Making a print changes the way a picture feels. On screen, the image is just shades of light. On paper it becomes an object you can hold and live with. I really enjoy making my own prints. It helps you identify tones that you may not note in the digital version. A good print often tells me what to fix in the next photograph.
I recently saw a video in which a photographer said “It is not a photograph until it is a print”.
Depending on where you live, dedicated photo inkjet printers with archival pigment inks can be easy or hard to find. In Pakistan dedicated photo inkjet printers with archival grade pigment inks are rare now or at least not available right away. Ink costs are high and top end models are no longer imported. For now, I use a pigment based Canon TC-20 ink tank printer that is 24 inches wide. It is simple to run and gives me surprisingly strong black and white prints, especially on matte Canson papers, so for now most of my own prints are made on this setup. Dye based ink tank printers (mostly Epson) are available but I have had a bad experience with those since almost all prints I displayed on my walls faded within months. And I only used original Epson Inks. In any case dye based inks only work better on glossy paper and I hardly ever use those. For matte paper, pigment inks are excellent.
While good printers are hard to find in Pakistan, fine art inkjet papers like the Canson Infinity series are surprisingly still available. These are rather expensive but worth it for those truly special prints. I like archival papers with pigment inks because they last and the surface looks refined and premium. Most of the small selection of prints I currently offer on this site are on Canson Infinity papers. Interestingly I experimented with both coated (infinity series by Canson) and their artist grade uncoated paper (acquarelle series etc.) and have been able to work out a formula that gets me very close to coated paper results. The infinity series are exclusively used for selling prints and for my personal fine art prints I will continue experiementing with the uncoated paper to test their longevity etc.
But coming back to the topic of making prints, the point I want to make is that if you enjoy photography, why hand over an important part of it to someone else. These days the closest we can get to the darkroom experience is to make our own prints. It is a craft and a pleasure and it keeps the process yours from capture to paper.
I could also send files to a lab or a place like Inked.pk and let them handle the printing. They would probably do a good work, but when I sell a print I want to sell a bit of my own craft, from the moment I took the photograph to the editing and finally the print itself. None of this is outsourced and I would like to keep it that way.
I bought my Canon TC 20 after watching this video. Keith Cooper is to printing what James Hoffmann is to Coffee. Two experts I enjoy watching videos of. Keith was also kind enough to provide me with custom print profiles.
Here is another video that is actually worth watching if you are serious about making your own prints. This video would give you a good understanding about the cost of each print. However, as much as these prints cost, bulk of the print cost is actually for paper and not ink. Generally speaking, after watching this video, one should put the cost of ink as 1/2 to that of the paper cost. But when I say paper cost, I mean branded inkjet paper and not the unbranded chinese paper that you mostly find on Nisbat road. The longevity of the print not only depends on the inks being used but also the paper that those are printed on.
I have placed an order for Canon imagePROGRAF Pro-510. It is bascially the same model as Pro-1100 but for our region. Import will probably take around 2 months but hoping it will arrive sooner than that. Lets see. Shirazi Trading is the only authorized distributor of Canon inkjet Printers in Pakistan and as such its best to get one imported through them. When I was thinking of buying a printer, many sellers here advised me to go with EPSON instead of Canon. My personal experience with EPSON however is rather poor. When I get the printer, the Pro-510, will primarily be for selling fine art prints of my photographs and sketches. For standard prints, I am more than happy with the Canon TC-20 that I already own. By the way, TC20 produces very good black and white prints even on fine art media. However for colour, I would have to wait till the Pro-510 arrives and I do a comaprison of both myself.
Relevant to this: Why would anyone buy a photography print?
You can see the small set of prints I currently offer here.