107 replies to this topic

[Footbag]

A coffee table style book is a great idea and also sounds like a nice gift idea!  Hmmm....

 

Not to sound too modern but has anyone given thought to using LCD TVs (or, despite the higher power requirement, plasma)?  Many of them can auto-display images from a USB key.  Obviously it's cost prohibitive to buy, install, and power a dozen TVs, but thinking if the goal was to have only a few, it might not be that crazy.  A quick look at slickdeals shows a noname 55" LCD 1080p for $350, a 29" 720p for $79. 

 

 

I have my Xbox linked to my Photo library.  So I can pull up any photos on my 60".  It's nice, but not something I've done recently.  

 

I also have used those photo frames.  OK quality, but nice.   

[TinCupSFA]

I recently ordered some metallic prints from Adorama and was quite impressed with the quality! The colors turned out very close to what I see on my MacBook Pro LCD.

~Matt

[Goofi]

That's one hot looking centerfold!  

[FiremanDan]

Since I haven't been able to image lately I think it's time to revisit maybe printing some stuff. I keep wanting to wait until I have a KILLER shot. Like Adam's work. But I don't see myself really having anything on par with his work. 
Any advice on any steps to prep an image for printing? 

[Footbag]

Since I haven't been able to image lately I think it's time to revisit maybe printing some stuff. I keep wanting to wait until I have a KILLER shot. Like Adam's work. But I don't see myself really having anything on par with his work. 
Any advice on any steps to prep an image for printing? 

 

IMO you can push photo's slightly more without the noise revealing.  The metal and acrylic prints seem to be more true to what's on the screen.  You can always print a small one to see what it looks like before spending on a big one.

[Goofi]

Here's the steps I use:

 

1. Take the image;

2. Process the image;

3. Print the image;

4. Be just a little proud of the image as I hang it on the wall.

 

 

You don't have to have a work of art in order for it to be a work of art. In my experience, I am my own worst critic. If you're worried, start smaller and just get a 5x7 made on metal - I think you'll be surprised at how good it is.  Sure, you'll find things you wish were better, but is it good enough? I'm guessing it probably is.

 

Printing the image and making it public - hanging it on the wall in my house, for instance - is a great way to get feedback and force yourself to be honest with your imaging. I've had images I didn't like, but friends saw and said it looked good ... and then shared what they saw. In listening, I saw my own work through another set of eyes.  So print and be proud of what you've done; while always trying to do a little better then next time.

[FiremanDan]

I keep reprocessing my M42 trying to get it to be better. I think messing around at Target has me scared to spend the money on a print. What I really need is more data in my images. 
Is there a minimum size you'd suggest? 5mb, 20mb? 

[rflinn68]

I just recently got my first prints made and started looking into this. Actually, my daughter had my most recent Melotte 15 done up on a glossy from wally world and it came out WAY darker than the actual photo. But shhhh, dont tell her that.   I still love it because it was a present from my daughter.    It really looks darker than what this photo with flash shows.

 

 

My friend in the Chicago area just sent me some prints of a few of my images that he had done for me at Meijer. They look very good to me and were very cheap. I just went out and got some frames for these. I love the format of the one from my daughter but not if they are going to change the picture. I cant help but think that it was just someone that didnt know what they were doing and they thought they were "making it better" by darkening the background up. Thats a classic mistake we have all made when we first started out. But its possible that it was just the machine they used I guess?

 

Here are the prints of mine that my friend had made. I have since found out I can get them ordered and shipped to me. I can also have a calendar made at Meijer but I'm looking into having that done at lulu.com for my website (blog).

 

[Goofi]

Dan, back in December I asked about print size/quality ... see post #65. David replied (Post #66) with some pretty good advice. Bottom line, a 5x7 at Adorama pix is only $20, an 8x10 is $25. Try it with your image, see what happens.

 

I've liked my metal prints from there - and you can see what others are doing in the posts on this thread.  Go for it! 

[munchmeister]

Just to jump in the fray since I just discovered this thread, I print all my own photos, including some astrophotos, using an Epson Stylus Photo R1800. I have had it for a number of years but it just prints soooo well I cannot imagine getting rid of it or even upgrading, unless I went larger capacity. I usually print AP type stuff on Red River Paper's Polar Pearl Metallic if the resolution is there and I really love the look of a metallic print substrate, especially for AP. For me, printing my own photos is like having a darkroom from years ago, sort of the final step in the process and I really enjoy seeing a great print coming out of the old R1800. I don't think it is any cheaper, but no more expensive either. And I have the quality control in my hands. I can print to a small size first to "dial in" the settings but at this point, I am pretty good at it without the need for a small, test print. All printing is done with Adobe Lightroom, now on version 5, with LR managing the color. Red River Paper sells panoramic papers in 13 x 38 inches which make for some really nice, full sky panoramas of the Milky Way. I've done some printing for members of our local astronomy club, as well. Did I mention that I love this printer? I also cut my own mats and buy frames from online retailers, mostly pictureframes.com, formerly Graphic Dimensions, which has great prices, great selection.

 

Just my two cents. Cheers !!

[FiremanDan]

Well I finally pulled the trigger and printed a couple of shots. I am VERY disappointed. I went to Ritz Camera and had some metallic prints done. They only had one style, the shiny kind. Well, as you can see it's too shiny. Reflects everything. All the bright stars, and the blown out middle of M42 is like a mirror. I don't know if it's your hours upon hours of data that make your prints come out better, or if Ritz's printer is cheap. But I am not happy. Also I printed 11x14 x2 and 12x12, I went to the store and got frames. I had to cut the pictures down a bit to get them to fit. Ugh! NOT a good experience.
Also it looks like with other printing places the print is fixed to a board of some kind. This was just a sheet, so I had to buy frames.

 

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[josh smith]

I've been making some dealings back and forth with a gentleman named Greg Marshall here recently and it came up that he does astroprints.  I happened to have a filterwheel left over from an earlier deal that he could use and we decided to make a swap... He would generously send me a backlit print and I'd send him out the QSI filter wheel.  I've been wanting to try some backlit prints here for a while and I was excited to see how this would turn out.  As expected, it was packaged beautifully well and we decided it would make more sense for me to put the glass in the frame so we didn't chance it breaking in transit.  So it arrived today and I was dying to take a peak.  

 

Now, I know very little about backlit prints, so when I got past the good packing and saw the picture, two things came to mind.  First, was how wonderful the framing and matting was.  Very professional and just perfect.  Second was, why the heck is this so dark.  I started sweating thinking I sent him the wrong version or something and that I blew my chance at a great backlit picture.  Then I plugged it in and holy smokes!!!!  I'm flabbergasted.  This thing is stunning and beautiful.  It looks like it does on my monitor but even better.  I can't recommend this guy's work enough.  I will be doing several pictures here now over the next few weeks.  Here is a link to his site http://www.wa-chur-ed.com/

 

And here is the image...

 

Edited by josh smith, 18 April 2015 - 11:45 AM.

[FiremanDan]

WOW! It looks like an explosion! Really cool! 

[josh smith]

WOW! It looks like an explosion! Really cool! 

 

Thanks!  I agree... Quite pleased with the print.

[WesC]

It looks very 3 dimensional!

[Jon Rista]

Thought I'd dig this up again. I've got a few large canvas prints on my walls now, thought I would share:

 

 

 

 

For size reference, the TV is 55". The large vertical print in the center is 30x40", the others are 24x36". The Orion Sword print has a black frame around it, and the canvas is inset into that.

 

In the space above and below the two horizontal prints around the Lagoon, I plan to get a couple square prints, or maybe a square print and something slightly rectangular, obviously of smaller size. 

 

The canvas are good for large size and more distant viewing. The texture in the material kind of inherently limits resolution. Not in a literal sense, just in a perceptual sense, it's difficult to see past the canvas texture into finer details. That makes them great for large sized prints, since you have to enlarge your final renders so much to make them anyway. The same printer I am using also does fine art giclee prints, and I'll be trying some of those out for smaller sizes and closer viewing at higher resolution.

[FiremanDan]

I am happy to see a post on this again! Jon, your shots are so good you could have them printed on a wet cardboard and they would still look awesome. 
I have since taken down the three miserable attempts I did and got a better aluminum print from AdoramaPix. I did a 11x14 if I recall correctly. I have since reprocessed the image to better control the stars, so now I need to get a new one printed!  

There is a huge difference between a metal/metallic print, and a print printed ON metal. 
It might seem obvious to some but after having a few shots printed on metallic paper and being really disappointed with the quality and then still having to find a way to mount/frame the images it was nice to find this option. 

The cost is quite a bit more, but these metal prints are really awesome and you aren't going to accidentally rip one of these, and you can actually clean them if the need arises. 



As you can see, there is still a bit of glare, but the satin finish really knocks it down. 
I am planning on printing a few small copies of the same image, one on glossy, one on satin, one on acrylic.
 

[FiremanDan]

 

I just got a 16x24 aluminum print from Adoramapix. 
I know there was a lot of discussion about various options. I am sold on the Adorama aluminum prints. I have gotten a white satin and the glossy white. While the gloss has a lot of glare, it's just so much more dynamic. 

I have also noticed their turnaround time is much faster than they quote. I ordered one in early Dec and was quoted a delivery time around 12-22. I got it about a week after I ordered it. 

I have a few paper ones that turned out pretty good too, but I love these aluminum prints! 

Rosette Ha+Old DSLR data - Original data. 

[afryhover]

Is the original photo in focus? The focus looked a little soft to me. Also, in my experience, before printing exposure needs to be bumped up about a half to full stop for printing. 

[AstroNick]

Love this thread.

 

Adoramapix is my go to for printing photos right now. If I take a good photo they usually come out fairly well. If I want a canvas print I use canvaspeople.com. My favorite Milky Way image came out great. I have done three images on metal. I love the metal prints. My star trails one is my favorite and the California Nebula wide field is SWMBO's favorite (she's California born and raised. LOL)

I haven't been disappointed at all with canvaspeople. I ordered a really large Milky Way print from a different company and when I saw it, I didn't care for it at all. The middle of the print was way too light compared to the image that I took. It almost looks like they ran out of ink. I ordered a moon shot from them at the same time and it was horrible. Heck I could even see where a heavy cup or some round object had been sitting on it.

 

Now one of the coolest things I have ever had made are 7 mats. Yep, you read that right, MATS. My better half works for a company called Promo Matting. They produce logo mats for several major comapnies (they recently made mats for the Seattle Seahawks and American Express,) and they produce custom mats. When they found out about my astrophotography, they wanted to produce some and see what we could do with them. So I met with their marketing director and sent some images over. The marketing director was fired a few months ago and hasn't been replaced. So now I'm waiting to meet with one of the co-owners of the company. 

 

Moon poster done by adoramapix

36 x 40 Milky way canvas 

Moon canvas

Orion and Running Man Metal print 

California Nebula and Pleiades Metal print 

20 x 30 Milky Way by canvaspeople 

Star trails by adoramapix 

 

Edited by AstroNick, 10 February 2017 - 08:26 PM.

[jtrezzo]

Hoping to resurrect this one....

 

Has anyone tried the metal prints from both Adorama and Bay Photo? Is either one better? Bay Photo seems a little cheaper, but Adorama has the option for different finishes it seems.

[FiremanDan]

My Dad has used bayphoto. I haven't noticed any major differences in quality. It'd be interesting to get the same photo from both. They look to be of equal quality though. 

[jtrezzo]

Well I ordered a few 5 x 7 metal prints from Adorama to see how they look before splurging on one of the big ones. A high gloss of M31 and M33 and a satin of the same M31 to compare which looks better. Will post some results here once I get them so hopefully others wondering about this can make a decision.

[pfile]

i did metalized paper from bay photo... the print itself seems OK but the mounting on gatorfoam is incredibly lumpy, so much so that it detracts from the image. printmakers in RH has come thru consistently for me with metabolized paper on gatorfoam - the mounting looks much better than bay photo.

 

i did a huge metal print of one of the JPL voyager posters at costco and it came out great.

 

rob

[jag32]

Thanks guys -- this thread has motivated me to really get on the ball with my processing so I can get some of my photos framed rather than just having files sitting in a folder on my computer!