My first proper photography print
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- 5 min read
A few weeks ago, one of the photos I took was accepted into an exhibition. Some days later, I received an email from the organizers: I would have to arrange a print. The print would have to be no bigger than 20"x30", be on high quality photography paper, using archival pigminted ink (whatever that is). In the past, I would get simple, cheap prints form Walgreens on whatever paper they have, without much control on the quality of the print, the ink, or anything. Once, I tried to get a 4"x6" prints of Black and White photos I took from my trip to Yosemite, what I got were a few muted green and white prints. Walgreens can be great in a pinch, but wouldn't cut it for this.
I reached out to folks within the Beers and Cameras Chicago Discord group, and received many suggestions. After a few calls made to local businesses, I decided to chat with one of the printers. Emilio Lanzagorta lives in Chicago and runs a print lab: LUX Photo Lab, based out of Texas. I first met Emilio during a photo-walk held by Dan Tamarkin in the tail end of Summer 2025.
An aside — Dan is a known, trusted Leica dealer based out of Chicago. During another photowalk, he lended me a black Leica M6 with a 35mm Summarit lens in which I put a bulk-loaded roll of Ilford HP5+. Later, as a proof of strength of Leica construction, Dan proudly stood up balanced with one foot on top of the Leica I returned to him. The camera supported his weight completely. I guess Leicas are actually that strong after all.
I called up Emilio, luckily he remembered me through the photowalks we'd met during. I explained what I was looking for – a dark, moody print with deep shadows but also great saturation in the highlights. I was on uncharted territory here. I'd never printed before, knew very little about papers, or how to proof photos. He assured me, he'd just need a high quality 16-bit TIFF shared with him and he could get a proof ready for me to review in just a couple of days. He also suggested that I read the print guide on his website to get a better understanding of how to prepare my photo. We settled on a nice 12"x18" photograph with one-inch borders. Emilio recommended two paper options: Hahnemühle Rag Baryta and Hahnemühle Silk Baryta.
Preparing for the print
After looking at a few tutorials online, I went back to Lightroom and Photoshop to prepare a photo I took back in 2022 for print. Instantly, I noticed my heavy-handed editing from years past — maybe this is growth? I'm glad I held onto the RAW photo I took, as I was able to start afresh with my edits.
For prints, it's recommended to brighten the photo slightly compared to what you'd see on a screen — screens are backlit, whereas most photo prints bounce incidental light off them. The photos need to be slightly oversharpened to print appropriately.
I would also have to check proof previews of the photos (test previews, something you can do easily in a photo editing software). Based on the paper and printer information, you can download the correct ICC profile that allows you to simulate what the final print will look like (in my case this was the two papers above and a certain Canon printer). This is the fail safe I used to check whether the colors would accurately come through.
I exported the final TIFF file in 16-bit. Printers prefer TIFF photos over JPEGs as they retain more information, and 16-bit means that there is a deeper range of colors available within the same gamut compared to 8-bit. The final file was over 100 MBs for a 24-megapixel photo.
Reviewing the proof print
Later that week, Emilio and I met at a coffee shop. He brought 2 small prints with him to show me the difference in papers. We sat there for almost an hour – he explained the difference in papers, Rag Baryta is compressed lesser than Silk Baryta, giving it a thicker feel. It's also warmer in color temperature than the Silk Baryta. The reduced compression gives it a rougher look overall. Silk Baryta, on the other hand, is smoother and slightly glossier – although neither of these papers are fully glossy or fully matte, they're somewhere in between. Silk Baryta holds onto sharp details better than Rag Baryta. Both are equally good at holding onto shadow detail and don't mute them the way typical matte paper would.
The test prints were useful as I noticed that the colors of the taxi didn't show up as colorful and punchy as I'd like. I asked Emilio if I could tweak the photo slightly before the final print. He asked me to sleep on this decision, as over-editing the photo could lead to less-than-ideal results. I thought about it and promised to get back to him by the next morning. We bid each other goodbye.
On my way out, I bumped into another local street photographer, C. P. Plunkett, who I'd also met through B&C meet-ups within the city. I quickly asked him for advice on my predicament — should I make the taxi look punchier? He agreed. I got my answer.
I went back home and quickly masked the taxi and tastefully nudged the exposure and saturation up. The photo was ready.
Final print
After the weekend, I got a message from Emilio, the final print, in all its 12"x18" glory (plus borders) was ready and had arrived from the lab in Texas. We met at the same coffee shop, and he gave me a comically large cardboard envelope. In that short meeting, Emilio dropped a few more golden pieces of advice on printing. I didn't open the envelope right as I got home, still waiting for the frame to arrive. I didn't want any dust to stick on bare print!
A few days later, I opened the print as the frame arrived. It looks amazing! I wonder why I never printed before. I went through the stressful activity of signing my photo, still rocking the signature I made back in 5th grade. I carefully stuck the mat around the print — I think photo frames without mats look incomplete and like they're spilling over, not in a good way.
I only got a few hours with the final product before heading out to ship it to its destination.
