Lessons
Class Introduction
03:26 2Advantages & Pitfalls of Printing
17:41 3Demystifying Color Management
14:12 4Understanding Bit Depth
13:59 5Best Color Space to Work In
21:33 6Importance of Image Capture
24:59 7Live Shoot: Natural Light
12:31 8Live Shoot: Studio Lights
21:21Why Calibrate Your Monitor?
15:30 10Choosing the Right Monitor
12:56 11Calibrating a Monitor
05:06 12Color Management Policies in Lightroom
13:04 13Color Management Policies in Photoshop
02:13 14Color Management Policies in Camera RAW
06:47 15Luminosity Masks in Photoshop with the Print in Mind
25:09 16Shape the Image in Photoshop with the Print in Mind
17:47 17Edit Skin in Photoshop with the Print in Mind
25:02 18Black & White Conversions in Photoshop
23:28 19Retouch Skin in Photoshop to Optimize the Print
28:16 20Dodging & Burning in Photoshop for Black & White Images
11:40 21Split Tone Color in Photoshop for Black & White Images
05:38 22Gradient Maps in Photoshop for Black & White Images
07:35 23Choose the Right Paper
23:45 24Mechanics of Printing
05:12 25Choose the Right Printer
09:49 26Live Demo: Create Custom Paper Profile
31:16 27Scale Images with the Print in Mind
09:11 28Sharpening Workflows in Photoshop
31:10 29Soft Proofing an Image in Photoshop
22:22 30Print Through Lightroom
08:25 31The Importance of a Print
10:54 32GraphiStudio Albums and Prints
08:00 33Best Practices for Printing
12:24 34Power of the Print: Student Engagement
12:21Lesson Info
Calibrating a Monitor
Okay now let's look at monitor calibration and let's look at this ISO standard that we talked about earlier - let's have a look at that. So ISO 3664 standard calibration and what is it? Okay, basically says that your the brightness of your monitor, or if you like your gamma okay? Is... Sorry not your gamma - your brightness on your monitor is set to 120 candela per meter squared. Okay, these are the parameters that we'll put into the software in a minute as we calibrate the monitor okay? The white point is set at D65 okay? Or you know 6500 kelvin okay? And the gamma sits at 2.2 or Native. Now with these type of monitors, okay, the ISO's, what I can do is drop that white that minimum luminesce right down to 80 candela per meter squared because you know usually you've got average lighting of say around 400 lux reflecting off white paper, which visually approximate, calibrated, you're looking at a level of 80 candela. Okay so, I wouldn't recommend you go down to 80 candela on something li...
ke an Apple or a glossy screen because of the contrast that they give you - you will see no shadow detail whatsoever. You know the high-end monitors will be able to do that. Otherwise, 120 to 100 candela. Remember that if your screen is too bright, your prints will be too dark okay? And if your screen is too dark, your prints will be too light. So try and go to a low luminesce level on something like a glossy screen, like an Apple screen. What happens is you'll think you'll have no shadow detail so you start to increase the brightness. By the time you print it, it's gonna look overly bright okay? So it is a balance of what you, what you set your points to. As far as monitor calibration there's a few things on the market. One is the ColorMunki Photo which does not only screens but you can also write paper profiles with which we're gonna do that tomorrow with the ColorMunki Photo. But the simplest one is the ColorMunki Display which is this one here, which is just a nice little one that I travel with just to keep my Macbook Pro here in check okay, which is very very important. Okay so what we'll do now we'll do a live monitor calibration first using this device which is the ColorMunki Display, and then we'll do a hardware calibration on the ISO using the built-in software that's already in there. So, let's move a few things around and we'll get started. Okay so now we'll place the device onto the screen like so, making sure that we have a nice, beautiful contact around the sides and we don't have any lights spilling in. So the screen has to be tilted far enough so that we're not getting light spillage through. And then very simply we hit next and we let we let the software do its thing. Okay so it's gonna do a couple of measurements. Okay so now it's measuring colors, all the different colors. We've measured the brightness and we set that based upon the parameters that we set in the software, and now it's going through all the colors and setting the profile with the right color. Okay so once the calibrator is finished we just remove it off the screen, and over here up on top we're gonna give it a significant name. Okay so, you know it comes up with this number which is kind of a little bit long, so what we do is you know, we would take that out and put it to today's date so that we know that that was the last time we calibrated, and we hit Save, and automatically the software will install the profile exactly where it needs to go. Profile complete. Then it asks you here, "Remind me to re-profile this by every week, every two weeks." Usually every two weeks is a safe bet; that's what I would recommend. And then we hit next, and we can do a before and after comparison. Before which is we're getting this blueish tinge, and then after, the properly calibrated monitor. And of course we can test it only with a bride but we can look at black and white flowers. So before, after, and a colorful image - before, after - and we can just see how the calibration has worked to create the profile that's going to manage color on our screen.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Roberto Valenzuela
I honestly consider many courses to be great, but optional. However, this course by Rocco Ancora is a MUST! It helps the photographer complete the circle of being a photographic artist. Our job doesn't end at the edit, it ends with the print. When your clients can hold and enjoy your creative vision physically, that is when the magic of being a photographer happens. I have been so fortunate to travel the world teaching and meeting some of the best photographers in the world. That being said, I can say with confidence that nobody can teach this combination of Photoshop retouching / fine-art printing better than Rocco Ancora. I believe in this class so much, I traveled to Seattle to attend this course to be part of the live studio audience. I have never done that before. But that's how important I consider this material to be. I am so happy I took the time to go and learn from the man himself. Now, I will get this course to watch it, dissect it, study it, and practice it. Very excited to see how the knowledge in this course will propel my career further. --Roberto Valenzuela
a Creativelive Student
I was fortunate enough to attend this class in person and got to experience Rocco's prints in person. The quality is absolutely breathtaking and a game changer, Learning these skills will really help my business in a number of ways. In the past, I have had a difficult time convincing clients to purchase typical lab prints through my studio, as opposed to buying them through Walmart or Costco where the quality was "close enough." Rocco's method that he shared in this class creates three dimensional images of unmatched quality and images that just jump off the page. The knowledge from this course will empower me to help run a sustainable business and thrive as a photographer. You would be foolish to not learn these methods and incorporate them into your business. Highly Recommend!!
April S.
I have invested time into learning Lightroom and Photoshop, my own gear, and my particular photographic style, but the one thing I am really lacking is a solid understanding about preparing an image for print, and the various print options (e.g., paper types). When I saw this course come up on the CL schedule it caught my eye immediately so I RSVP'd for the live broadcast. I was at work when it started and couldn't watch at that time. I do listen in from work sometimes, but after 2 minutes of listening to this course I realized it was one I really needed to watch closely and focus on. So, I stopped the stream after a couple minutes and bought the course. I have never done that before. I always wait and watch as much as I can in the initial broadcast (or rebroadcast) to decide if a course is one that I really should spend for. I knew right away though that Rocco was presenting the very information I was lacking and needed, and I wanted it! In addition, it was clear to me after looking him up online that he's a consummate professional with lots of experience and his delivery style even in just the couple of minutes that I listened reflected that. I already have X-rite ColorMunki Display and Colorchecker, a good monitor, and I have a photo printer (Canon Pixma Pro-100) but I'm lacking that technical understanding of color and know I'm not using my resources to their fullest. I use my Canon Pixma to test-print images before uploading to the print service I use. My method isn't ideal since the service uses different printers and ink, and paper depending on what I choose, but at least I have a much better idea of what my image file will give me in print form. After Rocco's course I believe I will be much better equipped to prepare my images and choose the options best suited to each image. I'll still test print if only because it's fun to see something on paper, but I expect the results I get from the print service to be much better once I really know how to put this knowledge to work for me.
Student Work
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