Prepare Digital Photos for Printing

Have you ever printed off a photograph and realised it looked much better on the computer screen?  Unfortunately, most of us have.  And while technology has made it easy to store and share our photos online, there is nothing quite like printing out a photograph to give to a loved one or hang on a wall with pride.

The poor quality of your printed photos may be due to low printer ink levels, poorly aligned or clogged print heads.   If your printer is not mixing the colours correctly, then of course colour mixes may be compromised.

When printing photographs, reproduction is extremely important and the more professional eye will pick imperfections.  Natural colours like skin tones will be most obvious after colours of trees, sky blues and landscapes.  The right colours are so important to us particularly when we have loved ones in the photos that we want to keep and maybe even enlarge.

Make sure ink cartridges are replaced as required and opt for inks that you know work well in your printer.  If you print photographs often, you may consider investing in a professional quality inkjet photo printer.

While the quality of your printer, toner and ink are critical, there are a few other key steps you need to take in order to achieve the best print job possible. Here are three handy tips to help you print higher quality photographs.

1. Select a suitable size

Choose the paper size and the amount of space versus the subject.  A landscape captures everything whereas a person may be too much if you really close in. 

2. Crop with care

Images can often be improved through cropping or resizing, especially if there are distracting or obscuring elements along the edge of the frame. But be warned, cropping or resizing your image may affect its aspect ratio. The aspect ratio determines width and height and how this is seen by the viewer. Always maintain the original aspect rate when cropping or resizing your photos they will look more natural.

3. Settings for photo printing.

Your printer most likely will not have DPI settings. Most printers have settings for draft, normal, fine or superfine settings. When printing photos it is always best to go with the superfine or best settings possible, this ensures that your photo is produced in the best possible way.  Before printing the final photo always try a draft print to ensure that the photo you are printing is the one required.

Now choosing a good photo paper with the high GSM thickness is another good decisions and one that will improve your overall result.  Photo paper thickness will ensure the absolute best result.  Home photo printing can be a most gratifying experience and most printer manufacturers include a certain amount of photo editing software, that can touch up colours, lighten up shaded areas and produce slightly better skin tones that will enhance your  photos, use these and you may find that the overall end result is a better one.

Professional photographers spend a immense amount of time on post-production, playing with colour and other aspects to get their images just right.  If you are not yet skilled enough for extensive editing, a simple way to ensure a good print job is to calibrate your computer monitor. This prevents colour mismatch and eliminating most nasty surprises when you hit the print button.

There’s nothing like seeing your precious memories come to life on paper. Visit TonerInk for a huge range printing supplies including ink cartridges, photo paper.