ARTICLE

Making print personal: Evely Duis on handcrafting a zine

Discover how fashion and portrait photographer Evely Duis turned a project about her long-term battle with migraines into a beautiful zine using the Canon PIXMA PRO-200.
Two finished pages from a self-printed zine – the first featuring a young woman in a red dress, the second a supporting title and text.

Canon Ambassador and fashion and portrait photographer Evely Duis brought a personal photography project about her ongoing battle with migraines to life using the Canon PIXMA PRO-200, combining images and supporting text to make a beautiful, handcrafted zine. © Evely Duis

Dutch-born fashion and portrait photographer Evely Duis has been creative for as long as she can remember. "I don't ever want photography to be just my job," she says, "I want it to be my passion – something I can put emotion into." The Canon Ambassador honed her artistic flair completing a bachelor's degree in photography at Brussels' LUCA School of Arts, at the same time as setting up her own studio. "It taught me how to show more emotion in my photography," she says. "Not just to create a pretty picture, but how to say something more with my work."

"Saying more" is exactly what Evely has done in her latest personal project, which covers the crippling migraines that have affected her from the age of 11 and for which she now takes daily beta blockers to reduce the frequency of attacks. Having previously produced a series of photographs on the subject, featuring numerous self-portraits, she's now printed her images to create a zine about living with this condition.

Here, Evely explains how she used the Canon PIXMA PRO-200 professional grade A3+/13-inch photo printer to bring her idea to life, while printing expert and Canon Europe Product Manager for Professional Printers and Software Suhaib Hussain highlights some of the particular benefits of using the PIXMA PRO-200 for personal projects.

A printout of images of young women in different poses emerging from a Canon PIXMA PRO-200 printer.

While she hadn't necessarily planned to print her images while she was shooting, Evely was able to take advantage of the beautiful, large files that her Canon EOS 5DS produced when creating prints on the Canon PIXMA PRO-200 in her own studio. © Evely Duis

Channelling creativity

Like many photographers the world over, Evely experienced significant downtime during the Covid-19 pandemic, but she didn't let that dampen her creativity. "I've always loved fashion, and when I suddenly went from being very busy to having no jobs on, I thought I'd get into sewing," she explains. "I started making skirts, dresses, trousers and bags, and people loved them."

Stitching things together took Evely back to her art school days, when she would create handmade zines or photographic books for her coursework. That gave her the idea of creating a zine as a personal project. "Personal projects give me scope to stretch my creativity," she says. "I always get something out of doing them. The migraine project is a case in point. I had no idea what I wanted to do with it, but then the Canon PIXMA PRO-200 came along, and I thought, 'Wow, this would make a great print project'. I really enjoy making zines to tell stories."

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"The PIXMA PRO-200 is very compact for an A3+ printer, so there are no problems making space for it in a busy studio," says Suhaib. "Because it is a dye-based rather than pigment-based printer, print speeds are very fast and pages are fully dry within minutes, so there is no time wasted. The PIXMA PRO-200 runs on eight inks and delivers really vibrant colours and rich deep blacks, which is great not only for photo quality but also for crisp text within a zine."

A young woman in a check dress holding her head in anguish, her hair covering much of her face.

Evely's photographs document her ongoing struggles with migraines. "You know it's not just a headache," explains Evely. "There's no way you can just ignore it and carry on with your day." Taken on a Canon EOS R with a Canon RF 85mm F1.2L USM lens at 1/320 sec, f/1.6 and ISO100. © Evely Duis

Pills and other medication arranged in a still life, spread across a red cloth.

In addition to self-portraits, the project also includes still-life imagery. Evely meticulously arranged items such as medication to provide an insight into what it means to suffer from and manage recurring migraines. Taken on a Canon EOS 5DS with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens at 34mm, 1/200 sec, f/8 and ISO100. © Evely Duis

Shooting the images

Evely is no stranger to being in front of the camera, having made self-portraits for as long as she can remember. "I usually shoot with my Canon EOS 5DS, but I also used a Canon EOS R for much of the migraine project, which was brilliant for self-portraits. I'd set up the scene with all the props, arrange the lighting, compose the shot with myself in the picture, and use the camera's built-in Wi-Fi to view everything on my mobile phone. It's a really easy way of working and takes all the trial and error out of the equation.

"I use my Canon EOS 5DS mostly with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens [now succeeded by the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM], a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM lens and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens," she says. "For me, the Canon EOS R5 and EOS R6 are the future. The way the autofocus system works across the entire frame is an absolute delight. Even so, I've always been very happy with my EOS 5DS – the detail in images that is revealed when you're creating prints blows me away."

Canon Ambassador Joel Santos sits on the floor surrounded by photographs he has printed on a Canon PIXMA PRO-200.

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A young woman in an orange dress shot from behind, light shining brightly off the phone she holds behind her back.

This image points to the role of light as a trigger for Evely's debilitating migraines. Taken on a Canon EOS 5DS with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens (now succeeded by the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM) at 35mm, 1/200 sec, f/4 and ISO100. © Evely Duis

A printed page from a handcrafted zine featuring a circular image of a young woman turned away from the camera and supporting text.

Evely found selecting a paper for her zine to be a very different process to choosing media for regular prints, especially because she wanted to print double-sided pages. "I went with Canon Double-sided Matte Paper," she says. "It's a smooth matte paper that has a nice feel and is ideal for projects such as zines." © Evely Duis

Choosing the right printer and paper

Previously Evely sent her images to a lab to be printed, so she hadn't had to make decisions about printers, settings and paper before. "Using the PIXMA PRO-200 has been a real adventure for me," she says. "It feels like magic to be able to print photos myself, to create them right here in my studio. Making each print is a special moment. It's great to be able to manipulate images, change settings and use different papers to get a different look and feel for my images."

"Canon offers a wide range of photo papers and fine art media but also works closely with prestigious paper producers such as Canson and Hahnemühle to give a choice of wide-ranging media," adds Suhaib. "This way we can provide exactly the look and feel you want, with readily available ICC profiles to ensure accuracy.

"For double-sided and even just regular one-sided photo print output, the precision of the paper transport system is critical," he continues. "The PIXMA PRO-200 features skew correction and automatically retracting side paper guides to ensure absolute accuracy, avoiding the cost and wasted time of print feed errors."

Evely used Canon Professional Print & Layout (PPL) software to ensure her final images looked exactly how she wanted them. PPL works as a standalone program and as a plug-in for Adobe® Lightroom® and Photoshop® and can be used for creating custom layouts of multiple images on a single page. "It's a powerful tool," says Suhaib. "Some photographers are surprised by how useful it is, especially as it's a free program available for Canon's latest pro-grade photo printers. One of the improvements in the Canon PIXMA PRO-200 is enhanced 'gamut mapping', which narrows the gap between what you see on-screen and what you get in print," he explains. "PPL goes further still, enabling you to make subtle changes in colour rendition and adding versatility to fine-tuning mono print output in 'Black and White Photo' mode, so you can get exactly the look you want on any type of paper."

A woman carefully sewing pages of a handcrafted zine together.

Once all the elements of her zine were in place, Evely carefully stitched the pages together, a skill she picked up at art school. © Evely Duis

A handcrafted zine placed on a table, open on a page showing a young woman holding her hand on her head.

The compact size of the finished zine and handmade quality creates an intimacy that works well given the subject matter. © Evely Duis

Designing the printed zine

Evely used Capture One photo editing software for tethered shooting in her studio and Adobe Lightroom for organising, RAW processing and making basic adjustments to her images. She used Adobe Photoshop for finer, more detailed edits and Lightroom for printing. To design the layout of text and images across her pages, Evely used Adobe InDesign®.

For Evely, a handmade approach was always part of the plan. "I wanted to create something personal," she says. "Laying out the zine in Adobe InDesign and printing it one sheet at a time as a booklet is actually quite straightforward. Some of the pages have cutouts, so the next step was to use a scalpel and literally cut them out. I wanted a hard cover for the zine, so I cut one out of cork board and applied a wrinkled black covering to it. For the spine, I made holes along the full height of the pages so that I could stitch them together. You end up with something that is truly unique.

"I've been thinking about creating large prints from my migraine project with the Canon PIXMA PRO-200 so I can hold an exhibition at some point," she continues. "I might also make a few more copies if anyone wants to buy them, but that hasn't been the goal. It's been a personal project, to give an outlet to my creativity. The migraine project is special to me, and it's wonderful that the PIXMA PRO-200 has enabled me to turn it into something physical that I can hold in my hands."

Matthew Richards

Evely Duis' kitbag

The key kit that the pros use to take their photographs

Evely Duis' kitbag containing Canon cameras and lenses.

Cameras

Canon EOS 5DS

Combine fast, instinctive DSLR handling with 50.6MP resolution and capture exquisite detail in every moment. "This camera gives me the creative freedom to do what I want with my work," says Evely.

Canon EOS R

The pioneering mirrorless camera has a full-frame 30.3MP sensor with impressive detail, ISO performance and Dual Pixel CMOS AF.

Lenses

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

The successor to the lens Evely favours is a professional-quality standard zoom that offers outstanding image quality and a fast f/2.8 aperture throughout its zoom range. "I can switch quickly from a close portrait to a wider shot," says Evely. "I can get everything with this lens."

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

A short telephoto focal length combined with a large maximum aperture and fast autofocus speed make the EF 85mm f/1.8 USM an ideal lens for any photographer shooting portraiture. Evely says: "This is great for closer portraits and beauty shots. I love the detail it gives and the depth of field."

Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM

With its incredible f/1.2 maximum aperture, the super fast EF 50mm f/1.2L USM is a consummate low-light performer. A lens that allows fine creative control over focusing and depth of field.

Canon RF 50mm F1.2L USM

The RF lens that sets new standards in photographic performance, delivering supreme sharpness, extra creative control and a low-light performance that's simply remarkable.

Canon RF 85mm F1.2L USM

For beautiful flattering portraits with razor sharpness and superb low-light performance, the RF 85mm F1.2L USM offers the ultimate in creative potential with EOS R System cameras.

Accessories

Canon PIXMA PRO-200

Focused on vibrant colour photo printing, versatility and usability, the Canon PIXMA PRO-200 is the ideal choice for photo enthusiasts and aspiring photographers.

Canon Double-sided Matte Paper

Ideal for hobbyists and crafters, this versatile media is the perfect choice for your own greeting card creations, scrapbook additions or craft projects from Creative Park. "It's a smooth matte paper that has a nice feel and is ideal for projects such as zines," says Evely.

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