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.

5 Tips That Make Your Laser Printer Cheaper To Run

Weighing cost against the amount of use you can get from a printer is more important now that the economy is hurting. Although prices have come down considerably for printers, you still want to get your moneys worth when you make a purchase. There are ways to make your laser printer more cost effective, and most of them are just a matter of changing habits.


Refill laser toner - Ink cartridges can be refilled 3-4 times before the cartridge needs to be discarded. You can save a lot of money by refilling the cartridges. If you do not do this, you could be spending money on a brand new cartridge (and they are not cheap) every time you run out of one colour. This is, of course, unless your printer has cartridges for each colour. Even then, refilling them is cheaper than replacing them.


Laser printer maintenance - Keep your printer in top condition by keeping it clean and in good repair. If you spot a small problem, get it fixed before it becomes a big problem. Properly maintain the inside of the printer and clean the cartridges for best results.


Use the right paper - Before you even choose a laser printer, you should see what the specifics are for paper weight. Many times a printer will wear out early due to improperly using weights of paper for which it was not intended. There is generally a pretty wide range of paper stock that the printer will accommodate, but be sure to check and make sure you are not overloading it.


Time is money - If you use more than one computer, you may want to consider going wireless and putting the printer in a central location so everyone can access it. That way, the printer is available to everyone when they need it which means everyone saves time. Also on the matter of time, consider how fast the printer can print and how fast you need it to print. If you are overloading it, it will wear out faster. Printers are designed for specific purposes. If you buy yours for home use, then use it to print large documents on a regular basis, it will wear out faster than if you buy a printer specifically for large printing jobs.


Don't let the ink dry - Many times, if you let a printer sit too long without using it, the ink will dry on the cartridges which causes clogging. If this happens, you will need to clean the printer and replace the toner cartridge. Print something (colour) at least every other day to keep the ink from drying.