A Top Pro’s Hands-On Experience, with Ron Martinsen [Sponsored Post

Ron Martinsen is an internationally acclaimed photographer whose compelling images of travel, motorsports, and people have been published in leading magazines worldwide. A passionate blogger and workshop leader deeply committed to photography education, he has authored a number of best-selling books including Printing 101 Notebook: An Introduction To Fine Art Photography Printing, and has worked closely with the renowned Seattle Workshops.

“I never would have taken this picture if I hadn’t won at a charity auction held at my daughter’s school,” recalls Martinsen. “The prize was a one-night stay at Treehouse Point in Preston, WA, and this is the enchanting tree house we got to camp in overnight. To enhance the atmosphere of the picture, I turned on the lights to complement the natural light, focused on the house, and shot at a fairly wide aperture to soften the foreground foliage, framing the structure’s beautiful wooden textures and roofline. I shot it handheld with my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV and a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens and did some fairly sophisticated post-production work to achieve the final image.”

“As I expected, my Canon PIXMA PRO-1 printer did a great job reproducing all the subtle detail and color that make this image a real stopper. It delivers an excellent color range, rich blacks, and outstanding tonal gradation thanks to its 5 black and gray inks. And it incorporates a comprehensive range of easily accessible paper profiles so you can achieve precise, accurate colors right out of the box. Pattern Print lets me print out a bunch of thumbnails with slight variations in brightness and contrast on single sheet so I can nail the optimum settings —a 21st century version of the classic test strip saves ink and paper and enhances my workflow efficiency. When you use Canon paper it’ll even set the paper profile automatically, which is really convenient. All in all, I’d have to say that the Canon PIXMA PRO-1 is at the top of its class.”