WELCOME TO THE FIRST EDITION OF PRINTING AND BEYOND
Yes, I am a printfanatic and even a casual conversation I have with anyone ends up in promoting print. Well, the topic could also be abstract photography or marketing. Or maybe even food. Or road trips. Having spent more than 35 years in the imaging field, I sincerely believe that not only photographers but even the common person, not inclined towards photography, stand to benefit from print. We will talk about this and more in course of time.
Why print? That is what most folks ask. Especially in this digital world. So let me get that off my back first. I believe that the final destination of every good photograph should be a print. An image once visualized and photographed, gets completed only when it is printed. That is the only way to immortalise your image apart from several other benefits. We will go through them one by one.
First and foremost, millions of smartphones are lost or stolen every year. Imagine the number of precious photographs lost. Moreover, storage technologies change over time or the files may get corrupted. In such cases, print is the only proven solution to preserve memories. And a good photo print lasts more than 100 years.
A good print separates a professional photographer from an amateur. Print is unforgiving, so all flaws will get amplified unless your capture is perfect. Further, for a professional photographer, a printed image being tangible, completes an assignment in a noteworthy way.
Not just children, grandparents, and elders in the family love physical photographs over a digital version but just about everybody. If you don’t believe me, just print some postcards or create a photo book, courier it to a few of your loved ones, and wait for their reactions.
Apart from photo books, prints make great wall décor. Ever tried printing your images and framing them? Try it once if you have never done so. Does not matter even if you have only a smartphone. Even an A5 or A4 size mini prints are good enough for your wall, though the larger the better is the mantra.
After why to print, the next question is where to print. Personally, for me, anything up to A4 is on my home inkjet printer. Anything beyond A4 is outsourced. Depending on the end product, I either send it to a fine-art print studio or to one of the online sites.
Hope you have enjoyed reading this. Please send in your feedback to printnphotography@gmail.com Do let us know if you have liked our attempt to share with you how you can take your images further by printing them. Together, in subsequent issues, let’s explore how we can make our pictures more memorable, exciting, and meaningful by printing them.