New Epson Complete Guide to Digital Printing

Like all individuals, printing is a hit & miss affair and a subjective subject as to what looks good or doesn't. Like artists you're rarely happy with the final printed result compared to what you have seen on the screen.Well, that was true until I read this book and finally upgraded to a screen that told me the truth about what I was really looking at.This book has made my life so much easier in the studio and my images come out every time, first time the way I envisaged.Soft Proofing on screen did not work for me before, but it does now and I don't waste money on paper or inks which were quiet frankly costing me a fortune. Even my Epson Inks are printing more pages than previously that how good a result I got from reading this book.More importantly I've made more sales of Prints than previously as well. So my advise is get out there, purchase, read and become a wiser & wealthier photographer.

Those who send their shots away for commercial sites to murder/perfect are snappers rather than photographers. The skill in post-shoot processing absolutely makes or breaks an image. In the days of film, no serious photographer would surrender the developing & printing processes to someone else (who has no idea or knowledge of what the photographer tried to capture).Whilst this is Epson based, there is loads of generic good practice/information. Written for adults, it presents advanced concepts in a manner that makes it easy to grasp the concepts and issues.Has none of the padded off-subject waffle found in most photography books (which camera/software the author uses/recommends - appalling puns and lame jokes etc)Should be compulsory reading for all photographers.

Although this may sound odd as I have a Canon printer, this was a good purchase. I'm new to printing my own photos and it's not as easy as I thought, this is the dark art of photography. Surprisingly I couldn't find anything written about using a Canon printer. Rob Shepard writes about the principals of printing in an easy and relaxed way. Through reading this book, although it's aimed a Epson printers, I now understand more of the principals of printing and use it as a guide and hope it will help to improve my approach and attitude to printing.

Like many people these days, I am a keen amateur photographer with a DSLR capable of many megapixels. I have learnt a lot in the last few years about taking a good photo and how to process that raw photo using Photoshop CS3 and more recently Lightroom 2. I needed to find out more about 'known unknowns' such as sharpening and why a print looks different to the image on a monitor; and have subsequently found 'unknown unknowns' such as edge burning. This book has provided key information about making optimal images and prints which I have not found in any other books and RS explains things very clearly with specific settings to try out in PS and LR2.I agree with most of the points made by previous reviewers, but I will add a few observations of my own.- I think it is perfectly justified that RS includes what makes a good photo as this is integral to achieving a good print at the end of your workflow.- I already knew about monitor calibration and many of the suggestions for how to take a good picture. However, RS includes lots of print specific hints to illustrate many of the suggestions which are worth knowing in a print context- RS really knows his stuff and explains some high end concepts (for me anyway) such as sharpening and masks in a lot of detail. - For those of us brought up on the 'doing' though photo magazines and using the software this is an ideal level of explanation and explains the 'why' of techniques I have been using but not knowing why...- The book that I bought is the 'New' guide, which follows three previous editions. Therefore it not only includes information that has always been relevant to good prints, but it is also fully up-to-date with DSLR lore and examples for Raw photos and Lightroom 2. This is not the case with several other much-touted photography books.I disagree with an earlier reviewer that the 'print early, print often' suggestion is controversial. I know my printer well enough already for everyday printing. I don't think I will ever know my monitor and printer well enough not to have to print several proofs for competition entries... If you are at the stage of needing this book, you will know that there is a world of difference between what you see on the screen and what you see with a final print. And that readers, is a photo fact!Other reviewers have indicated 5* if you have an Epson printer, 4* if you don't. I happen to have an Epson R2400, but most of my learning from this book is independent of the make of my printer. I would still score this book 5* if I owned a different make of printer - although I am even happier having an Epson. You will probably get more from this book if you have at least six cartridges in your printer, and even more if like me, you have eight/nine cartridges and print colour and B+W... This book has improved my understanding a great deal and I now need to invest time and ink to achieve better prints. Incidentally, if you don't already use a bulk ink flow system you really should start looking into it for pigment ink at a sixth of the price...And finally... p.58 "Let me be straight with you. You get better photographs by taking lots of pictures and better prints by making lots of prints, not by following a workflow. Photography and digital printing are crafts. You can study them and learn about them, but to gain the experience of what works and what does not requires you to 'do them'... to master any craft, you need to work at that craft."I agree whole heartedly with this view, and I recommend this book to anyone who wants to enjoy their photography more by improving their digital printing - whether or not they own an Epson printer.

Like a lot of the how to do it books this one contains a fair amount of waffle. Unlike many it explodes a few myths and marketing twaddle about the requirements for producing quality prints.My own printer an Epson 2000p is now well past its planned obsolesence date and is not entirely compatable with Windows 7 Prof.However a shiny new one is planned soon and I am sure this book will come into its own. Be warned that this book has a slightly American bias and can at times be at odds with European standards, settings and materials.All that said this is an easy book both to read or delve in to and I for one am glad I bought it.

I have been using Epson printers and Photoshop and , now, Lightroom for a long time. I do belong to a club and enter the usual competitions and have had some success, but this book was a revelation in presenting tips for improvement, right from the taking stage, through all areas of preparation, to the final print. It dispels some of the myths of digital printing and gives a greater understanding of the whole process. Alright, some of the picture taking stage tips will be known to most enthusiasts, but having them reinforced is never a bad thing and someone new to the subject would benefit from the advice.An excellent book, well presented.

I was hoping for a lot more advice and technical details. Far too much of the book is spent on what makes a good photo and, only incidentally, a good photo for printing. That's fine, but that topic is covered far better in many other books. When it come to actual printing this book contains not much more that the printer manuals. I have a hard time understanding who this book is aimed at. My advice is to stick to the manual or, better yet, get a book like Martin Evening's Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers, which covers printing in much greater detail. Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers

Acquisto totalmente inutile. I contenuti sono un condensato di banalità e ovvietà. Livello di approfondimento: zero. Decisamente sotto il livello minimo accettabile per un pubblicazione che promette di essere un manuale per la stampa digitale, specificamente dedicato ai prodotti Epson.Il libro è stato restituito. Un ringraziamento ad Amazon.it che permette questi ravvedimenti.

un bel libro, fatto bene, chiaro e esaustivo, pieno di spunti di riflessione ed utilissimo per cominciare ad approfondire il discorso della stampa...

I've been printing as long as printers have been decent; back to the Epson 785. The 785 was followed by a series of Canon's top of the line Pro printers which took printing to a new level for me. I still use Canon printers and an Epson 3880. The point being, I print a lot and I know how to get a good print. Stress often rears it's head sometimes while trying to match my prints to the monitor. Color Monkey, Spyder, One Eye... Rob Shepard took some of the stress out of printing for me with one simple thought. An awesome print doesn't always have to match the monitor. Really.

This book had little useful information. The first four or so chapters tell you to start with a good digital image. Well no kidding. There is limited info on managing color profiles, how to set up printing, how to decide between printer managing color or managing from photo editing software, etc. from a logical step by step approach. Good for the beginner but not if you want to set up a true light room and get exhibition quality prints.

As I have said in earlier reviews, I like to consume knowledge about photography and now printing. Have an Epson P600 printer and just begun the refining my printing and its more involved than expected. This book by Epson has helped me through the process, not out of the woods yet. A great reference tool for the desk.

Got this with my first Large Epson Photo printer, it helped since I was still transitioning to Digital from the smelly Darkroom!!

Great book for printing. Happy customer!!

If you create fine arts photographic prints using an Epson, then this book is somewhat informative. Unfortunately it's already dated at 4-years old and that means much of the information is no longer relevant.

Weak on hard facts about printers inks and papers. Now out of date.

I agree with several of the other reviewers - this book is well done but the title is misleading. In my opinion a >complete< guide to Epson should take you through the >complete< process of color digital printing on Epson printers and be littered with actual examples, good and bad, of all the resolution, ink type, paper type, printer model and color management option combinations that produce a digital color print. My copy is going back.

The content of the book is not indicated in the proposal cover. Weak, very weak for those who need guidance and is starting in the business of digital printing.If it were possible to return the book.

Nothing special

This is a beautiful book, very nicely done. But, having already read quite a bit about color management and inkjet printing, I was hoping for more specific technical details. The author makes many statements which I'm sure are true (I do believe he knows what he's talking about), but aren't illustrated with examples. For example, he says 200 to 360 ppi is the ideal range when sizing an image for printing, and that going over 360 can actually be detrimental. Ok -- how about an example to show exactly what the effect would be? Yes, I can spend the time (and cost) to run my own tests to see, but the book should have done that for me.

not just for epson