Quick Summary

This book is about digital printing for photography and fine art. It is not just about inkjet printers, but most currently available technologies. Those people who want to learn more about the technology behind different printing techniques, and those who have yet to make a choice about how to print (or indeed present) their prints, should find this book useful.

Review

When we first saw Mastering Digital Printing (MDP), we saw similarities between its approach and our own on our website Support pages. It was not enough for us to simply sell our products - we wanted to create documentation about our products and related issues. So for example, you can find information on paper types in our support pages, even though we may (or may not) sell all the paper types discussed (See our Articles pages). This book does the same, in more depth and for more printing technologies (where we focus on inkjet).

Part 1 Digital Printing Basics does indeed cover some of the fundamentals of digital printing. Chapter 1 covers a brief history of digital printing, and discusses the first steps in making your own decisions as to how you will do your printing (e.g. print images yourself or outsource to a printing service company). Chapter 2 covers the basics of digital printing, discussing the basics like the differences between vector and bitmap artwork, explaining resolution and so forth. Chapter 3 compares different print technologies, and Chapters 4 through to 6 cover image editing (including image file formats), Colour Management and Print Permanence.

Part 2 concentrates on Inkjet Printing. Chapter 7 covers the basics of inkjet printing technologies, discusses printer consumables costs, noise levels and all sorts of related issues. Chapter 8 discusses consumable such as ink and paper selection, and even discusses the NoMoreCarts CIS that we sell.

Part 2, Chapter 9 covers an ‘inkjet printing workflow’ working from image preparation, print planning, through image editing to output with manufacturer recommended materials or third-party alternatives. The chapter covers a lot of ground and is an unusual mix of discussions on selecting the best image resolution for your prints, Photoshop tips, and sometimes rather unhelpful comments like ‘The printing front side is usually whiter and either smoother or rougher’. We would disagree with some parts, like the use of a cheaper proofing paper, as most paper manufacturers do not use the same coating for their cheaper papers as their more expensive (hence, colour reproduction on one will differ from another) - so it is certainly a valid technique if you wish to test the layout or similar qualities of your output. Suddenly the chapter switches from discussing details of printing from Photoshop to mounting, curating and embellishing your prints among other options! Thankfully, the chapter does demonstrate that Colour Management and printer profiles work!

Part 3, ‘Beyond the Basics’ covers professional printing services in chapter 10, and ‘Special Printing Techniques’ in chapter 11. Chapter 11 in particular is close to our hearts in that is discusses specialist monochrome inks amongst several other ‘alternative’ techniques.

The Gallery Showcase in Part 4 highlights the work of many digital artists and the varied techniques used by them for their output.

This book covers many useful and interesting bits of information. It struggles, however, to find a good balance between the ‘technology briefing’ feel of some sections with others where the feeling is that we are being educated with quite product specific tutorials. e.g. in the inkjet workflow section some important points on the author’s workflow (e.g. making a copy of the original file for a specific print purpose) may be lost in amongst the details of how to use the Epson printer driver and Photoshop tricks. As a result, readers may find they have to pick and choose which bits of information they pay ‘100% attention’ to, and which indicate things they may like to think about, or may like to look for similar features in their software, etc.

So, finishing where we began, people interested in the content of this book (but who already have decided on inkjet printers) would probably enjoy our Support Info and Articles (FAQs) and Articles sections of this website.

Reviewed November 2004, originally read in 2003.

Please note that MWORDS has closed. We aim to retain these support pages in the hope that they may benefit our past customers, but regret that we can no longer offer further comment or support in relation to the information above.