Printing for Digital Photographers [BOOK REVIEW]

Personal printing of images is getting tougher: as multi function devices that can scan, fax, copy — even print! Are proliferating, so the number of fully capable photo quality printers is decreasing. Today it’s a tough task to find a top quality photo printer at a reasonable price. And an A3 printer? Forget it!

I guess it’s called dumbing down. But there are still those of us who still pursue the challenge of making high quality prints and demand the technology and techniques to make it happen. Which is where Tim Daly’s book, Printing for Digital Photographers, comes in.

Early help in the book pivots around the setting up of a digital dark room: choice of software; the benefits of pigmented inks … Daly’s recommendation; getting the best out of a printer; data storage; card readers, etc.

Then the real meat hits the plate: managing multiple image files with the help of software like Adobe Bridge and iView Media Pro.

The discussion then moves onto inks and printing papers. Daly stresses “Print sharpness, colour saturation and contrast are all dictated by your printing media …” and then faces the real world where people continue to use copying paper for their printing needs, concluding that “these materials work much better if you sue low-resolution images and low quality printer settings.”

Useful chapters cover image editing software and useful plug-ins, followed by a scant two pages on calibration of monitors and papers.

A straightforward step-by-step series of chapters cover image cropping, contrast control, using Levels, eradicating dust and scratches, dealing with HDR, toning etc.

There’s a heap more in the book and all of it is of enormous help.

Author: T Daly. Publisher: PIP. Distributor: Capricorn Link. ISBN 13 978 1 86108 528 3. 176 pages.

Grab a copy of Printing for Digital Photographers at Amazon.