Photo Printing Tips

The photo printers in today’s market offer professional quality digital photos with real-life colors. But there are some photo printing tips and tactics for getting the best results out of your photo printer. With the following photo printing tips, you could improve the quality of your digital photographs to a great extend.

1. High Resolution
Resolution determines the quality of the printed text and images. It’s measured in dpi (dots per inch), the maximum number of dots the printer can print in a square inch. Higher dpi means higher resolution. The higher the resolution, the sharper the photos will be. Get a printer with a minimum of 1200 x 1200 dpi for good quality. For example HP Photosmart 8450 Photo Printer offers Up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi (Photo Paper, 1200 x 1200 dpi input) Find out more about this printer from Amazon

The below chart shows which camera resolution you should use for which size to get the best results for printing.

Camera Resolution	The size you can print at good quality	Possible Projects
0.3 Megapixels (640 x 480)	Not good for printing	E-mailing
1.2 Megapixels (1280 x 960)	3” x 5”	Displaying on the refrigerator
2.1 Megapixels (1600 x 1200)	4” x 6”	Photo albums, Crafts
3.3 Megapixels (2048 x 1536)	5” x 7”	Framing at home
4.0 Megapixels (2400 x 1800)	8” x 10”	Framing at home
5.0 Megapixels (2500 x 1900)	9” x 12”	Framing for home or gallery
6.0 Megapixels (3000 x 2000)	11” x 14”	Framing for home or gallery
4.0 Megapixels (4000 x 2000)	12” x 16”	Framing for home or gallery

2. Right Format
Save your photo in the correct format, that is either TIFF or JPEG. For emailing, you can use the JPEG format but for printing always save your pictures in the TIFF format (example:ski_pictures.tiff). TIFF format results in a rather larger file size, but it produces the best results. The JPEG format (example: ski_pictures.jpg) is more suitable for e-mailing as it results in smaller, compressed files which are ideal for sending by e-mail.

3. Printer Settings
Set your photo printer’s settings to "highest" print quality when printing photos. But for small prints (3” x 5”), “normal” resolution may be sufficient. Refer to your photo printer’s user’s guide to find out how to change quality settings. Make a few tests to see which settings give you the best results. You'll be able to get better and better results as you get to know your photo printer.

4. Photo Editing Software
Use a good quality photo editing software to alter your digital photographs, to remove dust marks and specks. The printer will pick up all the flaws even if they’re small. Refer to our Photo Editing Software section to browse through and download free photo editing programs. Some photo printers come with a photo editing program.

5. Type of Paper
Using photo papers will give you the best results
as they are especially designed for this purpose. Printing photos on plain paper results in fuzzy or faded looking photo prints. Letting your photo printer know what type of paper you are using can have a remarkable effect on the completed print. The plain paper setting uses the most ink, whereas glossy film and photo paper settings use the least. As long as you use the right photo paper, digital prints also last as long as traditional prints. The main differences in all photo papers are; opacity, brightness, weight, caliper (thickness) and finish. Find out more on these photo paper features at our photo papers section.

6. Paper Settings
Paper settings control the amount of printer ink that’s put down on paper, so using the paper setting that matches your photo paper is crucial for generating good prints. Different paper types need different settings. For instance plain paper setting uses more ink compared to glossy or photo paper setting. Find the accurate setting for your paper by trying different settings. Note it down so you'll be able to get the same results when you use that paper again. Try to stick to plain paper whenever you're not generating high quality color images. Try to use "draft" mode or "economy" mode when high quality is not so necessary. By doing this you will not be decreasing the text quality so much.

7. Drying Time
Give your digital picture sufficient time to dry before you frame it. Drying time may vary according to temperature, light and humidity.
In general it is a recommended to let the digital photograph print dry for roughly 24 hours.