The Art of Printing Your Art

In this first lesson of The Art of Printing Your Art, we slow down and ask a simple question: why bother printing at all? Instead of letting your images vanish into hard drives and phone screens, we look at how holding a real print changes the way you see, judge, and grow your work as a photographer. From there, we walk through what you actually need to get started—an appropriate photo printer, sensible paper choices, and (non-negotiable!) a properly calibrated and profiled monitor—without drowning you in engineering jargon. 

You’ll also get a friendly introduction to the “invisible” technical stuff that quietly makes or breaks a great print: dynamic range, how camera sensors and paper are more limited than your eyes, why colour is more about your eye–brain system than reality, and what a “colour space” really is (think: how big your crayon box is). We connect these ideas to practical decisions: shooting RAW vs JPEG, choosing bit depth and file types, and understanding why overexposure is the cardinal sin for printable files.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll understand why prints matter, what basic tools and settings you need in place, and how all the decisions you make before you hit the Print button set you up for success. You’ll be ready to move forward with a solid foundation—confident that you’re building prints on both strong artistic intent and sound technical craft.

In this third lesson of The Art of Printing Your Art, we move from “why print” and “how to manage colour” into the nuts and bolts of getting a crisp, clean file that’s sized perfectly for the print you have in mind. We unpack what sharpening actually does (and what it absolutely can’t do), why every digital image needs sharpening, and how a smart, multi-stage approach—capture sharpening, optional creative sharpening, and final output sharpening—gives you consistently better results than any one-size-fits-all preset. You’ll also see how different kinds of images (fine-detail landscapes, portraits, and the “everything else” in between) call for different sharpening strategies, especially in Lightroom’s Detail panel.

From there, we bring noise reduction and sizing into the picture. You’ll learn how sharpening and noise reduction pull in opposite directions, how to use Lightroom/Camera Raw’s controls without turning your files into plastic mush, and when AI-based denoising makes sense. Then we tackle sizing for output: how many pixels you really need for different print sizes, what “ppi” means in practice, and how to let Lightroom (or Photoshop, if you prefer) resample your files intelligently for Epson or Canon printers—right down to when 720/600 ppi “finest detail” modes are worth using.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:

• Choose appropriate capture sharpening settings for different image types

• Use simple presets to apply consistent sharpening and noise reduction

• Decide how far you can safely upsize a file for a given print size

• Set the correct output size and ppi for your target printer and paper

• Apply output sharpening tailored to the image and the printing medium

In short, you’ll move from “I hope this prints sharp enough” to confidently preparing files that hold up beautifully on paper, even at larger sizes.

In this final lesson of The Art of Printing Your Art, we bring everything together with one of the most powerful—and most misunderstood—steps in the printing workflow: soft proofing. You’ll learn how to use soft proofing in Photoshop and Lightroom to preview how your image will really look on a specific printer and paper combination, before you spend time, ink, and expensive fine-art paper. We’ll talk about why your printer can’t reproduce everything you see on your monitor, how “Simulate Paper & Ink” works (a.k.a. the “Make-My-Image-Look-Terrible” button), and how to make smart, subtle adjustments so your proofed file matches your carefully edited master as closely as the medium allows.

From there, we zoom out and walk through a clear, repeatable printing workflow in both Photoshop and Lightroom—from RAW file to finished print. You’ll see how consistent habits (like always printing from a controlled environment, using the right profiles, and saving soft-proofed versions or Saved Prints) help you avoid classic mistakes such as double-profiling or forgetting key print settings. We’ll also touch on realistic expectations for screen-to-print match, practical lighting for judging prints at home, and why consistency in your workspace matters just as much as consistency in your workflow.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:

• Use soft proofing in Photoshop and Lightroom to predict how your image will print on a chosen paper/printer

• Create and refine proof copies with targeted contrast and saturation tweaks for specific papers

• Set up a practical print-viewing environment so you can judge colour and tone accurately

• Build and follow a step-by-step workflow for printing from both Photoshop and Lightroom

• Save reusable print setups (e.g., Saved Prints in Lightroom) so you can easily reprint your favourite images with consistent results

It’s a fitting conclusion to the course: moving from “hoping it prints well” to having a reliable, intentional process for crafting prints you’ll be proud to hold in your hands.