One of the most common issues Lightroom users have been having is print output. Particularly those mac users who have recently ugraded to the latest Leopard Max OS X 10.5 operating system. In this blog post, Tom Hogarty outlines some of the reasons why this can be so and points out the need to update the print drivers for your printers. If you are experiencing print output problems from Mac OS X 10.5, do read this post and use the Comments section to cross check with other users and their shared findings.

There are several comments on this blog that describe printing issues with Lightroom 1.3.1 on Leopard. For many these problems may not have existed before or perhaps the result is different from the current output of Photoshop CS3. Before I dive into the details lets clear up a few definitions:

• Application Managed Printing – this is when you set the printer profile in the application prior to printing. Typically the profiles provided by printer manufacturers are designated by printer type and paper type. You also have the ability to create custom profiles using a third party hardware device. The most common error in Application Managed printing is forgetting to turn off the color management options in the settings available in the print dialog box. I recommend this workflow to professional photographers.
• Printer Managed Printing – this is when you tell Lightroom or Photoshop that the colors and conversion will be managed by the printer. Adobe applications will send the printer a tagged file the printer will then convert to an internal specification.
• Tioga – Legacy printer driver technology introduced with Mac OS X 10.0
• CUPS – Leopard’s current printer driver technology introduced with Mac OS X 10.2

The root of the discrepancy between Pre-Leopard and Post-Leopard printing results is the behavior of the underlying printer driver technology. Prior to Leopard, printer drivers could use either the Tioga printer driver technology or the CUPS technology. With the introduction of Leopard, CUPS is required and Tioga is no longer a valid option. There was a large ecosystem of Tioga-based printer drivers available prior to the Leopard release. Leopard has been released with some CUPS-based printer drivers included and printer manufacturers are working to provide updated drivers based on the newer technology.(Epson has posted beta print drivers for its professional line here: Epson Beta Drivers) But clearly, the support for the newer printer technology is nowhere near as widespread as the previous technology. One point of frustration is that while older or partially compliant drivers can generate a print the results are less then stellar. It may be fine for anyone printing out an invoice on their black and white laser printer but for photographers who have grown accustom to extracting the highest fidelity out of their software and printer, it’s unacceptable. This is particularly true for those who use an Application Managed print workflow. Printer Managed workflows may generate ‘ok’ results but I don’t know many photographers who are satisfied with ‘ok.’

Read the full article…

Nash Editions: Photography and the Art of Digital Printing

While you certainly may know Graham as a member of the rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young you may not realize that Graham is a passionate photographer. Nash Editions almost single handedly developed fine art digital printing. (see the PSN story about Nash’s PMDA Award)

Fine art digital printing was born in the beginning of 1990 when Graham and Mac took a hacksaw to a $125,000 Iris printer (and voiding the warranty) to get it to accept fine art papers. That printer is now on display at the Smithsonian.

This book uses thought-provoking essays and glorious artwork to sum up not only Nash Editions’ achievements but also the state of fine-art digital printmaking.

After a brief history of printmaking, you’ll reach the heart of the book: an essay by Holbert on the genesis of Nash Editions and fine-art digital printing (which details the studio’s interactions with major artists like David Hockney); an essay by MoMA consultant Henry Wilhelm (which includes a technical comparison of traditionally and digitally prepared prints); and commentary from Nash Editions artists. The book’s more than 100 illustrations include Nash Editions artwork, photos of artists in the studio, images of the machines used in digital printing, and illustrations of the proofing process.

Essay by Richard Benson

Example images from the book.

Nash Editions: Photography and the Art of Digital Printing
By Nash Editions
Published by New Riders
ISBN-10: 0-321-31630-4; ISBN-13: 978-0-321-31630-1
Published: Dec 12, 2006; Copyright 2007
Dimensions 9 X 10-1/2; Pages: 250; Edition: 1st.
List price $50.00

Contents:

• Introduction – Graham Nash
• The History of Nash Editions – R. Mac Holbert
• The Four Stages of Photography – Richard Benson
• A History of Permanence in Traditional and Digital Color Photography: The Role of Nash Editions – Henry Wilhelm
• Selected Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Index

R. MAC HOLBERT is a photographer and co-founder of Nash Editions. Prior to his work with Nash Editions, he was tour manager for Crosby, Stills & Nash; Peter, Paul & Mary, and Carole King. Holbert has lectured extensively and conducted workshops on digital output, digital imaging, and fine-art printing on Iris and Epson large-format printers. Under his supervision, Nash Editions is a beta tester for Epson America, Inc. and other software and hardware manufacturers.

GRAHAM NASH is a lifelong photographer and co-founder of the rock group Crosby, Stills & Nash. While best known as a musician—Nash first became famous as a member of The Hollies during the British Invasion of the mid-1960s. He has also pursued a parallel career as a photographer, collector, and digital imaging pioneer. His photographs have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in numerous museums and galleries. A retrospective book of his photographic work, Eye to Eye: Photographs by Graham Nash, was published in 2004.

Edited by Garrett White, founder of Five Ties Publishing, Inc., New York, has edited and produced numerous books on photography and fine art, including American Photography: A Century of Images, Eye to Eye: Photographs by Graham Nash, and Forbidden Art: The Postwar Russian Avant-Garde. He is the former director of publications at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Order now from Amazon.

We’re coming to Atlanta for a special one day Epson event – check out the Epson Print Academy web site for details and online registration. There’s still room available!

What will we be covering?
* In-depth color management and custom profiling
* Creating and optimizing a professional workflow
* Expert-level fine-art printing techniques
* Using a RIP for contract proofing and to increase productivity
* Collaborating with graphic designers and commercial printers
* Advanced black and white printing techniques

In addition to the Track Two (pro) all day sessions, there’s an Epson Print Gallery as well as a Tech Expo with booths from the sponsors: Adobe, Eizo Displays, GTI Light boxes, Lexar Media, Light Impressions, Logitech, Microsoft, National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), nik software, onOne Software, Solux, Wacom and X-Rite.

George Jardine, Pro Photography Evangelist of Adobe will also be on hand to show the most recent build of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

…with a few friends for the Epson Print Academy in Salt Lake City this Saturday, November 11th. (Boy, I hope they have a Starbucks there…)

We’re coming to Salt Lake City for a special one day Epson event – check out the Epson Print Academy for details and online registration. There’s still room availalbe!

What will we be covering?
* In-depth color management and custom profiling
* Creating and optimizing a professional workflow
* Expert-level fine-art printing techniques
* Using a RIP for contract proofing and to increase productivity
* Collaborating with graphic designers and commercial printers
* Advanced black and white printing techniques

For those attendees from Phoenix be sure to check the Epson Print Academy Track Two Info page. Remember the login & password? Here’s a photo report of the Phoenix event held October 28th.

Phoenix, well actually Chandler, started off as a beautiful sunny day-perfect for spending all day in a dark room, right?

As some of you may know, it’s an Epson Print Academy tradition to start off the day with a Starbucks Mocha. Mac was kind enough to bring me one.

Well before the crowds came in, Mac, Andrew Rodney (subbing for Bruce Fraser) and I were busy finalizing the setup.

Meanwhile, out front people were queuing up at registration.

The Print Academy always comes with a Tech Expo area as well as an Epson Stylus Pro Print Gallery.

Sponsors had table areas, here’s the Microsoft rep talking about Vista.

The Pro dealer for the day was Professional Marketing Services (PMS-I think the dealer made a joke about that)

OnOne Software was there…

As well as the Adobe rep.

Free tutorials and Adobe pens were popular.

Nik Software was also there…

…as well as GTI showing their light booths.

Wacom demoed their Cintiq tablet/display.

Lexar was there…sorry, no free compact flash cards.

Coffee was served and the attendees needed it.

Jack Reznicki (left) joined the road tour taking care of Track One. Dan (AKA Dano) Steinhardt from Epson was there…the Print Academy is his baby.

People wandered around looking at the print gallery.

Then the doors were opened (and the crowd rushed the doors).

Even before we started, Mac Holbert was out front answering questions.

Outside the Track Two doors, Dano gives his watch a worried glance.

No worries Dano, we always start on time (well, within a minute or so).

One of the attendees mugging for the camera.

I watched where he sat so I could keep an eye on him.

The crowd is ready…

Andrew kicked off the morning talking about his favorite topic, Color Management.

Andrew has had to fill in for Bruce Fraser due to Bruce’s inability to travel. But Andrew does a great job (he just doesn’t have that Scottish accent).

At the break, attendees can look at prints made on the 4800 and now the new Epson 3800 (we are now traveling with both).

I’m up so Mac grabs my camera to snap a few of me on stage.

At lunch, we ate outside. Lovely day (mid-seventies) and I heard the sirloin sandwiches were great, I got stuck with turkey again (I never get out in time).

At lunch Jack gets into the game grabbing my camera to shoot me.

But I got him back…I wandered into his Track One session to “sneak up” on him.

Track One always has more people than Track Two.

In the afternoon, Mac Holbert covers fine art printing.

George Jardine was there from Adobe (left) and had demoed Lightroom Beta 5. On the right, Andrew gets excited when I tell him Greg Gorman sent me down a really nice bottle of wine for dinner.

The “wrap”. Another successful event. Right, a dealer loads up his stuff in a pickup truck. (A pickup truck?, well, ok I guess we were in Chandler).

Walking back from dinner (after Greg’s bottle of vino as well as a few additional bottles) I snap a shot of the last daylight and the moon over the palms.

The web is a great way of promoting and showing off your work: it allows you to reach a wide audience with minimal outlay, and putting together a small portfolio site isn’t too taxing for any designer. However, many clients and employers still prefer viewing work as hard copies and handling the final printed product.

Whether this is in the form of a hand-made book or simply a few examples of your work that specifically relate to a client’s interests, sometimes there’s nothing like holding a printed page in your hand and seeing it in the cold light of day. This is especially relevant if your work is made for print anyway (as opposed to web design, made for the screen) because it will give the client a strong idea of the quality of your work, and how it might also look in relation to their own project. For example, if you’re pitching for a packaging design job, try printing your previous package designs and logos onto a card that most accurately mimics the client’s end product (that is, as thick and glossy as your printer will allow).

So having established that there are times when you’ll need to print off work yourself, how do you go about it? In this tutorial we start by looking at the kind of conversations you might have with an external printer. Home printers are these days capable of very high-quality printing, but if you’re looking to have work printed up professionally, you may find yourself flicking through Yellow Pages – maybe because you’d like it on a particular paper stock, or want the artwork bound as a limited-edition book at a small publisher.

Read entire article and download the PDF (12.5MBs)

Track One teaches digital SLR owners how to create prints just like the pros. Track Two teaches professionals advanced techniques to take printing to the next level.

The new cities and dates are:

October 28, 2006 in Phoenix, AZ
Doubletree Paradise Valley/Scottsdale

November 11, 2006 in Salt Lake City, UT
Hilton Salt Lake City Center

December 2, 2006 in Atlanta, GA
Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown

January 20, 2007 in Los Angeles/Orange County, CA
Doubletree Hotel Santa Ana/Orange County Airport

January 28, 2007 in New York City, NY
Hotel Pennsylvania

Track One topics include:

* A step-by-step experience following admired nature photographer John Shaw, beginning on a photo shoot in the Sierras and culminating in the creation of a print in the digital darkroom

* A discussion of common digital file problems and fixes provided by master printmaker Mac Holbert of Nash Editions

* New Photoshop® CS2 tutorials from Adobe’s Senior Digital Imaging Evangelist Julienne Kost

* A demonstration from celebrity photographer Greg Gorman showcasing how he creates stunning black and white prints

* An overview from Bob Krist explaining how he prepares digital camera files to address the growing interest in using digital projectors and multimedia viewers

Track Two features live presentations by renowned industry experts such as John Paul Caponigro, Bruce Fraser, Greg Gorman, Mac Holbert, and Jeff Schewe. Topics include:

* In-depth color management and custom profiling

* Creating and optimizing a professional workflow

* Expert-level fine-art printing techniques

* Using a RIP for contract proofing and to increase productivity

* Collaborating with graphic designers and commercial printers

* Advanced black and white printing techniques

Early bird pricing for Track One is $49.95 when participants register at least three days prior to the program. Pricing for Track Two is $99.95 after a special $50 discount for professionals. More information including the complete tour schedule and how to register is available at www.EpsonPrintAcademy.com. Price includes admission to the new Print Academy Expo, featuring the latest products for pros.

See the PhotoshopNews coverage of the following tour cities:
Dallas
Miami
Boston
New York City
Seattle
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Reports from Minneapolis, Montréal and Toronto are coming.

Press Release: DUBLIN, Ireland — June 15, 2006 — Research and Markets has announced the addition of PC Printers and Photo Printers in the United States to their offering.

U.S. factory sales of PC and photo printers in the U.S. in 2005 were $3.8 billion. Despite increased volume sales, dollar sales decreased 25% between 2000 and 2005 at current prices, and decreased 34% at constant 2005 prices. The drop in dollar sales is due to a continued rapid decline in pricing for printers. During the period under review, the average estimated price per unit fell from $294 to $200.

Inkjet printers and inkjet multi-function printers (MFPs) accounted for about 73.5% of unit sales in 2005 and laser printers (mono and color) and laser MFPs accounted for 26.5% of unit sales. However, inkjets are losing share to MFPs of all kinds, and to laser devices. The price of laser units has fallen dramatically, putting color laser printers within reach of many consumers, while MFPs provide more functionality to the customer, reducing the clutter of multiple products. In the near term, demand for laser printers and laser MFPs will help stem the decline in average per unit price.

Based on research, overall growth in the PC and photo printer market should be flat or decline between 2006 and 2010, with laser printer sales increasing and inkjet device sales decreasing. Looking forward, under threat is the business model that relies primarily on post-hardware sales revenue from ink and paper. Retail ink kiosks, third-party cartridge providers, and online/retail photo printing options can reduce the demand for supplier branded ink and paper. With hardware margins already taxed, any shift in post-sale profits will cause turbulence in the market.

Printers are the focus and concentration of this report. Any printer that can print photos from a PC, digital camera, or memory card is included, provided the product is sold to a consumer or used in a small office/home office (SOHO) environment. Machines intended for professional purposes or primarily sold to corporate entities are not the subject of this report.

Products covered are inkjet and laser printers, including monochrome laser printers, portable and standard inkjet photo printers, and multi-function printers (MFPs) that function as printer, fax machine, scanner and copier. These products are bought through traditional retail channels for home use, including home office applications. Other retail channels include the Internet, mail order, catalogues, and computer resellers.

Accessories (toner, ink cartridges, cables) are not the subject of the report, but are discussed as relevant. Sales figures do not include sales of toner, cartridges or printer cables. Printing services are not included in this report.

This report encompasses HTS codes 8471605200 and 8471605400 for laser and inkjet printers, respectively.

Companies and brands mentioned:
Canon
Dell
Epson
Hewlett-Packard
Lexmark

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c38274

The awards are presented in honour of William Henry Perkin, who discovered mauveine (vivid purple) 150 years ago. It was the first commercially developed synthetic colorant and its discovery opened the way for the production of many other synthetic colorants.

Instituted shortly after the jubilee of the discovery of mauve to celebrate Perkin’s unique contribution to the coloration industry, the Perkin Medal is the highest honour the Society can bestow. It is only awarded for extraordinary scientific achievements and these are the first medals to be awarded in the 21st century.

Kenneth McGhee the Society’s CEO says, “The SDC is delighted to honour Minoru Usui of Epson for his striking scientific contribution to the development of piezo inkjet printer technology.”

Epson Micro Piezo printheads use original technologies to fire the precise, tiny and perfectly formed droplets crucial to creating a fine print. An electrical signal is sent to the piezo elements placed above each nozzle on the print head, and ink droplets are fired according to the force generated by the change in shape of these elements. This technology allows precise control of the piezo elements, which in turn means precise control of ink droplet size and fantastic print quality.

About the Society of Dyers and Colourists
The Society is an educational charity and a chartered professional society, established in 1884 to advance the science of colour. The chartered part means that the Society is a Royal Chartered Institute, legally constituted via royal approval and governed by Royal Warrant and ultimately by the Privy Council of the UK. It is recognised and respected worldwide for the charity work, research and publication of colour related matters.

The Society operates internationally in the UK, China, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with affiliate societies in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The Society publishes technical papers, textbooks and operates websites see http://www.sdc.org.uk

About Epson
Epson is a global leader in imaging products including printers, 3LCD projectors and small- and medium-sized LCDs. With an innovative and creative culture, Epson is dedicated to exceeding the vision and expectations of customers worldwide with products known for their superior quality, functionality, compactness and energy efficiency.

Epson is a network of 90,701 employees in 120 companies around the world, and is proud of its ongoing contributions to the global environment and to the communities in which it is located. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corp., the Group had consolidated sales of 1549.5 billion yen in fiscal 2005.

To access the downloads page you’ll need to enter the Track Two login and password provided at your Print Academy Track Two session. Check the EPSON PRINT ACADEMY TRACK TWO INFO PAGE for access to the downloads page.

Most people know Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Graham Nash for the high harmonies and inspired songwriting that helped make Crosby, Stills, Nash (and sometimes Young) a rock legend.

Others know Nash as a gifted photographer with a keen eye for the surreal. His photographs have appeared in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world, and in books such as “Eye to Eye: Photographs by Graham Nash.”

One thing not many people know: Nash and friend R. Mac Holbert, who was also CSN’s tour manager, pioneered fine art digital printmaking.

In 1990, Nash and Holbert helped to build the world’s first fine art digital printer — from a $126,000 IRIS 3047 proofer and a vacuum cleaner borrowed from Holbert’s wife, Ruthanne. In 2005, Nash and Holbert donated the printer to the Smithsonian Institution, where it resides at the Museum of American History next to Samuel Morse’s daguerreotype camera. (See the PSN article)

Nash Editions, the child of Nash’s and Holbert’s inventiveness, is widely recognized as a premier limited-edition printmaker of the work of young artists, as well as modern masters such as Horace Bristol, Pedro Meyer, Olivia Parker, William Matthews, David Hockney, Jamie Wyeth, Stephen Hannock, Eric Fischl, and Kim Weston.

And today, all of it is reproduced using Power Macs and Epson printers.

Read the entire story

Also, check out the PSN article Print Show by R. Mac Holbert-Seattle.

Mac is also on the road with the Epson Print Academy appearing this coming Saturday, April 22nd in LA. Future dates include May 6th. in San Francisco, May 20th in Minneapolis, May 27th in Montreal and in Toronto on June 3rd.