Importance of Proofing Prints
Brooke Shaden
Lesson Info
105. Importance of Proofing Prints
Lessons
Class Introduction
19:06 2Storytelling & Ideas
27:34 3Universal Symbols in Stories
03:19 4Create Interactive Characters
02:16 5The Story is in The Details
04:13 6Giving Your Audience Feelings
05:49 7Guided Daydream Exercise
04:20 8Elements of Imagery
02:19The Death Scenario
01:47 10Associations with Objects
03:01 11Three Writing Exercises
06:39 12Connection Through Art
30:35 13Break Through Imposter Syndrome
07:40 14Layering Inspiration
23:13 15Creating an Original Narrative
07:42 16Analyze an Image
04:12 17Translate Emotion into Images
04:31 18Finding Parts in Images
06:02 19Finding Your Target Audience
04:05 20Where Do You Want Your Images to Live?
12:01 21Create a Series That Targets Your Audience
32:43 22Formatting Your Work
06:08 23Additional Materials to Attract Clients
07:24 24Which Social Media Platforms Will be Useful?
04:17 25How to Make Money from Your Target Audience
11:27 26Circle of Focus
07:55 27The Pillars of Branding
06:18 28Planning Your Photoshoot
09:05 29Choose Every Element for The Series
07:38 30Write a Descriptive Paragraph
09:37 31Sketch Your Ideas
17:27 32Choose Your Gear
02:50 33How to Utilize Costumes, Props & Locations
26:18 34What Tells a Story in a Series?
13:06 35Set Design Overview
01:43 36Color Theory
19:50 37Lighting for the Scene
12:05 38Props, Wardrobe & Time Period for Set Design
06:00 39Locations
04:31 40Subject Within the Scene
07:26 41Set Design Arrangement
05:46 42Fine Art Compositing
03:46 43Plan The Composite Before Shooting
10:29 44Checklist for Composite Shooting
18:52 45Analyze Composite Mistakes
12:11 46Shoot: Black Backdrop for White Clothing
10:42 47Shoot: Black Backdrop for Color Clothing
08:36 48Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories
08:17 49Shoot: Miniature Scene
09:59 50Editing Workflow Overview
01:57 51Add Fabric to Make a Big Dress
08:35 52Edit Details of Images
08:09 53Add Smoke & Texture
10:47 54Blend Multiple Images Into One Composite
24:58 55Put Subject Into a Miniature Scenario
17:55 56Location Scouting & Test Photoshoot
22:10 57Self Portrait Test Shoots
22:30 58Shoot for Edit
04:21 59Shoot Extra Stock Images
10:01 60Practice the Shoot
25:07 61Introduction to Shooting Photo Series
03:33 62Shoot: Vine Image
10:40 63Shoot: Sand Image
09:50 64Shoot: End Table Image
04:59 65Shoot: Bed Image
06:18 66Shoot: Wall Paper Image
05:54 67Shoot: Chair Image
08:02 68Shoot: Mirror Image
06:57 69Shoot: Moss Image
05:48 70Shoot: Tree Image
07:33 71Shoot: Fish Tank Image
04:09 72Shoot: Feather Image
09:00 73View Photo Series for Cohesion & Advanced Compositing
07:35 74Edit Multiple Images to Show Cohesion
36:55 75Edit Images with Advanced Compositing
29:33 76Decide How to Start the Composite
09:35 77Organize Final Images
21:37 78Choosing Images for Your Portfolio
08:19 79Order the Images in Your Portfolio
16:28 80Why do Some Images Sell More Than Others?
16:03 81Analyze Student Portfolio Image Order
11:42 82Framing, Sizing, Editioning & Pricing
02:19 83Determine Sizes for Prints
16:44 84How to Choose Paper
13:56 85How to Choose Editions
07:18 86Pricing Strategies
18:59 87How to Present Your Images
13:26 88Example Pricing Exercise
09:39 89Print Examples
08:23 90Licensing, Commissions & Contracts
04:44 91How to Keep Licensing Organized
06:07 92How to Prepare Files for Licensing
07:28 93Pricing Your Licensed Images
12:33 94Contract Terms for Licensing
12:07 95Where to Sell Images
04:55 96Commission Pricing Structure
08:23 97Contract for Commissions
12:17 98Questions for a Commission Shoot
08:45 99Working with Galleries
08:58 100Benefits of Galleries
07:39 101Contracts for Galleries
10:32 102How to Find Galleries
05:22 103Choose Images to Show
08:53 104Hanging the Images
03:38 105Importance of Proofing Prints
08:04 106Interview with Soren Christensen Gallery
21:59 107Press Package Overview
04:35 108Artist Statement for Your Series
18:20 109Write Your 'About Me' Page
09:04 110Importance of Your Headshot
03:55 111Create a Leave Behind & Elevator Pitch
20:19 112Writing For Fine Art
04:44 113Define Your Writing Style
14:49 114Find Your Genre
06:41 115What Sets You Apart?
02:25 116Write to Different Audiences
05:10 117Write for Blogging
39:57 118Speak About Your Work
14:21 119Branding for Video
07:37 120Clearly Define Video Talking Points
14:27 121Types of Video Content
31:45 122Interview Practice
13:22 123Diversifying Social Media Content
22:32 124Create an Intentional Social Media Persona
24:48 125Monetize Your Social Media Presence
18:46 126Social Media Posting Plan
04:01 127Choose Networks to Use & Invest
02:57 128Presentation of Final Images
19:13 129Printing Your Series
09:16 130How to Work With a Print Lab
13:39 131Proofing Your Prints
10:11 132Bad Vs. Good Prints
03:32 133Find Confidence to Print
10:50 134Why Critique?
06:55 135Critiquing Your Own Portfolio
10:39 136Critique of Brooke's Series
16:18 137Critique of Student Series
40:07 138Yours is a Story Worth Telling
02:09Lesson Info
Importance of Proofing Prints
This is my worst nightmare of a story, that I thought I would share with you, which is slightly embarrassing. Proofing prints, it is the most important thing that you do in the process of getting your picture out there, getting it to a gallery and hanging it, if you don't proof your prints properly, first of all, you're not gonna look good for your gallery, they're gonna think that you've lost your mind, because this is your precious baby and you did not look at that work close enough. So, let me take you back to January 4th, 2017, when I did not proof my prints properly, I did not realize that, I thought I had done a great job, there was a lot of excitement, when I went to proof them, my friends were with me, we were all really just eager to see them really, really big in print and I thought everything was great, I signed them, which is a huge no no, if you're gonna sign that and number that and send it off, you had better make sure that that is a perfect print, I signed them, I numbe...
red them, I got them to the framer and then the day before my gallery show, I got a call saying, "We think there's a problem with your print," and I said, no, that's impossible, I proofed all my prints and I was very certain, that I had done this and then they said, "No, we're pretty sure "that this is a printing issue "and not, you know, a scratch or anything like that," and I again said, no, no, there's no way, just send me a picture and then that's the image that I got, which if you look closely enough at it, you will notice that we've got some issue with the printing here. Is that my fault that it happened? Yes, I know that my printer messed it up, that there, clearly there is an issue in the printing process, but who looks bad, my printer? No, I do, because I proofed that print incorrectly, so proofing prints is massively important, I had to print that image as fast as I could, I was freaked out, tears and everything, it was like a whole freak show event, I was flying to New York that day to go to this gallery opening, at which time I learned that also the model in this image was also flying to New York to see the show and I was facing two decisions, one, frantically get this new print in and frame it as fast as possible and hang it on that wall as fast as possible or take her print out of the show, that she had just flown 3000 miles to go see, so I frantically printed it and we got it there, thank goodness and they framed it, thank goodness and one hour before the show, we ran it in there and we hung it up on the wall and it worked out, but it very easily could have not worked out, so proof your prints everyone. (laughs) Here's what I do, I scan the digital file line-by-line, before I ever send it in to the printer, so I will go through my file, if I've got it up in Photoshop and I scroll to the very top at 100% and I go straight across using the... slider bars, what are they, scrolly bars (laughs) on the bottom and top, so that I don't miss anything, so I'll scroll right across, go down a little bit, scroll across again and check every line of my digital file, I then scan the print line-by-line, did I do that in this case? No, I did not, big, big regret, but I should, make sure that there's full ink coverage, so making sure that there aren't any little spots, that you think might just be like dust from the printer, it's very easy to have pieces of paper from your prints sort of like come off, like little pieces of dust in the printer, they sort of stick to the ink of your print, so you have to really check every single time you see a little, white fuzzy to make sure that it's not a gap in the ink and that it is something that will come off of your print and that happens a lot in the printing process. Compare color, so make sure that you are really, really certain that that print, that just came out of the printer looks the same as the other prints that have come out of that printer, that looks the same as the one that you have on your computer, making sure that it's perfect, tonality as well, lightness, darkness, mid tones, make sure everything works out and then make sure that whoever you're sending it to proofs that image as well and that was another mistake that I made, I had shipped these prints directly to the framer and this was the very last print, that they were framing and only then, right before the show did they realize that something was wrong, had I asked them to open up that box, when they got it, which was three weeks prior to that, I wouldn't have had to overnight rush ship and frame everything, I would have had three weeks to deal with this problem, so that was also my fault, not their fault, my fault. This is an example of my certificate of authenticity, so we talked about this a little bit and this is just really, really simply the piece of paper, that somebody would get if they bought a print, but wanted either more assurances, that it was mine, I would send this, of course, it would be signed and dated, the other reason is if you can't sign your print, you would send a certificate of authenticity, if your print was being framed in such a way, that it covered the signature, you would wanna send a certificate of authenticity and a lot of people do this for every print that they sell, just because they can and it's extra assurance for your person purchasing and it can't hurt, so this is just another example of that, different size, different edition, but everything stays the same from certificate of authenticity to the next, except for the edition, the size, the title and when it was created, but the medium isn't changing, the artist isn't changing, I simply change that little thumbnail and I send it off and I print these on the same paper, that I print my prints on, so I send these to my printer and he prints it on that beautiful paper and then it's just a little nice touch, instead of it being, for example laminated, which will take away the value of your certificate of authenticity, just doing it on the same paper is nice and simple and easy. So then finally the back room, which I love talking about, because galleries have this, I feel like it's a cute little secret, it's not really a secret at all, but they have exhibitions and then they'll take those works and they'll put them in their storage room, their back room and I am amazed at how many prints sell from the back room, from not being on display, but just imagine, we're gonna like role play, okay, so you're coming into my gallery and I'm showing you the exhibition and trying to sell you on whatever is on the walls or whatever it may be and maybe you're interested, maybe you're not and if I sense you're not, then maybe I'll say, well, we have a lot more works in the back room, if you wanna see and then I take you into the back room and you see kind of like the blankets covering the prints and things like that, that are protecting them, but it almost feels like an exclusive club, because you're being taken into the space, where they store the prints, you know, it's like a little bit more intimate and a lot of prints are sold from the back room, a lot of prints, at least a lot of my prints, so like I said, I'll have an exhibition running, I'll sell maybe one to four prints on average from that show, but then the whole rest of the year, I'm selling prints from that back room of the gallery, where my prints are housed, when they're not on display and this is my favorite thing about galleries is that you don't just have that exhibition, once you're represented, they really take care of you and sell your work all year long, they're looking out for people, who might express any interest in what you have to do and then they're showing your work to those people, because they think that what they have will sell, so I think the back room is a pretty interesting thing to sell from and as a tactic of sales, which I hate talking about, sales tactics and that's why we have galleries, isn't it, so then they can do that.
Class Materials
Ratings and Reviews
April S.
I tuned in for most of Brooke's lessons in this course and watched some of them more than once as they were rebroadcast. First I want to say that Brooke is a very good instructor. Her easy-going, friendly, down-to-earth, somewhat quirky manner cannot be mistaken for unprofessional. She is very prepared, she speaks well (not a bunch of hemming and hawing), she is thoughtful, she is thorough, she is very relatable and at ease, and she is definitely professional in her presentation. I really thought when I first tuned in that it would mostly be background noise while I was at work, sound to keep me company. Not because I didn't like Brooke but I really didn't think I was into fine art photography nor did I think I cared about the business side of things much. Not now anyhow. I was really wrong. Brooke sparked a deep interest in me to delve into fine art photography, to consider creating images for myself, from my imagination. In fact, I realized that this was something I'd been thinking about for a couple of years though I hadn't put a name to it (the idea of creating pre-conceived images based on my own creative goals). I gleaned many little treasures from her about image sizes, working with printers, different types of paper, selling, interacting with galleries, and so much more. I may not need all of what she taught right now because I'm definitely headed in another direction at the moment, but she planted ideas and information in my head that I know will be useful at some point. Things I may not have thought of on my own, but that seed is in my head now so when the time comes, I'll know. I'd really like to buy her course but at the moment, with the holidays right around the corner, it's not in my personal budget. I'm grateful to have caught the live and rebroadcast lessons though, and her course is on my list to own. I think it's a great reference to be consulted over and over again, not watched once and forgotten. Kudos Brooke for really putting together an excellent course.
Ron Landis
I'm retired now, but spent decades in the people and training business. Brooke is extraordinary! Even though this course is extremely well organized and she's left nothing unattended, she moves through it with friendly conversational manners and without a sense of it being stilted. It's as though we are all her friends, not students, as she shares her heart and passion with us. What a joy it is to listen to her. And what a clear, unambiguous command of her subject. Wow! She explains it with such ease using explanations and techniques that won't overwhelm artists just starting their portfolio or the Photoshop-squeamish among us; but despite its simplicity her resulting art is breathtaking and beyond original. I wish more of my professors at school were as engaging. This was by far my best buy at Creative Live yet.
Angel Ricci
When the title says comprehensive, it means comprehensive! I loved every part of this course. It's inspirational, motivating, and insightful towards creating art work. Even if you are not necessarily considering a fine art specialty, the concepts discussed in this course are applicable to many areas! I find this super useful as a videographer and photographer and look to apply all of these exercises and concepts for my personal and business work moving forward. It is lengthy, but you will not regret a single minute. Brooke Shaden is an amazing artist and educator. I recommend keeping up with her work, presentations, and any future courses that may come in the future.