Making a Good Print Great / Resolve Photo Workshop

In these days of 4K resolutions, OLED displays and curved screens, there is still nothing that compares to a well printed photograph on carefully chosen paper.  Resolve Photo has been an integral part of my work flow for my fine art work since 2010.  When Costas at Resolve Photo suggested I take one of the Open Studio series of workshops in printing I jumped at the chance.  The process of getting an image to where I want it is an iterative process.  To make a good print great I follow this workflow:

  1. First edit in Photoshop
  2. Send file to printers
  3. Printers make a test strip
  4. Review test strip and mark up any changes
  5. Second edit in Photoshop (rarely will the first edit be bang on)
  6. Send newly edited file to printers
  7. Printers make a test strip; or, if changes were minor, print the final work

All of this back and forth takes days or even weeks to come up with a finished result.  The workshop allowed me to fast-track the steps in one session with a few of my new images.  It also gave me some good insight into different paper types for future consideration.

Resolve Photo Printing Workshop

The session starts out with picking and choosing a few images to work with.  Here is very talented photographer Royce Howland of Resolve Photo getting the editing station ready and showing me a few of his valuable Photoshop tricks.

 

Resolve Photo Printing Workshop

Here is Costas of Resolve Photo (right) and Chris (left), another photographer going over his test strip.

 

Resolve Photo Printing Workshop

Royce changing the roll of paper so we can try a different paper type.

 

Resolve Photo Printing Workshop

Let’s start marking up the prints shall we?

 

Resolve Photo Printing Workshop

It’s important to make note of what you like and what you don’t like in the test print.

 

Resolve Photo Printing Workshop

All this work isn’t seen in the finished product but it is there. If you aren’t doing this then your images aren’t the best they can be.

 

Resolve Photo Printing Workshop

More deliberation.

 

Resolve Photo Printing Workshop

More print examples by Royce

 

Resolve Photo Printing Workshop

Here Royce and Costas are deliberating and expressing what they like and don’t like from the three paper types we chose. Listening to two master printers deliberate over your work is quite nerve racking, but very useful!

 

Resolve Photo Printing Workshop

In the end we all agreed a less glossy paper was best for my abstract series of work.

 

It was a fantastic experience, one that I highly recommend to any photographer who prints their work.  Resolve Photo holds these and other workshops throughout the year.  They are small in number so you get quality instruction time. It’s definitely worth the price of admission.  A big thank you to Costas and Royce!  For more information check out Resolve Photo’s website.

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One Response to “Making a Good Print Great / Resolve Photo Workshop”

  1. I wish I could have been there! I just got the pixma pro-1 to do the iterative part without having to wait (plus I haven’t found a good equivalent to Resolve in Den Haag) and it’s great – but to have the input of someone like Costas is so valuable…

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