alan frost

Posts by alan frost

First colour print from the Epson 3880

In a recent post I wrote about how pleased I was with the black and white results from the Epson 3880, not to mention how easy it was to set up and select the right settings. Whilst I expect most of my prints will be in monochrome, there will be times when I want to print a colour photograph, so I thought I would run a test print.

As opposed to using Lightroom I opened the image in Photoshop CS5, resized the image for A4 paper and selected the ‘Photoshop manages colours’ option. I also selected the ICC profile for the Fotospeed Platinum Lustre fine art paper which I had chosen for this first print.

The settings are shown in the screen shot below.

The print settings in the Epson print driver is shown below.

The printer started doing its job and the result looked quite promising. The printed colours were as I had hoped, although the clouds in the sky were rather more grey than blue when compared to how they appeared on the screen, but arguably more true to the scene itself.

I have taken a shot of the finished print standing against the iMac. A camera will never satisfactorily capture the true colours of a back lit computer screen so it would be wrong to compare the print with this image below, so its purely for illustrative purposes. Having said that the screen does appear to have a ‘blue’ cast, so this is something I need to look in to in the future. It may well be the iMac needs calibrating which is something I have not done for quite some time. So in colour terms the print isn’t perfect but it’s more than acceptable and frankly if it wasn’t standing alongside the monitor no one would know the difference anyway.

Having seen the results of this first test print I decided to print another version of the image with the same paper, ICC profile etc but using Lightroom instead of Photoshop. Lightroom has a ‘sharpening’ algorithm built in, so I wanted to compare the results both in terms of sharpness but also to see whether or not there was any noticeable colour variation.

In the print module in Lightroom I used the settings below, selecting ‘glossy’ paper for the print sharpening.

When laid side by side the colour rendition of the two prints was very similar. I could not detect any difference in the greens and oranges of the foreground and middle distance, nor could I see any change to the colours in the distant hills and the clouds. It’s pleasing to know there is no discernible difference when printing between these two programs, with one notable exception. The big difference between the two prints was the sharpness. I had not applied any extra sharpening when I printed from Photoshop, whereas Lightroom had applied it’s own sharpening for the size of print. There is no question the additional sharpening applied by Lightroom improved the image considerably. The grasses in the foreground now had real impact. The same can be said of the wall and the branches of the trees.

Given these were the first colour prints from the Epson 3880, I am very pleased. It really is quite a printer and in no way am I disappointed with any aspect of the product. Having read so many excellent reviews before deciding to purchase the 3880, there is always the possibility that it wouldn’t have met with expectations. This is far from the case. It’s a first class printer which more than meets my requirements and whilst it’s expensive at nearly £1,000, it fully justifies the cost in my opinion.

I now need to make sure that the quality of my photographs are up to the quality of the Epson 3880; after all, ‘rubbish in and rubbish out’, as the saying goes!

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The one to start it all ….. the Panasonic LX3

Back in January 2008 I bought what I considered to be my first serious digital camera. I had owned small compact cameras with tiny screens and hardly any megapixels at all but tempted by photography as a hobby, I wanted something which might just stretch me a little further. Something which had manual controls, a decent lens, and had the potential to shoot RAW. I might set it to full auto and jpeg to begin with and then experiment as time went on. I also wanted a camera that was small and that I could take anywhere. The idea of any sort of DSLR at that stage just didn’t appeal. I remember researching what was available and I finally settled for the Panasonic Lumix LX3. I considered it to be expensive compared to what I had used before but it ticked all the boxes. It even had a 10 mega pixel sensor which at the time was large for what was really just a top of the range compact camera.

The Panasonic LX3 – the one that started it all

With a Leica lens the LX3 had a 2.5x zoom with a wide angle full frame equivalent of 24mm to 60mm, at f2 to f2.8. A switch on the lens gave the option to very quickly change the aspect ratio from 4:3, to 3:2 and finally 16:9. The ‘Q’ menu also worked very well to change the in camera settings without having to go into the main menu. I was delighted with the performance and one of the very first shots I took was the image below of Bognor Regis Pier. I have only just rediscovered this photo so that I could write this blog entry. To my surprise it was shot in black and white and not converted at a later stage. Perhaps my desire to shoot in mono and my love of black and white goes right back to my very first outing with the LX3!

‘Bognor Regis Pier’
One of the very first images I took with the LX3

To demonstrate the camera’s capability I took the shot below in the confectionary department of the famous London store, Fortnum and Mason, in April 2009. Shot as a jpeg with a few minor corrections in Lightroom, it was hand held at f2.0, 1/30th of a second at ISO 200. I was able to print this image onto A3 paper and then using a 50cm x 40cm mount, which is the standard size required by most camera clubs, it was entered into a ‘Set Subject’ competition called ‘Temptation’ and awarded 10 out 10. One of my very early club successes.

‘All sorts Sir?
Taken in Fortnum and Mason, April 2009 with the Panasonic LX3

I still have the LX3 and I doubt if I will ever sell it. It’s a great little camera capable of really excellent results. I should take it out with me more often…..it’s very discreet and produces good sharp images. It has been superceded by the LX5 and now the LX7, but for me the LX3 is the camera which started my love of this totally absorbing hobby called photography.

Paper and settings for Epson 3880

When I went on my ‘One to One’ with Paul Gallagher in the Lake District back in February I was keen to find out more about digital printing. A dark art in photography circles but an absolutely essential skill to learn and understand to produce a well made image on paper.

I really take pleasure in printing my photographs. Yes it can be expensive with printer cartridges costing an arm and a leg but there is nothing quite like seeing a printed photo, mounted, framed and hanging on the wall for others to see. The photo paper is not cheap either, particularly if you choose a ‘fine art’ paper. There is also a huge choice from gloss to matt, from a smooth finish to a textured one and so the list goes on. The weight or thickness can also vary and is another factor when choosing the right paper. Different images or styles of photography also suit different papers so it can really get quite complicated.

Until today I have almost exclusively been using Ilford Galerie smooth pearl. A 290gsm paper with a lustre finish. My printer, a Canon Pixma Pro 9000 MkII is an excellent printer; it can print up to A3+, but it has one major problem as far as I am concerned. It only has one black ink cartridge and as I almost exclusively print in black and white it cannot produce the quality of print I would like. The reason why this is the case is that in order to print the full range of tones, it simply lays down less black ink to reproduce all the mid tones. Consequently the ink coverage is not as great, which can sometimes lead to a ‘blotchy’ appearance.

The other issue I had with the Canon was that I couldn’t produce a true black and white print, probably because of the single black ink or possibly a driver issue. It always had a slight, almost sepia colour cast. It was fine until you held it against the Epson print using the same paper. There really was quite a difference. If I was going to continue my passion for black and white, then I wanted black and white prints, not something which was very good but in all honesty was second best.

The image I chose for the test of different papers using the Epson 3880

In a desire to improve the quality of my printed work I was naturally interested to see what printer and paper Paul Gallagher used. When I arrived at his studio it didn’t take me long to discover that he used an Epson Stylus Pro 3880 and Epson Traditional Photo Paper. I had already read a number of good reviews of this particular printer. It uses four separate inks cartridges to print a black and white image. Photo black, matt black, light black and lastly light, light black. They are 80ml cartridges, so although expensive to purchase initially they work out much cheaper per print than say my existing printer, plus you don’t need to replace them so often. As well as being able to print on A2 size paper, it also has a dedicated driver for monochrome printing called Advanced Black and White or ABW for short.

After Paul and I printed a few images using this printer and the ABW settings, I was convinced that if I wanted to take my work to the next level then an upgrade to the Epson 3880 was going to be desirable.

So here we are a few months later and the Epson 3880 is out of its box, set up in my home and a few test prints later and all I can say is – ‘what a printer, it’s fantastic!’ Easy to install, I was printing my first images in no time at all, with I think great results.

Although I like the Ilford Smooth Pearl paper I was keen to try others, so I bought a couple of test packs from Fotospeed and I started printing. I wanted to ensure I used the same settings for every type of paper, so by way of a record here they are.

The first screen grab is taken from the print settings tab in Lightroom 4. It is of course possible to use Photoshop for printing but I have always found Lightroom an easier program for this purpose. Although I have installed ICC print profiles from Fotospeed these are not required as the Epson driver manages the whole process really well.

Click on ‘print’ in Lightroom and the Epson window opens. The screen grab below shows the ‘basic’ print settings.

Click on ‘Advanced colour settings’ and it opens another window specifically for black and white printing. Here are the settings I chose for the test run of different Fotospeed papers. The preview image gives an indication as to how the image will print if any of the settings are changed.

I chose three matt papers for this initial test to see how they would compare with the Epson Traditional Photo paper used by Paul on his 3880. Firstly Platinum Matt (280gsm), secondly High White Smooth (315gsm) and lastly Natural Smooth Textured Bright White (315gsm). There are others but I wanted to start with these. My first impressions of printing on a Matt paper was very good. In my view they retain excellent tones and detail but do not have the distraction of the ‘lustre’ finish which has a slightly reflective sheen. I don’t think the matt paper will work for every image but for this particular landscape I was delighted with the results.

Of the three papares I did not warm to the High white smooth paper. Despite its name the paper has a ‘cream or yellow’ tint which is particularly noticeable in the lighter areas of the image. This comment does not apply to the other two papers. Both the Platinum Matt and NTS Bright White produce excellent ‘whites and blacks’, the main difference being a little more texture in the NTS Bright White, together with the fact that its a slightly thicker paper – 315gsm against 280gsm. There is of course the question of price. For 25 sheets of A3+ paper the Platinum Matt works out at £2.00 per sheet whereas the NTS Bright White is £2.40 per sheet. Both papers are 100% acid free and have an image life of 85 years.

I will test some more papers as I would like to find two or maybe three fine art papers that would suit the work I am likely to produce in the months ahead. But for now all I can say is how happy I am with the print quality of the Epson 3880 and the ease with which I have been able to print something which is more than acceptable to me.

And the winner is……?

Not me!

Unfortunately I did not repeat my successes of last year and went home empty handed from the final camera club meeting of the season, apart from a ‘highly commended’ certificate for ‘Remains of the Jetty’ and two of my other entries were short listed.

Far from being disheartened I am delighted with my results this season. I may not have carried away any trophies but I did finish second in the Print League and third in the Projected Image League. Given that I was only promoted to the ‘A’ division this time last year, I am surprised to have done this well.

The new season will start again in September and I shall continue to do what I most enjoy in the meantime. Being outdoors and making the images which give me so much pleasure.

Yesterday was a good example of how I like to spend my time. I needed to go down to Dorset, so having completed all the jobs I had to do, I pointed the car in the direction of Lulworth and in particular headed for Durdle Door on the Jurassic Coast. This ‘iconic’ spot is much photographed but I have only visited this location once before a number of years ago when a) I was not very well and b) I had not caught the photo bug. I recovered from my illness but I can’t shake off the other bug I am pleased to say!

Durdle Door

The weather was very mixed, one minute clouds, the next minute blue sky and some much needed sunshine of early summer. It was cold for the time of year as well but this was a distinct advantage to me, as it discouraged people from being on the beach.

On the eastern side of Durdle Door is a lovely cove which forms part of St Oswald’s Bay. From here you can look down the coastline towards Lulworth and another famous beauty spot in this part of the world – namely Lulworth Cove.

As the shower clouds passed through the light caught the cliff face which resulted in the image below.

St Oswald’s Bay

Dorset has so many wonderful areas to explore with a camera, so I am sure it will not be long before I re-visit this very special part of the world.

Whether or not these two images go forward for as competition entries next season remains to be seen, for now I am just happy to have added them to my collection.

Last club meeting tonight…….

It’s been a good club season as far as I am concerned and I do feel my photography has improved as the year has progressed. Tonight is the last meeting of the year and it’s the evening when a judge chooses the Print and Projected Image of the year. Last year I was fortunate enough to win the PI of the year. I doubt I will be so lucky tonight – but who knows?

Its been a tough choice deciding which two images to put forward in each category. As long as they were submitted for club competitions this season, then how many marks they scored is immaterial. After all one judge can give a photograph 10 out of 10 one evening, whilst another judge might give the same image 8 out of 10 the next. It’s that subjective and whatever the score, I don’t think I or others should be discouraged by a poor mark, any more than we should be too elated when awarded the highest score. It’s only natural that we would all prefer 10 marks and not 8 – just don’t lose too much sleep over it though.

What’s more important is taking or making an image which pleases you, the photographer. If it gives pleasure to others and scores well in club competitions, then all well and good. If you like the image and enjoyed all that went in to producing the finished result, then I think that is the best result of all.

So here is my selection.

Firstly the two Projected Images.