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Importance of Proofing Prints

Lesson 105 from: Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Brooke Shaden

Importance of Proofing Prints

Lesson 105 from: Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Brooke Shaden

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Lesson Info

105. Importance of Proofing Prints

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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

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Guided Daydream & Writing Exercises Workbook (Lessons 1-11)

Creating an Original Narrative Workbook (Lessons 12-18)

Finding Your Target Audience Workbook (Lessons 19-27)

Planning Your Series Workbook (Lessons 28-34)

Set Design Workbook (Lessons 35-41)

Compositing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 42-49)

Editing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 50-55)

Location Scouting Workbook (Lessons 56-60)

Stock Image Downloads for Practice (Lessons 61-72)

Organizing Your Portfolio Workbook (Lessons 77-81)

Pricing & Editioning Your Work Workbook (Lessons 82-89)

Writing Contracts & Licensing Images Workbook (Lessons 90-98)

Gallery Best Practices (Lessons 99-106)

Pitch Package Workbook (Lessons 107-111)

Writing Your Brand Workbook (Lessons 112-117)

Marketing Workbook (Lessons 118-122)

Social Media Workbook (Lessons 123-127)

Printing Methods Checklist (Lessons 128-133)

Self Critique Workbook (Lessons 134-137)

Bonus Materials Guide

Syllabus

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Brooke Shaden

Brooke explores the darkness and light in people, and her work looks at that juxtaposition. As a self-portrait artist, she photographs herself and becomes the characters of dreams inspired by a childhood of intense imagination and fear.

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Fine Art Digital Photography

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.

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.

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.

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Importance of Proofing Prints

Importance of Proofing Prints

Lesson Info

105. Importance of Proofing Prints

Lessons

Class Introduction

Storytelling & Ideas

Universal Symbols in Stories

Create Interactive Characters

The Story is in The Details

Giving Your Audience Feelings

Guided Daydream Exercise

Elements of Imagery

The Death Scenario

Associations with Objects

Three Writing Exercises

Connection Through Art

Break Through Imposter Syndrome

Layering Inspiration

Creating an Original Narrative

Analyze an Image

Translate Emotion into Images

Finding Parts in Images

Finding Your Target Audience

Where Do You Want Your Images to Live?

Create a Series That Targets Your Audience

Formatting Your Work

Additional Materials to Attract Clients

Which Social Media Platforms Will be Useful?

How to Make Money from Your Target Audience

Circle of Focus

The Pillars of Branding

Planning Your Photoshoot

Choose Every Element for The Series

Write a Descriptive Paragraph

Sketch Your Ideas

Choose Your Gear

How to Utilize Costumes, Props & Locations

What Tells a Story in a Series?

Set Design Overview

Color Theory

Lighting for the Scene

Props, Wardrobe & Time Period for Set Design

Locations

Subject Within the Scene

Set Design Arrangement

Fine Art Compositing

Plan The Composite Before Shooting

Checklist for Composite Shooting

Analyze Composite Mistakes

Shoot: Black Backdrop for White Clothing

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Color Clothing

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories

Shoot: Miniature Scene

Editing Workflow Overview

Add Fabric to Make a Big Dress

Edit Details of Images

Add Smoke & Texture

Blend Multiple Images Into One Composite

Put Subject Into a Miniature Scenario

Location Scouting & Test Photoshoot

Self Portrait Test Shoots

Shoot for Edit

Shoot Extra Stock Images

Practice the Shoot

Introduction to Shooting Photo Series

Shoot: Vine Image

Shoot: Sand Image

Shoot: End Table Image

Shoot: Bed Image

Shoot: Wall Paper Image

Shoot: Chair Image

Shoot: Mirror Image

Shoot: Moss Image

Shoot: Tree Image

Shoot: Fish Tank Image

Shoot: Feather Image

View Photo Series for Cohesion & Advanced Compositing

Edit Multiple Images to Show Cohesion