STUDENT

Digital Print Workshop with Dr. Les Walkling | Sydney

This two-day intermediate workshop with Dr. Les Walkling concentrates on printing digital files to the highest level of perfection. 

The finest papers, inks and printers combine to create images otherwise unimaginable. This is much more than time and cost-efficient editing and printing. Preparing and printing an image is one of the most generous and gracious acts photography has to offer, where the materiality of the print not only profoundly transforms our image, it transforms our understanding of it. For a truly stunning photographic print confers not only physical but also a ‘metaphysical presence’. But comprehending how this is done, let alone matching images to papers, inks, and surfaces can only be realised when we have the right tools and principles at our side. This is about the ‘art’ not just the craft of printing, and about understanding and realising our images like never before. Specific topics that have been covered in this workshop include:

Ink and Media

• Media selection and ink usage – economy vs. quality
• Commercial Papers: Resin-coated & micro-ceramic media
• Art Papers: Cotton rag & alpha-cellulose papers
• Photography Papers: Baryta and non-Baryta papers
• Archival gamuts: Dye vs. pigment vs. chromogenic inksets
• Late binding workflows and compressing colour gamuts

Printing a Digital Print

• Printing through printer drivers vs RIPs
• Output sharpening techniques and strategies
• Custom vs. generic printer profiles
• Rendering intents and gamut compression
• Displaying prints, lighting, metamerism and ink inconstancy
• Protecting and annotating prints

Preparing Images for Printing

• Levels – colour and density correction fundamentals
• Re-sizing images and factorial scaling
• The application of creative sharpening
• Colour managing digital printing workflows
• Soft proofing vs. hard proofing
• Matching screen to print monitor calibration

Crafting a Digital Print

• Re-defining spatial and luminosity relationships in the print
• Mid-tone contrast expansion – ‘blend if’ options
• Shadow and highlight bump-masking
• Luminosity remapping
• Toning, tinting and colourizing images
• Intensification and reduction – expanding print ‘presence’

At the heart of this course, attendees prepare and print some of their own images on large format Canon Pro printers. The entire print workflow from file preparation and media selection and final exhibition printing is critically investigated, while histories and theories of visual art are incorporated to contextualise creative practice and expand aesthetic outcomes.

The workshop/course is also supported by a resource rich website including detailed course notes, videos, and test files.

Share: