THE NEWS IN PRINT

Being an amateur photographer, I have often thought I knew it all regarding printing photos at home on an inkjet printer. But, here's a book that changed the notion and will help other amateur photographers with tons (301 actually) of must-know photo printing tips.

301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers is authored by Andy Darlow who is an experienced photographer and a digital imaging consultant. His consultations mainly revolve around digital photography, digital output, and colour management. With numerous articles and reviews under his name, he is no mug with writing.

The tools and techniques necessary for great digital output are now readily available and more affordable than ever. "301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers" shows photographers of all levels how to make high-quality prints through step-by-step instructions and hundreds of full-color examples from more than 20 professional photographers and other artists. You'll discover how to choose the right inkjet printer for your output needs, how to save time and select the proper materials when prepping files and prints, how to manage your digital images, how to create captivating portfolios and framed art, and much more. Whether you are a professional photographer or a serious hobbyist this book will help you learn how to enhance and perfect your digital output skills and use your computer and inkjet printer to better express your vision and creativity. You can read the book cover to cover, or only the chapters that feature the specific tips and techniques that interest you. A comprehensive index and a searchable companion web site will ensure that you find the information you are looking for. Additional content for this book, including hundreds of clickable links to many of the resources covered throughout the book can be accessed at: www.inkjettips.com.

I felt that the title of the book is a little misleading. The book actually resembles an encyclopedia with the kind of step by step instructions provided. Peter Krogh, the author of The DAM Book-Digital Asset Management for Photographers felt the same way as well. He went a step further in suggesting a new name for the book - Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Making and Using Inkjet Prints But Were Afraid to Ask.

Wearing the critic's shoes, I find it hard to comprehend in choosing the right printer. Printer market is highly volatile with new printers making their debut daily. So, in my view, one can never lay down a blanket opinion regarding a particular printer. Maybe the printer chosen is optimum for that period of time but is bound to change sooner than expected. Nevertheless, this book is a great resource for photographers worldwide. It's priced at a modest £16.

There have been numerous incidents of thieves performing acts of thievery and getting caught due to their stupidity. Those videos are always a delight to watch but here's something that a geek can get excited about. A thief landed in jail after he called the tech support of the stolen printer in order to purchase printer drivers.

Timothy Scott Short, 33, stole a Digimarc printer and a PC connected to it from the Department of Revenue contract office in St. Charles. This printer was used to print driving licenses with the help of software installed on the stolen PC. The PC was locked and keys were stored at a secure location. Tim was unable to access the contents of the PC, hence he decided to call Digimarc's tech support to purchase printer drivers. He must have been really dumb to have believed that he could replicate driving licenses using the printer drivers alone. A secret service agent listened to the call and recognised the defaulter from a previous instance. I am not sure how the support agents recognised that the caller was hot; those details are not divulged yet. The secret agent confirmed a few contact details and landed upon the thief with the stolen property from his residence.

Tim will have to spend the next ten years behind bars and be poorer by £1,25,000 according to court filings. A simple act of stupidity or maybe ignorance has put the thief out of public life for a long span. Here's the moral of the story: if you are committing a crime, put your brains to work as long as you play with the loot. But here's a better moral: Don't be ignorant, else the whole world would be laughing at you like we laugh at Tim.

via Yahoo News

We have vindicated our stand in protecting the environment and undertaking measures to protect nature. Did you know that around 300 million cartridges are discarded every year? Most of these are polluting our environment and destroying natural resources. Is there a way out?

The discarded cartridge is just a plastic box which used to hold ink in it. Discarding the container makes little sense when dealt with the environment card. The plastic container can be recycled and reused with new ink, which works just as good as new instead. Here are some ill effects due to non-recycling of cartridges:

- It takes around 3 pounds of natural resources to produce an ink cartridge

- The non-biodegradable cartridge fills the landfills polluting the underground water and the soil around it permanently

- It takes around 3 ounces to produce a single cartridge. Oil is one of the most sought after product these days.

- People complain about the cartridge prices all the time. Imagine if recycling process is in place, cartridge prices could come down drastically.

When I was a youngster, I had a way to refill cartridges myself. All I needed was some printing ink and a syringe. The prints from the recycled cartridge were not too bad and served my purpose; more importantly it saved me some pounds.

Many companies offer recycling programs to consumers. The cartridge box comes with a pre-paid envelope addressed to the recycling company. When the cartridge becomes empty, it could be mailed over using the envelope for recycling purpose. Some other companies take the empty cartridge and after necessary inspection, refill the same cartridge and send it back to the sender. These are some novel ways of helping our environment.

Many online photo printing websites offer free prints. A smart lad always makes sure he/she avails such offers to get as many free prints as possible. I had done a small write up on online photo printing websites a few months back. In fact, I had come across foto.com during the same time but ignored as the website didn't lure me enough.

Now, things have changed. Foto.com has refurbished and has all the marketing bells and whistles in place. They are offering 100 free prints with every order. They haven't specified on a minimum order amount to avail the free prints. The offer is genuine and has been verified by a reader of mine.

Bend the iron when it's hot should be the order of the day at all times. Everyone should take note of this offer and avail 100 free prints. If the print quality is satisfactory, well, you have found yourself an online photo printing store.

I have blogged quite a lot about saving paper and printing if and only if it's needed; but it's never enough. Many people print emails and other documents even though the reading can be done off their computer monitors. My job and our job is to drill into the brains of these people that printing every sheet take away a part of natural resources off our environment.

Pete Savage, an IT professional has put down a process of thinking before printing. This applies to everyone, even the geeks.

- Is it a large job? - If it is, why not ask the user if they want to print it in draft quality instead of the default, which may be much higher. You may also like to inform them they will need extra paper for this.
- Is it a photo? - It's not hard to distinguish a full sheet of photo from text. Questions could be asked about glossy paper, and maximum dpi = slower printing argument.
- The paper is A4, but the document is A3 - Is this what you want?

These questions are not comprehensive but a start for spreading awareness among printer users. The results will come sooner than expected if all of us could chip in by sowing the seed of concern for our environment.