What to do with all these wonderful images?

John Mankos said:

...Unless I have a definite need/use for it.

I dunno, printing something I didn't immediately have a place for
seems like a waste of ink and paper to me. I'm quite happy
printing what I need and leaving the rest on a CD until I may
decide to print another someday.

Click to expand...

It seems that your suggestion might be the best (sigh) solution. I enjoy heck out of printing the images from a day of shooting, I got six or eight images worth printing out, from three different locations today. I ended up with several reprints or extra copies.

I'm in a fortunate position that I'm able to drag my camera with me through out my work day and twice I found myself up against hillsides with wildflowers growing on them. Each of the locations were in different parts of the valley, twenty miles apart as well as an arbor shot of a townhouse walkway that I've been eyeing for some time.

The problem, because of the type of work I do, photographic opportunities abound on a daily basis and I'm doing the best I can to take advantage of all the varied scenery that I'm exposed to.

Backyards, houses, streets, cities, mountains, vistas, I see it all and I do it on a daily basis So, I end up doing a whole heck of a lot of printing as I love to show the flower shots to all my customers. It's quite a hoot sitting in the backyard of a customer's house, surrounded by their flowers, sharing flower photos and being paid to be there Oh and if you don't mind, while I'm here, I'd love to take a few images of your wonderful flowers.

I'm suffering but I've got to figure out what to do with these extra shots. I quickly coming to the conclusion that I'm suppose to give them to my customers

Thanks for the idea.

Why not get together with your favorite local charity and arrange a print sale to benefit the charity? They will have a ready customer base (their supporters) and a way of contacting them or getting them together in one place for an "art fair".

I would use the already framed prints for display, and sell mainly unframed prints (to keep the price reasonable while allowing a worthwhile contribution to the charity). I would also stick a fair price on the framed prints - you might be surprised how well they sell, and their price will make the unframed prints look like a good deal.

The charity might be able to arrange for local companies to donate a location for the fair and donate wine and snacks or finger food. I'm sure the fundraiser at the charity could come up with a lot of ideas.

Be sure to sign your prints, put them in nice plastic bags for protection and "talk them up" as art - don't mention inkjet prints, cheap to make, blah blah blah.

regards, Ken

Careful, you might have the World Trade Organization on your back!

--
regards, Ken

If you don't want to sell the images as largish prints and don't want them to be put into a gallery then you have wasted money on an A3 printer.

I use my Epson 890 (A4 printer) for the following:-

(1) to make 6x4 photo address labels
(2) to send out A5 mailers to art directors

(3) to send A4 size prints of scanned photos to editors abroad so that I don't have to send out original slides. If they then want them then they are responsible for them or if they are really precious I get them drum scanned.
I don't have a digital camera yet - just an Epson 2450 flat bed scanner.

(4) From time to time I send out A4 mailers to non professional buyers. Art Directors bin A4 size prints because they don't have the space.

(5) I used to make A4 prints for myself or my mum - but I just used to put them in A4 cardboard boxes. It helps that I am very short sighted so I bring the images very close to my eyes.

You either have to be more commercial with your printer and contact local firms or art galleries etc or sell it and get the smaller one.

Whenever I simply have to make an expensive purchase then I always go away and think about it for a few weeks. It doesn't prevent me from making mistakes all the time but it has helped a bit, and digital gear rarely gets more expensive in the meantime.
Regards
Jerome Y
http://www.jy-photo.co.uk

is just about ego.

i don't get this response. (?) it sounds as if you think the "art" world exsits to support the artist's ego.

to show work is to share a vision, an understanding that one has come to through the practice of their art, or to make social statements about the times we live or the human condition. the only critque one gets from a gallery is whether what you have to say or the way you say it comes across in a clear or unqiue vision.

the proplem of "extra" images is the only downside i see to digtal photography, one needs to learn to edit their work as much as if not more so then print photographers past and present. if you have lots of images that aren't wroth frameing and showing then why print them. only because you can?

If it takes you several prints until you get "the" print, I'd like to make these suggestions:

1) Most image adjustment (cropping, color and tone adjustments, creative changes, etc) should be made in the computer before you print.

2) If the trial prints are not what you want in the way of color rendition, you may need to profile your printer and monitor. Also, you can save gobs of money by using one 8x10 page and place a small test of the problematic portion of your image on the page, say the upper left corner. Print it out and adjust your image. Print the next trial in the upper center. Continue like this until you get it right, and all you have used is on 8x10 paper and one sheet worth of ink.

3) If the differences in your test prints are so small that only you notice them, you have to train yourself to stop when they are "good enough,"
or else you will drive yourself nuts! And penniless!

4) Make use of a program like Photoshop (Elements, if not the full PS) that gives you the ability to use a program called "Test Strip," thatlets you print out a page with multiple variations of color and brightness so that you can see which variation works best.

Good luck!

Thomas Gardner said:

David Hickey said:

I just got my Canon S9000 this past week and am faced with the same
dilema as you are.

Click to expand...

Is that some printer!!!!!?????

Thomas Gardner said:

I have started mounting my photos on foamboard. Foamboard is fairly
cheap, approx. $2.50 per 8 1/2 x 11. The local Aaron Brothers
charges $.25 to cut it to finished size. Now my "stunning images"
can be mounted on the wall for less than $3, even cheaper for
smaller prints. Mount the pictures on the wall with velcro and it's
easy to change them out whenever you get a new "stunning image".

Click to expand...

The quality that came out of the S9000 was so high that I wanted
more than gallery quality presentation but I can see that idea will
become more expensive than my wallet can afford

The art store sales personel suggested mounting on 1/8" foamboard
as you suggested.

What I'm trying to find out is how you get rid of all the excess
prints you make. To get one print, you might make two, three or
four prints until you get exactly what you're wanting. The other
prints are excellent prints and to the uninformed, there's nothing
wrong with them but they're not what you want. Now you have these
exellent images and nowhere to go. What do you do with all these
excess prints?

Thomas Gardner said:

No need to spend $50 on frames! Frames are nice for some pictures
but I like my images to stand on their own, too. Foamboard
presentions can look incredible.

I need to get some 13" x 19" Canon Photo Paper. Where did you find
that? I've looked everywhere!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Walter K

Seriously, I'm not talking about fine corinthian leather binding here. I'm in the process of scanning several hundred pictures that were made by my GGG Uncle over a hundred years ago. The paper of the originals is quickly deteriorating and I don't want them to be lost forever. I decided the best way to display these was to group them by subject matter and bind them into books.

I found a beautiful 43#, coated 2 sides, matte paper at Red River Papers. The weight feels right when turning the pages. I only print on one side, but using C2S paper keeps the pages consistent looking. Once you've gathered together a selection of prints and decided on the order, you could go back and print some text on the left hand facing page if you wanted. Fifty pages is about 1/2" thick and seemed about right. I took the pages to my local Office Max store, and for less than 3$ they applied a tape binding along with a front and back cover. Coated photo paper doesn't stand up well to abuse. The coating scratches off.

To my way of thinking, this is a much better way to enjoy these prints than putting them in a portfolio. Few would stand up to framing and wall mounting, but in the aggregrate they tell a worthwhile story.

PLUS, it's an entirely different type of product that you can distribute to your frinds. There's no additional expense for them, and they don't have to find wall space to display them.

Some would argue, why not just put them in a photo album. I've done that, but quality albums are EXPENSIVE. And, they look like albums. This looks much nicer to my way of thinking, and takes up a lot less space than an album.

This has gotten a longer than I thought it would, but I hope it helps.

Charlie

Thomas Gardner said:

It seems that your suggestion might be the best (sigh) solution. I
enjoy heck out of printing the images from a day of shooting, I got
six or eight images worth printing out, from three different
locations today. I ended up with several reprints or extra copies.

I'm in a fortunate position that I'm able to drag my camera with me
through out my work day and twice I found myself up against
hillsides with wildflowers growing on them. Each of the locations
were in different parts of the valley, twenty miles apart as well
as an arbor shot of a townhouse walkway that I've been eyeing for
some time.

The problem, because of the type of work I do, photographic
opportunities abound on a daily basis and I'm doing the best I can
to take advantage of all the varied scenery that I'm exposed to.

Backyards, houses, streets, cities, mountains, vistas, I see it all
and I do it on a daily basis So, I end up doing a whole heck of
a lot of printing as I love to show the flower shots to all my
customers. It's quite a hoot sitting in the backyard of a
customer's house, surrounded by their flowers, sharing flower
photos and being paid to be there Oh and if you don't mind,
while I'm here, I'd love to take a few images of your wonderful
flowers.

I'm suffering but I've got to figure out what to do with these
extra shots. I quickly coming to the conclusion that I'm suppose
to give them to my customers

Thanks for the idea.

Click to expand...

Thomas Gardner said:

Alex Goldberg said:

I wonder, too. I have some given away but they're anything but free
;-(

Click to expand...

I gave up on the cost perameter but I end up with all these extra
images that to the uninitiated are excellent prints. It seems a
shame to trash the images if people are able to get joy and
happiness from the free images.

Click to expand...

I certainly agree. Why not to please people by giving away?

Thomas Gardner said:

All they have to do is put them in an inexpensive frame and they'll
have some original art work.

I guess I'll just have to get use to trashing extra images.

Click to expand...

Mine are everywhere in my house ;-) My 4yo daughter casually plays with what I've been considering an artwork a month ago ;-) But then again, I'm just learning.

Thomas Gardner said:

As I write, I've made an extra print because I changed the gamma of
the first image to make a better exposed image. Now I have this
excellent image of a flower with a VERY tiny red spider in the
flute of the flower. It's an extraordinary image as very few
people have every seen this small of a spider in the flute of a
wildflower but it's a slightly underexposed, sharp image made with
an uncalibrated printer/monitor combination. Calibration will come
in about six months when the bug season is over. The point, I
don't want to have to trash this image but I can only foist so many
extra images off on the neighbors, family and friends

Click to expand...

Yesterday my 1280 ran out of yellow ink. It took me 3 prints (5x7") to understand what went wrong. I used to ignore that low ink warning ;-)
I'm waiting for Epson 2200. At least I will save on the ink a little ;-)

Thomas Gardner said:

What do you do with your extra images?

Click to expand...

Give away, stock, even throw away.

When you get a dozen of them, turn them into a calendar. Then give them away as Christmas presents.

And think of all those additional pages of the days of the month you can create and print as well.

pigasus

w. said:

is just about ego.

i don't get this response. (?) it sounds as if you think the
"art" world exsits to support the artist's ego.

Click to expand...

I haven't given any thought as to why the art would exists, I'll leave that for others to ponder.

wmcdowell said:

to show work is to share a vision, an understanding that one has
come to through the practice of their art, or to make social
statements about the times we live or the human condition. the
only critque one gets from a gallery is whether what you have to
say or the way you say it comes across in a clear or unqiue vision.

Click to expand...

I show my work to the folks I provide service for and it adds a very personal touch to my services Vs "I'm here to kill your bugs, where are those little varmits."

Yesterday I walked through the hillside with a customer who showed me the hillside across from his townhouse and last evening I sat down in a customers garden that she had been weeding all day and showed her the wildflower images I had captured over the last month. In the middle of the day, I took a few images of a townhouse walkway that was made up of arches filled with roses and a fountain at one end of the walkway. The sidelighting was stellar as it defined each individual arch of the roses.

The question is a sincere question, not a question of vanity or ego. I might make several extra prints as I change the gamma or the curve to suit my tastes yet the first images are quite nice for anybody else to see and use.

wmcdowell said:

The proplem of "extra" images is the only downside i see to digtal
photography, one needs to learn to edit their work as much as if
not more so then print photographers past and present. if you have
lots of images that aren't wroth frameing and showing then why
print them. only because you can?

Click to expand...

The prints are worth framing. I happen to be fortunate that I'm exposed daily to many photographic opportunities I'm able to capitalize on.

I was simply asking people what do they do with their extra prints and it seems that I can't get one person to answer this very simple and innocent question.

WalterK said:

1) Most image adjustment (cropping, color and tone adjustments,
creative changes, etc) should be made in the computer before you
print.

Click to expand...

I agree with you above.

WalterK said:

2) If the trial prints are not what you want in the way of color
rendition, you may need to profile your printer and monitor. Also,
you can save gobs of money by using one 8x10 page and place a
small test of the problematic portion of your image on the page,
say the upper left corner. Print it out and adjust your image.
Print the next trial in the upper center. Continue like this until
you get it right, and all you have used is on 8x10 paper and one
sheet worth of ink.

Click to expand...

This fall when I have the time, I'll get some profiling software and a densitometer to attach to the monitor and get the printer and monitor output to match.

WalterK said:

3) If the differences in your test prints are so small that only
you notice them, you have to train yourself to stop when they are
"good enough,"
or else you will drive yourself nuts! And penniless!

Click to expand...

Well the nuts part you're too late on and because I work, literally, seven days a week, the penniless part will take a bit longer

WalterK said:

4) Make use of a program like Photoshop (Elements, if not the full
PS) that gives you the ability to use a program called "Test
Strip," thatlets you print out a page with multiple variations of
color and brightness so that you can see which variation works best.

Click to expand...

What do you do with your extra prints?

Ken Thomson said:

Why not get together with your favorite local charity and arrange a
print sale to benefit the charity? They will have a ready customer
base (their supporters) and a way of contacting them or getting
them together in one place for an "art fair".

I would use the already framed prints for display, and sell mainly
unframed prints (to keep the price reasonable while allowing a
worthwhile contribution to the charity). I would also stick a fair
price on the framed prints - you might be surprised how well they
sell, and their price will make the unframed prints look like a
good deal.

The charity might be able to arrange for local companies to donate
a location for the fair and donate wine and snacks or finger food.
I'm sure the fundraiser at the charity could come up with a lot of
ideas.

Be sure to sign your prints, put them in nice plastic bags for
protection and "talk them up" as art - don't mention inkjet prints,
cheap to make, blah blah blah.

regards, Ken

Click to expand...

That's a wonderful idea Ken. Thanks!

Pigasus said:

When you get a dozen of them, turn them into a calendar. Then give
them away as Christmas presents.

And think of all those additional pages of the days of the month
you can create and print as well.

pigasus

Click to expand...

That's a nice suggestion Pigasus.

What do you do with your extra prints?

The prints I don't use find their way into a drawer. After a while there, they wander into the trash. When all I shot was 35mm, I put almost everything in photo albums that now sit on the shelf waiting for the days I'm looking for something else. I then spend an hour looking at the albums and forgetting what I was looking for.

Have you thought about putting some on eBay? An inexpensive frame and such might pay for more ink and such.

Ken

Thomas Gardner said:

Alex Goldberg said:

I wonder, too. I have some given away but they're anything but free
;-(

Click to expand...

I gave up on the cost perameter but I end up with all these extra
images that to the uninitiated are excellent prints. It seems a
shame to trash the images if people are able to get joy and
happiness from the free images.

All they have to do is put them in an inexpensive frame and they'll
have some original art work.

I guess I'll just have to get use to trashing extra images.

As I write, I've made an extra print because I changed the gamma of
the first image to make a better exposed image. Now I have this
excellent image of a flower with a VERY tiny red spider in the
flute of the flower. It's an extraordinary image as very few
people have every seen this small of a spider in the flute of a
wildflower but it's a slightly underexposed, sharp image made with
an uncalibrated printer/monitor combination. Calibration will come
in about six months when the bug season is over. The point, I
don't want to have to trash this image but I can only foist so many
extra images off on the neighbors, family and friends

What do you do with your extra images?

Click to expand...

Thomas,

I don't have a "photo" printer but I do send out to WalMart on occassion picts for larger size. What I do is "crop" the areas I'm concerned about to 4 x 6 and send in the different versions of the crop with the identification of whats what somewhere on the print. With your own printer, per Walter print out the sections and save some printing in the future.

For the extras you have today, I could use some nice prints of wildflowers and arches!

Contact me at my e-mail and maybe we can work something out. Hint I'll be your long distance friend!

Have a nice day!

Dan

Ken95357 said:

The prints I don't use find their way into a drawer. After a while
there, they wander into the trash. When all I shot was 35mm, I put
almost everything in photo albums that now sit on the shelf waiting
for the days I'm looking for something else. I then spend an hour
looking at the albums and forgetting what I was looking for.

Have you thought about putting some on eBay? An inexpensive frame
and such might pay for more ink and such.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the thoughtful suggestion.

I think what I'm going to do is carry my photo albums with me for sharing and when I'm done sharing pull out a photo portfolio of my extra prints and ask the person I showed the image collection to if they would like one of the prints.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Thomas Gardner said:

What do I do with all these images???????????????

Click to expand...

Thomas,

For what ever it might be worth, I faced the same problem and here is my solution. I went to a professional frame shop and had them construct two frames for me. One frame would hold 16x20 images and the other 20x30 images. The frames are constructed so that the matt is a neutral color with a thin gold rim. The frames are of a fairly dark oak wood. The frame design and wood was picked to house, but not detract from the images. The special thing about these frames is that I can drop a picture into the frame just like dropping a letter into a mail slot. The picture hangs on my wall for a day, a few days, a week - however long I want to look at it and then it goes into the filing cabinet and I drop another picture into the frame. Thus, I've paid for two rather special frames and I have hung these frames in a place where they will be seen. I can display all my pictures ( two at a time ) and I do not have to have more frames made or hidden away.
Well, that's my attempt at an answer to your very interesting question.

I deposit them in places I will probablyl never be able to find them. If my wife comes across them she just wastes them (without me knowing)!

Thomas Gardner said:

w. said:

is just about ego.

i don't get this response. (?) it sounds as if you think the
"art" world exsits to support the artist's ego.

Click to expand...

I haven't given any thought as to why the art would exists, I'll
leave that for others to ponder.

Thomas Gardner said:

to show work is to share a vision, an understanding that one has
come to through the practice of their art, or to make social
statements about the times we live or the human condition. the
only critque one gets from a gallery is whether what you have to
say or the way you say it comes across in a clear or unqiue vision.

Click to expand...

I show my work to the folks I provide service for and it adds a
very personal touch to my services Vs "I'm here to kill your bugs,
where are those little varmits."

Yesterday I walked through the hillside with a customer who showed
me the hillside across from his townhouse and last evening I sat
down in a customers garden that she had been weeding all day and
showed her the wildflower images I had captured over the last
month. In the middle of the day, I took a few images of a
townhouse walkway that was made up of arches filled with roses and
a fountain at one end of the walkway. The sidelighting was stellar
as it defined each individual arch of the roses.

The question is a sincere question, not a question of vanity or
ego. I might make several extra prints as I change the gamma or
the curve to suit my tastes yet the first images are quite nice for
anybody else to see and use.

Thomas Gardner said:

The proplem of "extra" images is the only downside i see to digtal
photography, one needs to learn to edit their work as much as if
not more so then print photographers past and present. if you have
lots of images that aren't wroth frameing and showing then why
print them. only because you can?

Click to expand...

The prints are worth framing. I happen to be fortunate that I'm
exposed daily to many photographic opportunities I'm able to
capitalize on.

I was simply asking people what do they do with their extra prints
and it seems that I can't get one person to answer this very simple
and innocent question.

Click to expand...

--
Constantin

Thomas Gardner said:

I haven't given any thought as to why the art would exists, I'll
leave that for others to ponder.

Click to expand...

Art is creation. Great artists of all times thought of themselves as some kind of GOD. And they were, indeed. They created something that didn't exixt before. If you can do the same with your camera than that's art.

--
Constantin

Constantin said:

Art is creation. Great artists of all times thought of themselves
as some kind of GOD. And they were, indeed. They created something
that didn't exixt before. If you can do the same with your camera
than that's art.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the thumbnail explaination. If it's accurate then, it looks like the "great artists" were an arrogant egotistical lot if they thought of themselves as "some kind of GOD".

Me, I just capture the image and create the extraordinary where there's the everyday mundane. Or I try and capture the extraordinary so it can be shared with others at a later time and place.

If the image brings joy and happiness to the eyes of the viewers because it speaks to their soul, then the image is a successful image. If the person is in it for recognition, well I won't go there as that's not my purpose or intended place. I'm simply trying to find out what others do with their extra prints such as you allowing your wife to do what you can't rightfully bring yourself to do

Thanks for the thoughts.