The continued efforts of NVACC judges to re-evaluate themselves so to provide the best possible judging produces quite considerable exchange about photography, both as art and as craft. This is a note from Charles Neenan which is part of that exchange of ideas.
Over the past three to four years I have been preaching the necessity for top quality printing until I finally got tired of doing so. Fotogs constantly come up to me and ask how they can get better prints and "how did you [insert positive comment here]". I would take the time to discuss paper quality, inking importance, and color gamut changes...BUT TO NO AVAIL. When I mention the variables, they oftentimes walk away in a daze - or offer up some lame defense of their printing technique - and their reluctance to change it!
So...I GOT TIRED OF trying to get the word out. Now, I just make some innocuous comment and keep on getting it! Most fotogs will not spend the time or money necessary to get quality paper and printers. A 6-year old Epson is just fine, thank you very much! "It worked for me then, and it will work for me now!" They equate printer longevity with camera longevity - and this is not a good thing to do. Current-vintage printers are several orders of magnitude superior to their predecessors; this is not necessarily the case with DSLRs (for amateur fotog use).
As to HDR, I do not like it at all for nature prints. The colors are not natural in relation to each other - the printer's ability to successfully reproduce only part of the color gamut is a major culprit. Any more, when I see unnatural colors, I think HDR. If the fotog did not use that technique, it's a slam on their printing. If they did use it - it's a slam on their image! HDR for abstracts and micros is something that I am working with, now. These genres may be ideal for HDR.
When I print, I use Hahnemuhle papers; expensive but worth it for the work I do. I use lotsa ink, too. AND...I utilize the widest color gamut available (ProFoto RGB). I also use an 8-color dye sublimated ink printer. Dye sublimated inks have a significantly wider gamut than their pigment ink counterparts... and the new Canon dye inks are archive-quality (i.e., long-lived). I use top quality acid-free mats and backboards. When I need to economize or the image is not really worth the added expense and energy of printing and matting, I submit images for digital viewing/judging!
I tend to shy away from common fotog buzz words, often preferring to discuss an image as a work of art rather than a photograph. Unlike present company, I have yet to learn the art of diplomacy... I can be too blunt at times.
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