Why I Print Before I Share Online

Before I share a photograph online, I print it and I make sure it's everything I want and think it can be.

Once I have a print in hand, opportunity to evaluate the photograph in a new "light" opens which often leads to discovering additional ways to improve or it leads to new creative options for me. I find that a printed image is sometimes a better medium for testing the overall strength of an image, both from a technical standpoint and from an aesthetic perspective as opposed to just working with my images on the screen.

Comparing prints

With a print that I physically hold in my hands, the decisions I made for such things as the brightness, level of detail, the color saturation and the crop of the photograph, may be re-evaluated but now from a new viewpoint. With a print, I will be in different lighting conditions. I will hold it or display at different distances from my eyes. I'll even view it in a different setting such as from a comfortable couch or chair instead of always in front of the computer monitor. When I view my printed image, I free myself from all the distractions I face when I only view the image on the computer.  True, I can view an image full-screen and eliminate visual items on the screen but I am still constrained to the same viewport and setting where my computer is situated. A printed image is something that I may now take with me somewhere else and step away from all of those distractions to allow myself to evaluate the photo with a renewed focus.

What I Do

After I process an image on the computer that I intend to share, I'll then print it, and then ask myself these questions:

• Is the print the "right" size?
• Is this the "right" crop?
• Is this the "right" orientation?
• Is the print bright enough?
• Is there enough detail?
• Are the colors "correct"?
• Am I engaged and captured by this?

Size

More effective smaller
rather than larger

Some images are "stronger" when they are printed and viewed at larger sizes. For example, wide vistas are usually best larger to give the sensation that the viewer could almost step into the photograph. Other images are more effective when printed smaller. For example I often find that many abstract photos or photos of intimate details are more potent when you condense them into a smaller image that is more easily "digested" by the eyes and the mind. Neither of these are hard and fast rules but by printing your image, but I do find that a photo is more effective at a specific size rather than sharing it at or near full-resolution all the time. I like to say to myself, just because such-and-such site online allows images up to resolution X doesn't mean I have to share all my photos at resolution X.

Crop & Orientation

Cropped to Square (1:1)

In addition to size, both crop and orientation are two more physical attributes of the print that may help in determining a more meaningful image. I'll ask myself with regards to the crop of an image, am I showing enough or too little of the important elements in this photograph? Could the image become more effective if the crop ratio were to change? Sometimes the orientation of an image could be changed to improve it. This is sometimes the case with abstract photos and photos of intimate details where elements such as the sky, the horizon, or people are not present so altering the orientation of the image won't cause additional distractions.

Brightness, Color, and Detail

tilt-shift blur added to draw
more attention to the real
"detail"

I can quickly tell if a print is engaging and captures and holds my attention. If I'm not captivated, qualities such as brightness, detail, and color are sometimes at fault here. These qualities can also be easily adjusted and the image re-printed. By going through this iterative process, the feedback I receive and new creative decisions I make from it, all become part of the discovery of how I may further improve my image.


Many times what looks good on my screen isn't as engaging as a print. Remember, the computer monitor is back-lit and bright and makes everything almost "glow" while a print is lit by reflected light only so it doesn't have the same presence. I do anticipate this and adjust for this with my prints. However, even after compensating, sometimes I find things such as the foreground is still too dark or the colors are too saturated and these actually become a distraction. Later, I find that some of the adjustments I made for a better print are also some of the same adjustments I make to improve the image that I intend to share online.

Image Sets

Contact Sheet

Another tool I use is to print one or more images together and evaluate them side-by-side as a set. I like to make diptychs and triptychs; that is two or three photographs arranged together and designed to be viewed as a whole, not individually. Sometimes I even print contact sheets of nine or twelve images on a page. Now this may seem like a contradiction regarding what I said earlier about eliminating distractions, however, the purpose of this is to see if in this new presentation, do any of the above questions have new answers?


When an image is stacked up against one or more other images, the idea of a collection comes into life and either their similarities or their differences compliment or detract from one another. For example, the crop of an image may work more effectively when it matches the crop of the other images I group it with. Then when viewed alone, the crop helps to make the image even more powerful. Another example I often find is with regards to the colors of an image. Decisions on either color saturation or color cast become more clear once an image is grouped and compared with other images in a set.

Pace

There is one final benefit to this practice. The benefit of time. Printing forces me to slow down my workflow and spend more time with my image. Many times the rush of processing an image that I really love and then share online actually prevents me from realizing its full potential. A slower pace to processing and sharing an image online allows my sub-conscience to fully digest and process all my feelings and memories about the image. That niggling voice in the back of my head telling me there is something not quiet right about an image I've already shared tells me I didn't give myself enough time to fully process it.


Only after I go through this process do I finally reach the point where I am satisfied and then I share the photograph online. By slowing down my pace, I give myself and my work ample time to flourish. Of course once I process and share an image, that doesn't mean I can never go back to it at some time and process it again differently. However, I find that as time moves on and my photography progresses, re-working my older work never becomes a priority as I'm too engaged in and focused on what I am producing now, rather than what I produced in the past. So by spending the time now, I never have to worry about leaving something behind and undiscovered with an image.

Last Thoughts

Printing has become such a valuable part of my workflow that I even if I don't intend to share something online, I still incorporate printing as part of my process. Printing has helped me bridge the gap between what I thought I felt and saw when I made the photograph with the camera to the processed image which is supposed to describe those same feelings and thoughts to a viewer. It has helped me become a better photographer. I think it can help everyone.