Customer Reviews

New Epson Complete Guide to Digital Printing (A Lark Photography Book)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a beautiful book, very nicely done. But, having already read quite a bit about color management and inkjet printing, I was hoping for more specific technical details. The author makes many statements which I'm sure are true (I do believe he knows what he's talking about), but aren't illustrated with examples. For example, he says 200 to 360 ppi is the ideal range when sizing an image for printing, and that going over 360 can actually be detrimental. Ok -- how about an example to show exactly what the effect would be? Yes, I can spend the time (and cost) to run my own tests to see, but the book should have done that for me.

I have purchased many books on how to take a good digital photograph and have always been frustrated by the quality of the final printed photograph. ( I have even purchased different printers in an attempt to get the quality I want.) I have tried to find information on the process of connecting photoshop very tightly with the printer. This book has done that for me. I can now print a very good photograph. The information found in this book is not readily available even online. I will say that if you truly want to print a good photograph buy this book. It has definitely made my photography experience better, way better.

If you are looking for the intricacies of the different Epson Printers and their output, like I was, this is not the book. For Beginners in Ink jet printers it is good.

I thought that having Epson's name on the front cover meant this would be a fairly credible book on printing techniques. Guess again. It's filled with many beautiful photos, some better than others, but most have absolutely nothing to do with the text or have any instructional value. They're obviously used simply as pretty space filler. Virtually all space that does have text is devoted to redundant platitudes and generalities, and if you try and suffer through the entire book (as I did) you'll find yourself getting madder and madder that there's no substance to it at all. Even if you wait to the very end. Shame on Epson for having their name on the front cover.

I agree with several of the other reviewers - this book is well done but the title is misleading. In my opinion a >complete< guide to Epson should take you through the >complete< process of color digital printing on Epson printers and be littered with actual examples, good and bad, of all the resolution, ink type, paper type, printer model and color management option combinations that produce a digital color print. My copy is going back.

This is the second book I've read from Lark on digital photography, and I'm extremely impressed. It's perfectly written. The text is technically sufficient without crossing the line and becoming excessively geeky, and the illustrations beautifully illustrate the text. While the author offers printing guidelines, he's also very clear that you need to do your own experimentation. Honestly, I wouldn't change a word (and I'm a pretty critical editor). Since the book has Epson's name on the front, I don't think you should be too surprised that the author is pretty supportive of the company's products. He also focuses on photographers who have a knowledge of Photoshop, so the target audience is the pretty serious hobbyist who understands the value of post-processing.

The single best book I've bought on inkjet printing and here is why. First, I'm tired of a great many people complaining, or talking about speed, when it comes to taking pictures and then processing them. Many people who have come to enjoy photography due the the advances in technology never struggled through hours and days in a darkroom developing and printing photo's. Read a book by Ansel Adams and learn how he created those wonderful images. He didn't just pop in the darkroom, throw the film in the "soup" and then print the perfect images every time. There is no shortcut to creating beautiful images. It all starts from mastering your equipment so that the controls become intuitive. I've never understood any photographer who wanted to leave the "darkroom" process to another and "just shoot." The author of this book, which I wasn't going to buy initially but thankfully I read paragraph that changed my mind to purchase it, understands that. Only you know how a scene felt at the moment you clicked the shutter. Only you have the knowledge of what "you saw and felt" (to quote Ansel). Only you can convey that sentiment to others, therefore, you must be willing to master the equipment and techniques and then put in the time necessary to create prints that express the emotion you felt at the moment you took the shot. This is an art form not an assembly line. I think one of the biggest problems people have is that you all take way too many photos hoping for a great one out of the bunch; then you spend so much time editing them down that you lose interest in the joy of processing an image. Get a tripod, take fewer shots, but more thought out shots, and just work with a few images. We use to shoot a roll of 24 or 36 images, make a contact sheet, and decide from that few (or less if a large format camera was used then you may have 5 - 10 images to play with) what was worthy to print. Many of you are shooting 100's of images at a time, probably because for the most part you don't have sound fundamental photographic knowledge and you are relying on the camera, instead of your ability to use the camera properly, to get a good photo. Wrong! Less is more if you know how to do it right. I promise, you will enjoy your time the field, and in front of the computer far more if you learn from the moment you click your shutter, to the final print of your image, how to use your equipment properly to get the results you want. Have fun! Photography has been my hobby for over 40 years and I hope it brings you as much joy as it has brought me. To cut corners in this hobby is to just invite frustration...trust me!

If a book or magazine is written by Rob Sheppard, it will be very good. He has a way of making the complex side of photography seem easy. His ideas work for ordinary folks like me. I was headed off to Ireland for three weeks and ordered this book this guide to read on the "red eye". I have an Epson R2880 and get good results. However, there are times when what I want to do is NOT what the printer wants to do. In those cases, the printer ALWAYS wins. After reading the book and returning home, the printer and I have reached an agreement and it now does what I want with GREAT results. Thanks to Rob Sheppard for taking the time to write the answer to the dozens of questions that all of us have when printing photos.

New Epson Complete Guide to Digital Printing

So many books on cameras, so few on digital printing, and even fewer devoted to the marvelous Epson printer line. This book is the perfect combination of technical detail and easy to use instructions. It will help anyone get more from their Epson. If you want to know how your printer works and how to optimize your output, you need this book.

This book has been very helpful as I learn to print digital images. Author does not skip details. I have researched many books to learn more about the printing process. This one is the best for my needs.

Bill Brennan