional printer at our photoclub and I told him of my problems. He told me to take notes of the adjustments I made to the photo to get the colour and brightness correct. I did this and have found the adjustments are fairly consistent for my printer and usually only consist of a defined amount of increased contrast and exposure. Like you I view my prints by a window.

I'm guessing that the heated air above the lava probably caused the lack of focus. It would be kind of like trying to focus on the rocks on the bottom of a clear stream. The varying densities in the air, just like the swirling currents of the water, would make getting tack-sharp pictures nearly impossible. Just a theory.

Get a photo with me on that wall and I'll come and sign it! 😁

I've always preferred when someone says to me " here's what works for me, I think you should give it a try." As appose to "you're making a mistake". Small difference I know but one is positive and the other is negative. IMHO :-) Good luck with your showing, the images are great.

Good points. I had no clue that MacOS updates could affect the printer out put, so thanks for that tip especially.

You held true to your word! ;-) Video on printing issues and setup. Thanks for this. Perhaps, sometime in the future, and if appropriate, you could discuss your experiences with types of surfaces to print on (i.e. metal, paper, etc.). Thank you for your work and the video.

Printing your work is a serious must. I really enjoy getting prints from the lab. It reminds you of why you try to take the shots that you do

You didn't mention calibrating your monitor, which is crucial for getting your prints to look close to what you see on the monitor.

Good video Nigel. Just a quick point of note. When an icc profile is installed, it isn't installed into Photoshop, Lightroom or any other imaging program. It is installed into the computer's OS. Colorsync on a Mac or by right clicking the file and select Instal on a windows PC. The editing program will then have access to that profile when soft proofing/printing images.

Great episode Nigel. I liked your tip of reinstalling the print driver after an OS update, and your print just looked great. Question, when you print on your own printer, do print using the Lightroom print module or do use the Canon’s Professional Print & Layout?

Could not agree more, printing you work rules! There are no pixilations from the monitor screen, you can hold it in different positions to catch the light and the feel of holding your works is so rewarding. Loving the exhibition, so pleased for you to be able to show off your Spirit of Luskentyre.

This video couldn't have come at a better time. I've been looking for a company to print an acrylic for me. Thanks for the tips.

With a Mac one thing to beware of when installing a printer is the OS will attempt to install its AirPrint driver rather than the printer driver from the manufacturer. I was at a workshop recently where there were 4 Epson P900's we could print from. On one of them although I had selected the proper driver it installed the AirPrint driver. The colour came out wrong and I discovered the issue when problem solving. Your comments on printing errors was well made.

A really excellent video Nigel!👍 Huge congrats on the exhibition, I really hope it’s a major success for you, you sure deserve it ! 👏😀👍

Lovely exhibition Nigel. Roz and I enjoyed the chat with you and we’re also enjoying the Luskentyre photo book. Great tips on printing which I know you’ve covered in the past that led me into printing. I always walk away while printing and so pleased to see the results when I go back to the printer.

Nice video Nigel absolutely fantastic print photography is a hobby for me and I never printed my images until I watched a video you did on printing about 2 years ago since then I've started printing some of my images it's a big difference when you see a printed image. Thank you for sharing your video and wish you the very best of luck with your beautiful exhibition

Another excellent video, Nigel. And, it is very timely because I’l in the process of editing some photos to hang on our bedroom wall. Thanks for the great tips.

Great video! The print from Whitewall looks amazing!

Nigel, your images are stunning. Epic work. Thank you for all the Iceland volcano photos❤

Hi Nigel, Thanks for the video, only had a conversation this week about printing my images. By the way, visited the exhibition on Thursday, looks amazing. And the acrylic- just wow! It jumped off the wall !

Yay, Nigel just posted! What a way to boost a Thursday! ❤

I wonder if the drone focusing issues were merely because of the heat and disturbed atmosphere? Just received the calendar - lovely images Nigel, arrived in perfect condition in NZ with bonus fridge magnet.

Thank you for this. This video was a huge help. I have a photo I have wanted to get printed large and on acrylic but with cost have been afraid to do so for worry of level changes. I think now I may be comfortable enough to give it a go.

Excellent video Nigel, congrats to the exhibition - not around my corner unfortunately. May I add to the list of things to do for printing - if you consider to use a lab: send the same photo to different labs, different paper and see how this compares to your expectations (and your customers). Photo print quality, but also handling such as production time, packaging and transport. So that you know what you really get.

Thank you, Nigel. Perfect timing for this video. I have a friend coming over who needs a few prints done. I recently upgraded my Mac Air to a new MacBook Pro and haven't done prints on it in a while. I was doing a test print today, and its color profile doesn't match to what's coming out of the printer. Thank you for these tips. I'll try and give it another shot before my friend comes over tomorrow.

As I have an hobbyist set up which I calibrate my screen and use the correct ICC profiles for my paper that I struggled to print right first time. The key to improving my success rate has been as a last operation before printing is checking the histogram in the lightroom Develop module, adjusting in the histogram as needed then printing. This allows me to overcome the screen miss match.

Thanks Nigel - more to this printing malarky than one might think! Very useful tips.

Updating the printer driver after an OS update! Solid gold tip there!

Thanks for the great video... printing and flashes are two unknowns for me... BTW, just got my calendar delivered today in Southern California. Looks fabulous.

Hi Nigel, Thanks for another great tutorial. I can't get enough of learning from your channel. Please would you make a tutorial on what you do with the prints once they're out of the printer? I'm definitely inspired to print and have now got to the stage where I'm ready to make my first prints, but I would like to know how to deal with them when they're dry. What do you do in preparation for framing etc? Thank you!

Love printing and final result is amazing!

Your show images look amazing and the display looks great!!

Helpful tips with the details you‘ve mentioned - thank you! 👍

Great tips, Nigel. What are your thoughts regarding acrylic versus metal?

Appreciate the advice Nigel about printer drivers on the Mac. Just bought a Canon Pro 1000 and upgraded the MacOS so will download the latest version as discussed

Everyone who is serious about photography should print your own work and put it on the wall. I have said before, I have a gallery up the stairs in the house. You can study the images, you spot the mistakes that you don't necessarily see on a screen. Then you can go out and re-shoot and hence improve your photography.

I would love to print my own work at home - saving up for a nice printer. For now I send off. Also, the drone shot at 6:55 looks like a dragon. So very cool ( even if you didn't like it because it wasn't super sharp). I think it looks amazing.

Really interesting info for me is that TIFF files don't seem to be better than 100% JPEG files. I used whitewall before and wasn't sure what format is best. Also didn't know that I could download their color profiles! One more interesting aspect would've been monitor calibration. Maybe you could share some best practice here @NigelDanson?

It turned out great! I would like to watch a video about the design of photo frames, how to design them correctly.

That was my first volcano experience. I didn't get many good photos as I was just in awe. I spent 16 hours just taking it all in. Next eruption I'll be more prepared for some serious photos, AND i'll bring my drone.

Superb video with excellent printing tips Nigel. Question: Why do you have so much white on the screen when soft proofing your images (9:31). It's like having a spotlight in your eyes. I've always found having a neutral gray background was better for evaluating colour and adjusting brightness, shadows, etc so as not to bias my vision. Is there a reason why you have such a bright background or is this setup only for your demo videos? That acrylic print is A M A Z I N G! What size is that? May I ask, how much it cost? Cheers and thanks! Frederic in Montréal.

Your volcano shots are fantastic 👍

A possible explanation for lack of sharpness of the drone shots might be the atmospheric turbulence that the intense rising heat causes in the air. So it's possible that focus was actually as sharp as could be, but the atmospheric turmoil, especially when seen from above, simple causes a lack of detail. At the other end of the temperature spectrum, but similar issue, was once I tried to make telephoto shots (200-400mm) over big ice fjords, where atmospheric turbulence hovering over the sun bathed ice also messed up the shots, so basically all of them were unusable because of apparent lack of focus.

We're coming to see you on saturday and I wanted to ask about exporting for printing. you read my mind 😂

amazing timing..I was tried to work this out last night.. I use Marrutt Oyster paper but my astro pics just come out too dark..so I'll callibrate my monitor and get their icc profile...Nice image as always Nigel!

Hi Nigel! I saw you export in Adobe RGB…could you suggest us the color Space to work with in camera, Lightroom and Monitor? Thank you

Try to press S and the Y in Lightroom to bring up the original so you can adjust against it as you Softproof

Thanks for the helpful tips!

Thanks for the great video. I use Bay Photo and I will recheck the color space they use and look for any paper profiles they might have.

Thank you!

I'm curious as to why you didn't mention colour calibrating our display.

What dpi resolution was it printed at please if you don’t mind me asking?

While the prints look fantastic we never find out what the cost is to get this acrylic done? The average photographer cant afford these types of framing so would be nice if you could consider showing us how to do something cheaper like gatorboard or some other material for the average shooter? We all want to hang our prints on our walls but have limited funds to spend on these exotic methods?

Nigel, you mention the importance of a proper editing environment. How important is it to have neutral coloured walls?

Thanks , another great video , your pictures are amazing , i could do with some pointers on getting a consistent view on a laptop screen , I don't have a desktop computer or monitor so I edit on laptop but struggle with getting consistency on viewing depending on angle of the screen and how I sit in my chair .... any advice welcome ....

Very nice prints... thanks for sharing. Where do you have you paper profiles made?

I see a dragon at 6:56

Helpful! Thanks

Have you ever tried the metal prints from Whitewall Nigel? If you have, do you like them? WhT’s your advice with this media?

lack of tack sharpness while flying over a volcano...could be some heat haze? ya think?

Good stuff!

The issue with focus on the drone shots is probably not a drone issue, but the fact that you are shooting through very hot and turbulent air. The fact Mads had the same issue indicates it was environmental and not equipment.

I have yet to see an online printing site where is get it printed and mounted, that provides service to send me an ICC color profile for the paper that I want to print on. I'm in Canada. I won't mention the two sites that I liked into so far, but I'm trying to go with composites that aren't two far from where I live to reduce shipping costs as well as their likelihood that they'll ship to where I live at all.

Could "out of focus" drone shots be due to atmospheric distortion from the heat?

The Mac actually has a photography setting on it. If you go into your settings for brightness on MacBook, you will find that there is actually a photography setting you might not have known about it. A lot of people don't know about it because they don't go into the settings and have a look.. I have a few cafes that's have my work now and I use purple paper. I do use acrylics and print on metal as well. If you haven't printed on metal and you've got a very bright image like a sunset image or something you want to. Wow People put it on metal it is stunning and it doesn't fade. My opinion is canvas is utterly dead. No one wants canvas any more not where I live anyway. My strong suggestion is don't print yourself as it will cost you a lot of money in Inc. In mistakes I get someone external to do my printing and she checked the images for me before printing and she finds anything she will let me know. Acrylic and metal Print other way to go, they look modern, and they don't fade as much. I've seen that debate rage on about JPEGs versus TIFF files. I just know the tiff is a lot bigger. I sometimes will do the enhance feature if it's a bigger print say 1 m as this does create more megapixels in the photo as well that's something I've done for awhile. I've done some really big printing. I did one on a caravan as well and I did that, and it looked fantastic. The other tip, I give people as well, is import your photos onto an SD card and then put them on a big TV like an old TV and have a look at them on a big size. You will get a sense of colour better and brightness as well. Brightness is a little bit difficult because the TV can definitely enhance it but it gives you an idea of what the image would look like if you are doing a really big print and it will pick up any faults that you've got as well. Even a 24 inch monitor is not big enough put it on a 65 inch OLED TV, and you will see what it's like. The other challenge that we have here Nigel is that no one is putting landscape photography on their walls it's culturally just not happening here. People don't want to put landscapes on their wall any more. I walk into many houses and people are putting abstract type art family, photos, and other things on the so a lot of my shooting now is just for pure enjoyment and that's okay. It is difficult.

Just wondering if the unsharp drone shots could have been due to the environment? When I shoot wildlife on a long lens, particularly on hot days, the elements in the environment will mean that I never get a sharp shot. As I said, this is usually on hot days, and I reckon it might have been a little warm there!!! This would make sense, in that you all suffered the same issue. I know the drone lens is probably not too long, but the distance might have an impact?

Ever fancy doing an exhibition in Essex? 😂

I wonder if sharpness-issues with the drone photos of the volcano were caused by the heat, affecting the drones somehow?

Can you print on even the cheapest inkjet printers

Great video! Question using Apple Studio display do you see any color difference prints vs display, since the display only is 86% Adobe RGB?

Nigel, acrylic prints usually have a fair amount of glare and I find need to be hung in the low glare environment. White Wall has a zero glare aluminum print that I love, but do you loose a certain amount of vibrance and impact if I choose that option? What are your thoughts. Thanks

Good morning Nigel, I have a macbook to edit on the move and a Windows PC in my home office. I have just bought a printer being inspired by your enthusiasm for printing. Do you have a recommendation as to whether it would be better to print with the Windows PC or connect my laptop up when I'm at home in the office and print from that bypassing the PC? I use lightroom, keep my catalogue on an external SSD, and my images are stored on NAS so there are no issues regarding data transfer from one computer to another to print. Thanks, Chris

Thank you for this and many other videos you have produced. Question: Has Lightroom and Camera Raw the same features or Lightroom is better. For some time using Adobe Bridge and Camera Raw.

Hi, can you share which the volcano is?

Hi do you wear white gloves while printing? Plus how to you wash them? Someone told me you couldn't use detergent

I think you've really probably got a Canon Pro -'two one hundred' which is great but if you're having problems with your apple PC updates, why not simply chuck it?

which printer do you suggest for printing only BW and 40x50 cms ?

Perhaps the lack of sharpness from the drone shots was as a result of heat waves emanating from the volcano, if the drone was near/above it.

Do you not use Saal now Nigel?

Hi, I've got one question about printing. Once I'm done with soft proofing in Lightroom (using the correct ICC profile), I send the image to Canon PPL or I stay in LR and use its print module... Do I need to set the ICC profile in Canon PPL / LR print module again or not ? Would the ICC profile be applied twice ?

Crocs with socks 😂

you really shouldn't be adjusting the brightness of your monitor, especially if you've used a calibration device for accuracy as it takes brightness into account. Simply calibrate your screen in a consistent environment, such as with the blinds closed 100% and all lights on. Also that's not really how drivers work... something else is going on.

Do the adjustments you make during when soft proofing save as a second version of the photo so that you still have the original edit done for displaying on a monitor?

I hope you don't mind me saying but I think that print is poor compared to the image you edited. You've lost the dark/light contrast in the top right and the orange has shifted significantly to red on the print.

You should have a t-shirt printed “it don’t get any better then this” lol

lol 1646 unread emails :D almost the same like my girlfriend

My next titan to conquer... printing..

A fan of your work, but have to say, the volcano pic looks washed out, so much detail lost in the oranges, and the blue background too bright.

What’s up with the funny mismatched chapter titles? 😅

Looks a bit wash out the print

Buy someone else's work and let the love go around.....

Thank you!