How to Print Better Photos-Digital Picture Printing

Perfecting digital picture printing starts with the camera settings. Learn a few simple techniques to insure successful digital printing.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Ink and Paper
   
   Be prepared. Consider your ink and paper choices before you start your digital picture printing. If you are printing photography you want to use paper that is photography quality. If you are printing a greeting card then you might look at card stock. Card stock comes in glossy, matte, or semi-gloss as do all other paper choices. Black and white photos print best on matte, however, you might want a particular affect from your prints so use your own judgement.
   
   Always use the specified ink that comes with your printer and is recommended by the printer manufacturer only.

2. Resolution and Megapixels
   
   The highest resolution that you can set your camera on will result in the best image quality when digital picture printing. Especially for larger print sizes. The highest resolution also takes up tons of memory on your memory card.
   
   So if you are shooting an important event such as a wedding, don’t skimp on resolution, bump up the numbers. Get additional memory cards.
   
   If you are shooting a kids birthday party you can lower the resolution. Your cameras user’s manual will show you how to change the settings.
   
   Levels of megapixels on your camera will dictate to some extent the quality of picture you produce. If your camera is a 2 megapixel camera then you cant get a 4 megapixel image. The more megapixels your camera has the better your options are for creating larger, crisp pictures.

3. File formats
   
   JPEG or Tiff. JPEG is a file format most commonly used for images. It is definitely the file format to use when creating images for email or web use. However, JPEG format can leave your images grainy or unclear when compared to creating them in a larger TIFF format. The larger TIFF formats however will take up much more memory. So you have to way the odds of what is more important in your photo shooting situation.

4. Preparing your printer
   
   Many times with our home printers we install the software, plug the printer into our computers and print. To get the maximum quality on your prints you need to configure your printer to work with your computer or other image delivering device such as your camera. Read the printer manual and follow the manufacturers advice.
   
   Always run a new alignment of your print cartridges on your printer before printing important photos. Again, read your user manual for directions. Find out how to increase your dpi settings on your computer as this will result in a much clearer image as well.

Tips & Warnings

• 2 megapixels are good for typical prints up to 5x7
• 3 megapixels are great for craft projects such as calenders. 3 megapixels print up to 8x10 sufficiently
• Before any photo shooting event always replace or recharge batteries.