Customer Reviews

Print Like a Pro: A Digital Photographer's Guide

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"Print Like a Pro" is a follow-up by Jon Canfield to his excellent "Raw 101" book, and together they provide a view of the Photoshop process from capture to printing.

The book begins with discussion of factors that generally describe the digital reproduction process and fundamental issues about digital printing, like color permanence and specialty inks. Setting up a system where the picture on the monitor and the printed product look the same is critical so Canfield discusses color management and profiling one's monitor. He next discusses printer settings for typical Canon, Epson and HP printers. He provides a short course in editing photos in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements to prepare them for printing, including instruction on layers, exposure and special processes like the use of filters to change the look of the picture. A chapter then follows on resizing and sharpening. Having laid down the foundations, he finally gets to actual printing, dealing with paper choices and which software settings to select when printing. He discusses special print projects like books and contact sheets. He finishes with a discussion of working with service providers who can furnish outputs beyond the capabilities of the individual photographer's equipment and with framing.

This book will prove extremely useful for someone just coming to printing and wanting some help, especially when one considers the clarity of the writing. However, even though clearly written, there is nothing about the book that might make it more useful to digital photographers then many other similar books.

A problem with the book is that it is both too simple and too complex. As an example of too simple, Canfield notes that often printers are unable to deliver the same shadow details as appear on a monitor screen. He recommends adjusting the Photoshop output levels of the photograph when printing, starting with a recommended setting, and then adjusting and reprinting if the problem is not solved. Tim Grey, in his book "Color Confidence" suggests the use of a target image that will allow one to establish specific output settings for one's printer, a method which many photographers have found useful. I don't believe that Grey has any proprietary rights in this method, and it has become such a standard amongst Photoshop users that I felt Canfield almost had an obligation to suggest something better than trial and error.

Another area where Canfield could have provided more detail was in the area of sharpening. He provides useful information about recommended settings for different subject matter but fails to note that the settings must also be related to image size.

On the too complex side is a lengthy discussion of raster image processors (RIPs), which are software programs that allow more extensive control over the printing process. All anyone who will derive benefit from the basic instruction provided by Canfield needs to know about RIPs is that they exist and that they are expensive.

I was also disappointed by the discussion of the use of service providers. If one is using a vendor to get large images because one's printer is limited to a certain maximum size, it is highly useful to understand that there are a number of processes available such as C prints or inkjet. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. There was no mention of these choices.

Still and all, for the beginning digital printer, this book will provide the groundwork that he or she needs to produce a good digital print.

This book covers all the arcane technical details you need to know in order to produce great prints, from picking a printer to colour management to tweaking your pictures to produce the best possible output. The writing style is excellent, and the book is easy to follow.

This book by Jon Canfield is very well written and clear. It helps enormously in learning the many settings and details that are needed to make good prints. It talks about both Windows and Mac. It discusses the pointers needed to run your printer with Photoshop controlling the color management. I think it is excellent for the serious digital photographer who is begining to print their own images and who wants quality output. Very readable.

I am new to printing my own images, and found this book extremely helpful. Most authors that I have read include information for Photoshop users only. Since I use Photoshop Elements, I really liked the fact that Jon included information for Elements along with Photoshop. After devouring the entire book, I now keep it right next to my computer as a reference!

This book, along with Mastering Digital Printing, has taught me everthing I needed to know about getting excellent prints from my digital files. There is some overlap between the two books, but it never hurts to have vital information repeated and reinforced. I especially liked the sections on color management in this book.

This book has a lot of useful information,and is really a very well organized body of knowledge,about the science and art of printing digitally.Jon,with his direct style of writing,solved a lot of doubts I had regarding this subject:Should I buy a $75 device for calibrating my screen?;Is there a way of printing in b&w, for the rest of us?;What should I do for preserving my photos?;and many,many more

This book may provide basic information for those just beginning to print their own photographs. It will not teach them to print like a pro. In the first 200 pages, the most erudite information I could find was and I quote, "...next, set the amount. If you don't want a strong effect, a lower number here is best." Really?