Epson 3800: No Dried Nozzles Yet

Just a short note for those still fearing head clogs and drying out of the print nozzles. Apparently these were real problems with older printers, but starting with the 3800 Pro, Epson claims a better and more resistant design. I guess I’ll have to agree…

I just I made a print on my 3800 after about 10 weeks of inactivity and the print came out technically perfect. OK, the printer made “head-cleaning noises” for about two minutes before starting to print, but it was all automatic, and as soon as it said it was ready to print, it was indeed ready to print.

I’m trying to make a 30×40 cm print out of this image. I’ve done three test prints so far (on smaller paper), and I’m still amazed at how much easier it is to see flaws on paper than on screen. I’m quite satisfied with the last test print, so if tomorrow morning I don’t see any further flaws, I’ll go for the final print.

Wanna Become a Better Photographer?

The quick answer is: turn your images into prints!

In October 2007 I came this close to buying a Canon 5D and a 24-105/4 IS lens. I was tempted by the full-frame sensor, image-stabilized lens, great zoom range, lower image noise and the additional 4,6 megapixels. But while a new camera is nice, it wouldn’t have changed my photography in a fundamental way.

So I bought an Epson 3800 printer instead. The reason was very simple — I was having trouble getting good prints with reliable colors and reliable borders on a variety of papers. And to be honest, I probably also needed a new toy.

Little did I know how that printer would change my photography! Now wait, you’d say — a printer is an end-device, it cannot turn a crappy image into a great one! Well, you are right (even though the printer manufacturers would like us to believe otherwise), but I mean this. Using a printer means printing an image. But which image? So the first thing was to look at my images critically and select the better ones. But once I had those, I didn’t just print them. No, you don’t just send a good image to the printer — you edit it and make it excellent. Then you print it.

And then came revelation number one. When you hold a print in your hands you see so many faults that you didn’t see on screen, you rush back to Photoshop and correct them. Repeat this a few times and you realize that you need to learn more about sharpening. So you do and you print again. The results looks so gorgeous, you are in awe. So you rush to the store and buy some frames. You frame the prints and hang them on the walls and it’s a great feeling. That’s revelation number two.

But a few days later you want another great print to go with the first one, so you take the camera and hurry outside. All of a sudden it’s not about pixel peeping any more, it’s about covering your walls with great prints. Revelation number four.

And the final revelation? In the eyes of your friends you are no longer the nerd with the camera, you are a photographer.

Good luck!

100 Years Henri Cartier-Bresson

I was on a business trip in Ludwigshafen and Mannheim this week, and I noticed a poster for a an exhibition of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s early work in the Kunsthalle Mannheim. I was leaving today, so I canceled my last meeting and went to see the exhibit instead.

It is dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908 — 2004), and it shows 79 prints from the early 1930’s. Wow, talk about getting back to the roots of photography — one camera, one lens, black-and-white film and absolutely no cropping of the negatives! What a contrast to today’s fancy bodies, fast zoom lenses and super pumped-up colors in Photoshop… (Which of course is symptomatic of weak images needing a digital trick in order to grab attention.)

If you have some interest in photography, you’ve probably already seen some of the images that I saw today, but I saw original prints with size 30 x 45 cm and not small reproductions in books or on the Internet. Of course not all images were equally strong (my favorites are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8), but HCB was indeed a master of composition and already at the age of 24 had a great feel for “the decisive moment.”

But he accomplished yet another feat — what he saw in the viewfinder was the final image — his prints always show 100% of the negative. To me this sounds utterly incredible, as I always shoot with some extra space around the desired image and I crop my images to many different aspect ratios, whatever fits the subject best.

Anyhow, the exhibit is very inspiring and definitely worth seeing. If you are in the area any time until June 8, go for it!

© Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos

PS: It was this image that inspired HCB to take his camera and go out in the streets.

PPS: Maybe HCB had two lenses. A small number of images (for example, the one above) appear to have been taken with a wide-angle lens.

Custom Profiles for the Epson 3800

I’ve been printing on my Epson 3800 for several months now — learning how to use it optimally and producing a few nice prints. Since prints never look exactly like they look on screen, even with color proofing, I’ve gotten in the habit of first printing on small sheets of cheap paper (10×15 cm Epson Premium Glossy). I’d then look how the print differs from the image on screen and try to correct the difference on an adjustment layer. I’d play some with the lightness, contrast or saturation, and after two or three tests I’d have a print that matches the image on screen very closely. I would then make larger prints on more expensive paper (A4 or A3+ Ilford Smooth Pearl). The new adjustment layers go in a separate layer group that can be turned on or off, depending on if I am making a paper print of a JPG for viewing on screen.

But I’d noticed a strange thing. Certain bluish hues would print very well on Epson Premium Glossy, but would exhibit a subtle color shift towards green when printed on Ilford Smooth Pearl. I know that different papers have a different look, but this was something different. But what was it? If prints on Epson Smooth match the colors on screen very well, but prints on Ilford Pearl have a color shift, it must be that the standard Ilford profile does not match my printer very well. (Or is it the other way around?)

I’d already found Eric Chan’s excellent pages dedicated to the Epson 3800 and was pleased to see that he is offering to build custom profiles for $20 US for any one paper. So I printed his targets on my printer and mailed them to him. This morning I received Eric’s profiles and printed an image that previously exhibited the color shift. Guess what — it prints perfectly with Eric’s profile!

The differences between the two images are quite subtle, and both look good in their own right. But only the second one looks like it looks on my screen and like it was in real life. So thanks Eric!

Three “Charcoal Shadows” Prints

I’ve slowly gotten tired of the two current prints in my office, so yesterday I made three new ones and framed them (30 x 40 cm prints in 50 x 60 cm frames). On Monday I’ll hang the new ones in my office and the old ones at home.

This is my first printed three-of-a-kind series, so I’m quite excited.

I have an even stronger third image, but it doesn’t lend itself well to a 3:4 aspect ratio, so I had to go with this one. Since I use standard frames and mattes, I have to produce standard-sized prints… Or I need to start cutting my own mattes.