With digital photography there are many ways you can share your pictures but for those really good photos, most people still want to print them out and frame them for all to see.
In addition to framing and displaying your best pictures, there are several other reasons that you may want to print your photos. Here are some of the ways you can use printed pictures:
- Framed for the mantle, table and wall displays
- Posters
- Wallet pictures
- Memory books
- Greeting cards
- Photo crafts
- Photo competitions
Even in our digital day and age, we still have lots of interesting and beautiful things to do in print! But printing a photograph isn't as easy as selecting "Print" on your computer. Printing a quality print of a photograph is trickier than printing, say, a flyer. These photo printing tips will help make the process easier so you can get better quality prints.
Digital Photography 101 - The Resolution Matters
Before you resize a picture on your computer, figure out first if you may ever want to print it. If so, be sure to hang on to the original.
Although there are lots of cameras with varying ranges of mega pixels, the best way to ensure you're able to take a picture that's perfect for printing is to do one thing- always shoot in the highest resolution your camera offers. Although this may be overkill with some cameras, by doing this you'll be sure to always take an image that you can print. Unfortunately, if you don't have your camera set on high resolution before taking the picture, it will be too late to correct it once the picture is taken. In this case, it's better to be safe and use high resolution then to be sorry and have a fantastic picture you can't make into a nice print.
Using the correct settings on your printer is also important. Check with your manual or the manufacturers recommendations on their website. Then use a photo editor to resample the photos to the appropriate dpi. For those new to printing, dpi stands for "dots per inch". The more dots per inch, the smoother the picture grain and the better the image looks. The ink jet printers on the market today that are used for quality photo prints often have dpi resolution of around 1200 to 4800. This range of dpi will make quality prints that have around 140 to 300 pixels per inch.
The ppi (pixels per inch) is the measurement for the resolution of a digital picture and should not be confused with the height and width of a picture. For example a 200 pixel x 300 pixel picture would be very small while a picture with a 300 ppi isn't necessarily small because ppi refers to the quality of the picture (not the physical size).
Digital Photography 101 - Using the Right Type of Photo Printer Paper
Make sure to use photo printing paper and if possible, use paper that is recommended by your printer's manufacturer for best results. For projects like greetings cards, use special card stock paper. You can find them online or at craft stores or office supply stores.
If you need high quality prints or extra large pictures, you can also go to your local photography store or order them online from a reputable retailer.
Have fun printing your digital images!
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