How many of you print you images, and if so how?

How many of you print you images, and if so how?

  • No, digital images are meant to be digested digitally

    Votes: 2 2.3%

  • Yes, but I outsource the printing process

    Votes: 23 26.7%

  • Yes, I have a printer at home

    Votes: 61 70.9%
  • Total voters
    86
I want to give a big thanks to everybody here that contributed to my decision to get a printer.

Last time I was in a darkroom, it was 18 years ago. Since then I had occasionally printed online, but being able to print at home is a very different experience that I was unaware how much I had missed. The iterative process of getting the colors you want, putting contrast at different parts of the image and importantly trying different papers is meditative. I am enjoying a part of Photography that as many of you have said: It's real when it is printed.

To any one debating whether you should print at home my suggestion is definitely do it.

Best to all.
 
My most recent gelatin silver print. The picture is shot with a Leica M3 from 1958. The lens is a Summicron 50mm f/2 rigid. The film is Kodak TriX 400. The print is made with a Focomat 2c on Ilford Multigrade 18x24cm.

Erik.

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The past few years, I would either send digital files to print out at Walgreens for snapshots, or run a few through my Epson XP-640 using Epson Ultra Premium Glossy photo paper.

On a hunch, I bought some baryta paper (100% rag, no OBAs) and my God, what a difference!
 
Ilford HP5+ rated @ ei200 developed in Ilfosol 3 and scanned with Plustek then post processed where nescessary with GIMP and inkjet printed with a Canon Pixma G5050 on Fotospeed Smooth Pearl 290 or Signature Baryta 300.
 
My Epson P700 will no longer feed paper. It's out of warranty but still on the first full set of inks. No service in the area. Not a happy camper here. It produced beautiful prints when it worked. I'm now looking at a Canon printer--dye based inks. I can't spend Epson level money on another printer these days.
 
I had a darkroom for 40+ years, but recently sold the entire setup and now the majority of my work is done digitally. I have a Canon IPf6400 24” printer that does beautiful work, most of it as black and white prints, from 8.5”x11”to 24”x36”. Im currently working on a large project, and have done almost 1,400 8.5x11’s, with another 1,400 yet to be done. This is a fine, fine printer that produces beautiful b/w results, but I’ve also printed 24x36 color and black and white prints with stellar results.
 
Like Erik, I only print in a darkroom, I have an overhead bare bulb for making contact prints, a Beseler 45mx with a Zone VI head and a Durst 138 for 5"x7" work.

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I have printed digitally for about 20 years. The first 15 years were with scanned film. I did print in a wet darkroom for about 12 years before that but my objective is really good results with the minimal effort and cost. That's using an Epson for me.

Different strokes for different folks, that's all.
 
From time to time I went since decades through my rolls and brought some best negatives to a specialized print shop in town. Before the Y2K they closed their shop and I had to send films around for good big prints (specifically for 12 sheet wall calendars) or for own postcards. A simpler and more favorable procedure would have been to send them already scanned images, instead of negatives. At about the same time I was hooked through a professional archiving project on the Kodak Photo CD scanning approach. As I never had an own darkroom, nor a good negative scanner, it was for me a welcome upgrade to get well scanned digital copies of my images, in parallel with the development procedure. My workflow went very soon hybrid. For the scan part, as well as for the prints.
Later on the Photo CD standard went dead end, because cheaper film scanners with similar resolution output became the new standard. Additionally, in 2007 I started to shoot digital, which integrated very well in my already hybrid analog-to-digital film workflow. Nowadays I am around 20% analog images.

To summarize my vote: I always order to print outside and send well balanced TIFF files.
 
I've been able to set up a bathroom darkroom at home. I learned in high school back when they had shop classes been doing it since...

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In retirement, I am sending URLs to a high-end print shop in Saigon, and having film developed, scanned, and printed in another shop there. I'm planning to buy a Canon printer in Canada in the near future. Cheers, OtL
 
My most important printing is a compact book covering my daugther's year. This has kept me shooting throughout the year, even when I haven't shot for anything else. I am on my 12th year doing this now. From time to time I also make a larger book covering a theme: e.g. winter. I occationally print for having on my wall. This used to be my most important printing, but as I got more and more happy regarding my selection fewer new pictures ended up on the wall. All pictures on the walls at home are made by the family: photos, drawing or paintings.
 
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