PXL Print – ImagePrint By Colorbyte
Part One of Three
I am all about the print. Any reader who has been following me for a number of years knows that I don’t believe you have a photo until you have a print. This article is the first of hopefully a long series encouraging photographers to print. We are in the age of swiping and sharing images over the Internet. It wasn’t too long ago that there was no Internet, Instagram, or Facebook. The only way to share an image was to make a print.
While I am all about moving forward with technology and the benefits of instant image sharing, I am first and foremost about taking my best work and making a print. A print can be held, it can be hung, and it will show you much more than you can see on a small device screen.
I entered into photography at around the age of 13 when my friend’s dad invited me into his darkroom and showed me how a print was made. To me, it’s as magical now as it was back then. Now we can make a print with such detail and subtlety that one wonders if we have reached the pinnacle of printmaking.
I have been surprised over the last few years by some of today’s biggest YouTube and Instagram influencers because of their lack of commitment to the print. While many of these photographers are extremely talented and have amazing vision and great compositions and style, they for the most part lack some needed skills. Now, I am not talking about everyone, but certainly, a large number that I have come face-to-face with. These photographers purchase the latest and greatest gear and even some of the largest megapixel cameras out there, but in the end, they never do anything more than share their images on social media. Many shoot JPEGs and many shoot on P. In some ways, it doesn’t really matter as they are making some stunning images, but many have yet to really experience the true depth of the images they have shot in the form of a print.
Speaking with Epson and Canon representatives, I learned that printer sales are flat. Photographers aren’t printing. If they need prints at all, many send their work to a lab and have them made there. A lot of photographers have not attempted to learn printing because, as I have heard them say, it is too hard. There are too many things to remember, and the dialog boxes for making a print are intimidating. They’d much rather not be bothered or have someone else do it.
In the next few articles, I will be speaking with John Pannozzo of Colorbyte Software. Colorbyte is a company that makes what I feel is one of the finest printing products there is. This product is ImagePrint, and it is, for lack of better words, a layout, and printing program. You could call it that, but it is actually so much more. It is a program that takes the hassle out of making prints. It is a production powerhouse that, once learned and mastered, will yield consistently great images without your having to be an expert at color management.
I have been using this product for close to 20 years. It runs my Epson and Canon printers. I use the paper profiles by ColorByte, which in my opinion (as well as others’ opinions) can’t be beaten. There is no hassle of having to make your own paper profiles, no worries about anything color management-wise or how to scale a print up or down and fiddle with the dots per inch.
I could go on and on about this product and how much I like it. But rather than doing that, I have made three videos with John Pannozzo about Colorbyte Software and what ImagePrint is all about. We discuss printing, we show how to make a print, and we take a deep dive into ImagePrint. Then we really have fun as we introduce Cut It Out. This is a product that we have all been waiting for, and it will take away one of the biggest hassles of printmaking—trimming and cutting prints.
I am very excited about this, and we are planning to offer a series of workshops on printing at photoPXL.com that we will be announcing before the end of the year.
Please enjoy this first video as John and I discuss printing and how ImagePrint can make you a great printer and make you want to print your own prints. In the next video, we will show you how ImagePrint works, and finally, in the third video, we will show you the magic of Colorbyte’s newest product, Cut It Out.
Enjoy!
The Video (23:45)
Kevin Raber
October 2019
Kevin Raber
Indianapolis, IN
Photography is my passion and has been for 50 plus years. My career in photography has allowed me to travel the world, meet some of the most interesting people on the planet and see things I could never have dreamed of. My goal is to share the passion of picture taking through photographs and teaching with as many people as I can, hoping it brings them as much joy and happiness as it has me. I do this through photoPXL.com, this site, as well as Rockhopper Workshops, and other projects, as well as teaching as Artist In Residence at the Indianapolis Art Center.
