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Guidelines for Printing Great Photos at Home
So you have this great digital camera and you’ve taken lots of great photos. Now
what? Well you could go to a store and have them print your images for you, but
isn’t that what you did with film? The point of all this great digital
technology is that you can print your own photos at home without having to pay
someone else to do it. Here are some tips to help you get started:
1. It’ll seem like a lot of money at first but spend the money to get a good
printer. Six color at least. Ink jets are wonderful for printing snapshots. You
won’t need more than that. Also look around at the computer brands that sell
computer packages for digital printing, the printer that they recommend is
perfect for printing photos at home.
2. Buy some photo editing software. There are lots of brands out there many of
them for pros but you can easily find software under one hundred dollars that
will have lots more options than you will ever use. Look for software that has
automatic settings so that the computer can automatically color correct, auto
focus, brighten, or darken, etc. At least until you learn number 3.
3. Learn your equipment. Take the time play with the settings. Don’t try to
print perfect photos right away. Most people with a little time and practice can
learn to do basic photo special effects. Give yourself the time to learn.
4. There is one place that you are going to have to spend some money and it’s on
paper. You can have a great image but unfortunately you cannot skimp on paper.
Get the nice thick glossy paper, it’s worth it. I’ve tried the cheaper paper,
which is good for test prints, but you need the high quality stuff for good
prints.
5. DPI, dots per inch. Depending on your printer and your software you may be
able to print up to 1200 dpi which is probably unnecessary for what you’re
doing. For up to a 4 by 6 inch print you only need about 300 dpi. Most people
cannot see the difference between a 300 dpi an a 600 dpi at 4 by 6 inches. For 5
by 7 or 8 by 10 you can go up to 600 dpi.
These steps will help you on your way to printing great digital photos at home.
Remember though make sure that you have fun printing all those memories.
FYI Just so that you have a frame of reference, I’m a professional photographer
and I have a six color ink jet that I paid less than $300 for and photo editing
software that I paid less than $100. I print my 5 by 7 images for shows at 600
dpi.
Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal
Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting
nationally and internationally. She started her own business Kelly Paal
Photography. She has an educational background in photography, business, and
commercial art. Please visit www.kellypaalphotography.com for more FREE how to
articles.
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