Tutorial: Working the Fine Print

(excerpt from the book Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography unreleased revised electronic version)

Most first prints are work prints. It is the first look at the behaviors of the color management workflow, overall density and balance, the glow of white from the paper, the apparent perceived sharpness. If you think of printing as a process that evolves as you explore, tweak and refine, you step right into the traditions of fine-art photographic printmaking that has yielded an astonishingly beautiful history of photographs on paper.

As a general rule, a fully edited file will still take work to make a beautiful print. Anything less than the most refined edit you can make in Photoshop should be expected to print poorly, and will need extra and sometimes confusing work to make a great print. As general advice, take the time and care to edit your image to a high level of satisfaction, then start the printing interpretation process.

Paper
I believe our artwork deserves the best materials possible and that it is largely a waste of time to test on anything less. So I do all of my test prints on the paper I intend to print on, although often as small 3×5 images on letter-sized paper. Sometimes a lighter-weight version of the same paper is available and cheaper.

My papers of choice have been the same for many years now. Specifically the Hahnemühle Museum Etching (which I helped create) for the cotton printmaking paper look. I also use the Hahnemühle PhotoRag Pearl for a more traditional gelatin-silver look. It should also be pointed out that Hahnemühle supplies these papers to my workshops, but of course they are by my choice the papers that I use and want to teach with.


Color Management
A color managed workflow is essential for printing, from monitor, through printer/settings/paper profiles to a viewing light matched to the white point of your monitor.

Whites
It is very important to me that a print has a glow about its tonality that lets it seem light-based. Although there may be exceptions to this, I mostly look to pull back detail of the whites to make sure some of the glowing white of the paper itself is able to shine through.

Tonal Balance
I would describe a balanced print as one where the viewers eye goes primarily where I intend, where no one element seems to get more attention than I intend, and where the viewers eye is kept engaged and moving around the image. This is achieved not only by your original composition and subject matter, but also by how you lighten or darken certain areas of the print to emphasize or de-emphasize the area in question.

I would suggest in general that carefully made masks and Curve Adjustment Layers are often the best means of controlling specific tonal emphasis, or perhaps a Doge/Burn Layer. I would discourage the use of Doge/Burn brushes and Brightness/Contrast editors.

Edges and Vignettes
Lenses often fall off in density at the edges of the frame, and certainly traditional condenser enlargers did. Lightening and darkening of the corner of the image to treat problems is something I always try to watch out for. I am not a fan of “burning-in” the edges to concentrate the viewers attention. It often looks fake and in my judgment is treating a symptom of the past with a stylistic affectation.

Sharpening
In the digital photo realm, where focus is sometimes thought of as a “sharpness” that you can add after the fact, I caution people that actual sharpness takes place in the camera. The optical illusion of “edge-contrast exaggeration” that we call sharpening can be very useful, but can be easily overused and make the image look fake. Use restraint in sharpening and use your file as a measure of what is needed initially, then examine the print for any additional illusion-creating effects you may deem are needed. Too often, rote values and unexamined imperatives simply make an image look tacky.

Borders
It has long been an archival standard to allow at least a one-inch border around your image to the paper edge. This ensures you have space to handle the print, and that there is space for a reveal overmatt if desired. The print is then essentially presentation ready for casual view with a border that looks a bit like an overmat. It is also true that this border around the image separates the photograph from any contaminates that may creep in from the edge over time.

Matting and Framing
I believe it is important to present your work as framed in the least attention-getting manor possible, so that the image is preserved and cared for, but not distracted from. Consequently, I feel that standard white overmatts look the best, either silver or white metal frames, or simple light wood for the most beautiful earth tone possible. Check out the Matting and Framing DVD.

Prints should always be overmatted to protect the image from direct contact with the glass or acrylic. Most non-glare glass or plex looks awful as it adds texture or matt sprays to archive their so-called non glare status. There is however, beautiful glass and acrylic available from vendors like TrueVue make Museum Glass and Optium acrylic that truly do reduce the reflectivity of the surface material. They are not cheap.