This final article in the series, "What Makes a Photograph a Portrait", explains the importance of proper printing and finishing to fine portraits. A lot of time and talent goes into producing a photographic portrait, so printing and finishing is not an area to scrimp or cut corners. For a portrait to be as beautiful as it can be, it must be printed on the right media and by the right printer.
How Important are the Printing and Finishing of Portraits?
I'm Stan P. Cox II, Photographic Portrait Artist. In this short article I’m going to explain just how important PRINTING and FINISHING are in the creation of PORTRAITS
In the previous article I talked about the first 2 phases of Post Production…the artwork that goes into turning a Photograph into a PORTRAIT. Now, after all the planning and the creation of the photographs, then the careful attention to color balance, saturation and contrast, and the Artwork and Enhancements have all been done, resulting in a beautiful photographic portrait, would it make sense to print it on regular typing or copy paper? Or for that matter, would it be reasonable to print it on a standard desktop printer? Absolutely NOT!
Why not? Well, because in order to reproduce the fine detail, and the beautiful color and shading that the artist invested their time and talent into getting just right, a Portrait needs to be printed on the right type of high quality media, such as Ultra Premium Photo paper, or Fine Art media such as Premier Art Canvas. These media have a high white point designed to enable the fine nuances of color and shading to be reproduced accurately in the print.
Of course no matter how fine the media is, if the printer is not capable of rendering the image accurately with proper saturation and intensity of color, the print will be seriously lacking. Therefore it is critically important to use the finest print media, and printers that are designed for printing the finest details and the most accurate colors.
Once all those criteria are satisfied and the print is made to be just as beautiful as the artist envisioned, then steps should be taken to preserve the beauty of the portrait print, and to protect it. For this reason, the best portrait photographers will apply a coating of a lacquer based art guard to the print, and mount it on an acid-free mount board.
The art guard coating adds UV protection, protection against most environmental pollutants and finger prints, as well as adding longevity to the print. Mounting the print on an acid-free mount board gives the print substantial rigidity and prevents dinging and creasing the print when handling, and makes it easy to frame.
I hope this series has helped you to understand and appreciate all that goes into creating photographic Portraits, and that you have found it to be beneficial.
For more information on how You can have YOUR Perfect Portrait created, go to YourPerfectPortrait.net. If you would like to talk with ME about having your portraits made, my email and phone number are available at ParamountPhotography.com. I'll look forward to hearing from you!
What Makes a Photograph a Potrait
If not all photographs of people are Portraits, what makes a photograph a portrait? This series of articles will define what constitutes a Portrait, and what needs to be done regarding the photography and then to the photograph in order for a photograph to qualify as a proper portrait.
What Makes a Photograph a Portrait - Planning & Preparation
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What Makes a Photograph a Portrait -Composition
Composition is a vital element in the creation of portraits. What should be included that can help tell about the subject's personality, occupation or mood. This articles discusses guidelines on what to include and what to leave out.
