Tips For High Quality Photo Printing

Before all you had to worry about as a photographer was taking the best picture possible

. You sent the film to a lab and left the processing up to the professionals. Now, however, with the advancements in photo printers many professional and amateur photographers are not only taking the pictures but printing them as well adding a whole new dimension to the picture taking process.

The latest and greatest in photo printers, paper and ink cartridges won't make you necessarily a better photographer but a few tips can help you improve your prints so each looks professionally processed and finished.

One tip that most will agree on is using same brand equipment across the board. If you have a Hewlett-Packard printer than it is recommended you use HP inkjet cartridges and any special paper HP manufactures for photo printing. Brand name manufacturers test their products using similar accessories so if you want the same results that are offered in a comparison report then stick to one brand for all the printing needs. Also, mixing Epson ink with HP printers on Kodak paper can cause a number of system errors and malfunctions that can distort the photos and lead to a shabby print.

Another tip is to use only high quality paper that is specifically designed for photo printing. Regular plain copier paper and fax paper is the cheapest available and is primarily used for inter-office documents and other forms that don't need to be too impressive in design or presentation. But photo printing requires special paper that will capture an inkjet cartridge's colors and reproduce high pixel resolution in vivid detail and will also preserve the images and resist fading.

While computers are impressive they aren't so advanced they can fix a bad picture. Photoshop can cover up a lot of small mistakes but if you don't have enough pixels in the image file then there is only so much a computer or printer can do. Most pros will agree that you need at least 200 dots per inch (dpi) for acceptable image quality and at least 300 for above average images.

You can determine the pixels of any image file by right-clicking on the file, select Properties and then Details and you should fine the pixels in height and width measurements. The higher the pixel numbers the better and the larger you can print photos while still getting a great image.

While it may seem trivial another trick to getting great quality photo prints is to double-check all your printer and computer settings before printing. Sometimes people get so wrapped up in a particular image they forget to set the paper type and ink type and end up printing several times before realizing the common mistake. Remember computers and printers are only as smart as you program each to be so make sure all your settings are correct before you push "print".

Kevin is a professional writer with over 20 years experience in copy writing, advertising, journalism and marketing.

POST COMMENT

Samsung LE32B450C Review How to Buy a Laptop Wireless Network Advice to Buying a PDA Seagate's 7mm Momentus Thin Hard Drive To Ship In 160GB And 250GB Sizes Inno3D GeForce GTX 295 Platinum review ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 graphics ViewSonic unveils new 120Hz monitor. Is it really that good? SAMSUNG Unveils 120HZ 3D- Monitor