Printing

Printing with an 8mm Border

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I mount all my prints in pre-cut Pinnacle mounts with a black core and leave an 8mm white border around them (see photo 1 below). I’m often asked how I do this; it’s super simple and saves you hours of work (assuming you cut your own mounts).

Step 1. In the Develop module of Lightroom crop the image in the ratio 1:1.454 (see photo 2)

Step 2. For an A3 print, in the Print module of Lightroom set the print size to 384 x 264mm (see photo 3). This size will give you an 8mm white border around the image.

Step 3. Use Pinnacle pre-cut mounts (A3 Standard White, Black Core are the ones I use). I think the narrow black strip sitting against the 8mm white border (the white is just the unprinted paper) really sets the image off.

Print with an 8mm white border. Details of the mount can be seen at the top.

Crop to the ratio of 1:1.454

For an A3 print set the print size to 384 x 264mm

KEEP25 for 25% discount & free P&P

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PermaJet have just launched a new website packed full of great features - it’s definitely more than just a place to order their paper.

For example take a look at their free download - The Art of Paper Selection, a guide to choosing the right paper to suit your image. For me this is one of the biggest factors in getting the best from your print - they just look so different according to the paper used. If you get it wrong it can literally trash the print… but get it right & you’ll enhance it. I’ve highlighted a few of my favourite papers in the images below.

There are also lots of great How To sections, covering everything you could ever need to get your printer working perfectly, regardless of whose paper you use.

I’ve never used any paper other than PermaJet & I’m proud to be one of their Envoys - and that means I can offer you a substantial discount of 25% plus free P&P so you can try it too.

Just use code KEEP25 on their website.

For most colour images I use Gold Silk

For mono I use Distinction

If there are lots of highlights I use Titanium Gloss

For an arty feel I use Photo Art Silk

Framing Your Images for £12

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If I produce an image I really like, I never feel it’s finished until I’ve printed it - it somehow feels more “real” then. I’ll admit that I also frame my favourite images and display them in my home, particularly the underwater ones. A quick glance at any time of day takes me straight back to the place where I took the photograph… a real memory jogger. So I’m going to produce a series of articles on how I go about it, in the hope they might encourage others to get the added enjoyment from their images that I get by printing and framing my own.

There’s no doubt that a printed image is really only displayed at its best when it’s mounted and framed, so that’s where I’m going to start - that way even if you don’t print yourself you can still use a printing company and get the same end result.

For mounting my images I use Pinnacle mounts. They sell lots of different sizes and colours in various card thickness, so it can be very confusing. I’ve tried several but this is the one I’ve settled on and now use for every image (click on the text & you’ll be taken straight to it);

PRE-CUT 500 X 400MM, TEXTURED CHALK WHITE WITH BLACK CORE, MOUNT BOARD 1400MIC

I think the exposed black core really sets off white paper nicely. The 40 x 50cm overall size meets standard camera club competition requirements and also fits these IKEA Ribba frames, which are only £7.

You can see the finished result on some of my dancing images below. I do my own printing (which I’ll cover in a later post), so by my reckoning the mount is £3, the paper £2 and the frame £7 - I think it's a pretty good end result for £12.

To get the white border around your image; you will find that the pre-cut aperture fits A3 paper perfectly. But I like to allow an 8mm white border around the edge of the image - together with the black core of the mount I think it gives a really professional look. To get the 8mm border crop your image to a ratio of 1:1.454 - this will give you a printed image of 384 x 264mm, and that leaves the 8mm border around the edge of the image.

Printing (1 of 3).jpg
Printing (2 of 3).jpg

Large Canvas Prints Arrive - Wow!

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I recently received an order for 4 of my underwater prints at large size - 900 x 620mm. After discussions with the customer and printers we decided printing on canvas would be best because it would keep framing costs down as no glass is needed. I ordered them 5 days ago and waited with trepidation because I’ve never had anything printed this large before. I knew it should be ok because the file size of the original image was large due to me shooting with the 53M pixel Canon 5DSR… but still.

Well, they arrived today & I’m absolutely delighted - they look stunning if I do say so myself. The image below doesn’t really do them justice, and I’ll post again when they’ve been framed, but I think you can see they certainly make an impression. I’ve included the mug to give you some sense of scale… small they ain’t!

900 x 620mm canvas prints. Mug included to give you some sense of scale :-)

900 x 620mm canvas prints. Mug included to give you some sense of scale :-)