10 Tips for Getting the Most from Printing Photos on Your Home Printer

Printing photos from your home inkjet printer is fast becoming one of the most economical and time saving practices in photography today. However, when you see fuzzy, blurry, and grainy photos being printed from home, it turns you off to the idea of printing your memories from your home printer. There are numerous ways to create beautiful and lasting photographs right from your desk. The most important thing you need in order to print quality photos is a good quality picture. Bad, dark, or blurry photographs will print dark or blurry, and make your printing experience a bad one. If you follow these simple and quick tips to creating beautiful pictures, your memories will last you a lifetime.

Use a camera with good resolution: Make sure your camera has a good resolution (3 megapixels or higher produces great quality printed photographs.) Use the best resolution your camera has to ensure a large, clear image. Check your camera's owners manual to find out how to switch the resolution.

Get the lighting right: Make sure that the photos you want to print from home are done in good lighting with a decent contrast between the subject and the background. If an image is too dark, too bright, grainy, or has other flaws, the resulting photograph won't print at a high quality. Choose images that are clear and crisp for the best printing results.

Get a good photo printer: Printer quality has everything to do with photo quality. You won't get the same results from a regular inkjet printer as you will a photo printer. Most photo printers use higher quality ink and, in some cases, multiple colour ink cartridges. Choose a printer that can handle multiple page sizes (such as 8x10, 5x7 and 4x6) for best results. Most photo printers have various trays for different sized paper, which makes it easy to handle and can now print borderless images.

Stock up on inks: Make sure your printer has ink. Consult your printer's ink supply with the software that came with your printer before you start printing. Nothing produces bad printouts like running out of ink in the middle of a page. However, there are ways to make your ink last longer.

Invest in good quality printing ink: The best ink for your printer is ink made specifically by your printer brand. Each brand of ink offers different options. Some provide features such as waterproof, smudge resistant and fade resistant. These are especially useful for saving your photos for generations to come.

Don't forget good paper: Paper quality has a big impact on photo quality. Using special photo paper for your inkjet printer will yield higher quality, glossy, professional looking printed photographs. This is not to say that you need to pick up the top-of-the-line, most expensive photo paper, most mid-grade glossy photo paper will produce the same results. Try to find a mid-grade paper that offers smudge and/or water protection and is archival safe (especially important for scrapbookers). Keep in mind your impact on the environment though and reduce paper waste where possible by printing at lower quality on tests etc.

Choose a higher DPI setting: When printing, use higher print DPI (dots per square inch) to produce clearer images. The higher the DPI the more ink dots your printer will put on the paper per square inch. Most modern printers print higher than 600x600 dpi. Consult your printers owners manual on how to set the DPI for your specific printer brand.

Tweak lighting and contrast If you have a photograph that has turned out dark, you should be able to adjust the brightness and contrast in the printing software that came with your printer. Most printers come bundled with photo editing software or have on-screen adjustment settings at the time of print. Again, consult with the software that came with your printer for more information.

Always print test prints: This will ensure that your image does not print too dark or too light.

Don't rush to put your pictures away: Unlike professional printers, the ink from your inkjet should dry 12 to 24 hours before placing them in an album or frame. Rushing to put your photos away could result in the ink sticking to the plastic of the album or glass on the frame.