One reason why your prints do not match the image on your screen

This article clearly and simply explains the issues of making a print from your digital image and why colour space has an impact on how your print appears, understanding is better than ignorance.

Written by Matthew Bird “If you have normal vision, you’ll be able to see a wide range of different colors, all the way from a deep violet at the lower end of the spectrum, to a primary red at the higher end. In between these two extremes, you can see blues, greens, yellows and shades of orange. Put them all together and you have the visible spectrum, sometimes known as the ‘color gamut’ of your vision.

It’s quite a wide range, and most man-made devices have a smaller color gamut than the human eye. The most important gamuts for photography enthusiasts looking to reproduce their work are those of monitors and printers. These devices use two completely different ways of creating colors, known as additive and subtractive, and failing to understand these can impact your final print quality significantly.” interested? read more

Choosing a Photo-Quality Inkjet Printer?

In our classes and courses we regularly talk about choosing and using photo quality ink-jet printers, these are not the sort of printers you would use for your child’s homework or for printing out your tax return but the sort that makes proper photographs. This very useful article by Andrew Darlow writing for the Photo.net forum answers many questions and would be a definite read for you before purchasing. This is the opening….

“Throughout the history of photography, countless advancements have made it easier for people to create photographic images. One of the most important advancements has been the advent of affordable, photo-quality inkjet printers. They have brought the color and black and white darkroom “out of the dark” and into just about any room in an office, home or school. I’ve been using and recommending printers to amateur and professional photographers for more than 15 years, and I’ve owned or used at least 50 inkjet printers, ranging from printers that max out at 4 inches in width, to 50-inch-wide models.

For this two-part article, I’ve put together a list of topics I often cover with my students and clients when they ask me advice on which printer to buy. Part I focuses on printers that can accept paper and other media up to 13 inches in width, and Part II will cover printers that can accept media over 13 inches wide and up to 44 inches in width. Note: when the term “letter-size” is used throughout the article, it means that the maximum width of paper that can be fed is 8.5 inches in width. However, unlike most laser printers, you can print much longer lengths—in some cases 40 inches or more.”    More…..read on

I use a HP Photosmart Pro B8850 which I am very happy with, I bought it as much because of the ability to change print heads as the quality between it and the equivalent Canon and Epson printers was indistinguishable. I know some people have had problems with HP in terms of service, I have read the forums too, (I have read equally bad things about Epson and Canon),but I have to say HP have always been very helpful to me, perhaps forums only have posts from people who need to moan and let of steam. Anyway read the article, well written and informative and if you want more go to Northlight Images, another excellent site.