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Making prints at home
• Instant gratification.
See and share the photo you just took on the LCD screen on the back of the
camera.
• Shoot away. Since
you are able to delete photos that you do not want, you have the freedom
to shoot many photos of the same scene, and just keep the one or two that
turned out the best. Once you discover this, you have another great way to
capture memories.
• Every print’s a winner.
Gone are the days of shooting a whole roll of film to get a few good
pictures! With digital photography, you only print the best shots. And you
can get prints made at your favorite photo store just as you do with film.
• Options. Whether
it’s 4-by-6-inch prints to put in your photo album, homemade greeting
cards printed on your inkjet printer, or sharing your photos online,
digital photography opens up a whole new world of options for your
memories.
•
Get real photo prints
– Depending on the resolution
of your digital camera, you can get beautiful, real photographic prints
from 4-by-6 inches up to 16-by-20 inches and larger. The sharpness and
quality rival that of film, so you don’t have to
give up your photo albums or scrapbooks!
How can I get photos into
my computer?
There are
three basic ways to get an image into the computer:
Scanning
If you shoot slides or print film, you can use a scanner to capture the
image digitally. This gives a very high quality digital image for the
money. For under $1000 you can actually buy a scanner and point-and-shoot
film camera that will give a higher resolution and a sharper picture than
any digital camera available today for under $10,000. Scanners come in two
types: flatbed (good for prints, but not usually for film as the
resolution is too low) and film scanners (good for both slides and
negatives – don’t be misled by wrong information that says these are for
slides only).
Digital Cameras
Digital cameras are convenient, fast and fun. Digital cameras let you take
a picture, look at it immediately to see that it is okay (on a built-in
monitor) and then download it to your computer. Two-and three-megapixel
cameras give images that can look nearly identical to a standard photo
print at 4-by-6 and even 5-by-7 inches in size. Once you have the camera
and memory cards, there are no film processing costs.
Photo discs and Photo CDs
These become your “Digital Negatives” made from
scans of your film image done at a photo lab. They
are inexpensive ways of getting high-resolution
images into a computer as almost every computer has
a CD-ROM drive that will read them. Plus, you don’t
need to buy any new equipment. They are, however,
only as good as the technology doing the scans, so
you may see a difference in results from lab to lab.
Go direct
Many of
today’s home printers let you print directly from your camera or your
camera’s media card. This is a great convenience if your computer is busy
or if you don’t want to transfer pictures to your computer. Some cameras
will even let you select how many prints to make. Other printers have an
LCD screen on them, so you can choose which pictures to print, and add
borders, text and more. These printers come in two varieties:
Direct slot printers – These printers have slots for inserting your
digital media cards, then choosing which prints you want to have made.
Direct camera printers – These printers connect to cameras either
through a cable or by placing the camera directly on the printer. Some of
them will charge your camera’s battery at the same time.
Make prints at home
The digital printers available
on the market today produce beautiful digital prints that closely resemble
photographs. Although printing at home can be time-consuming – especially
if you’re printing a lot of photos -- there are many instances when you
will want to make your own prints. It’s important to evaluate the cost of
the consumables (ink, paper, etc.) when deciding which printer to use and
how often to use it. There are many different features on each printer,
but the main technologies are as follows:
• Inkjet printer – Far
and away, the most popular way to print photos from your home PC is the
inkjet printer. High-quality inkjet printers, in combination with the
right photo paper and inks, can give you beautiful prints. There is also a
wide variety of specialty inks and papers available that will allow the
creative digital photographer to create everything from custom greeting
cards to works of art. Some of these printers can now accept memory cards,
allowing you to make prints without a computer.
• Dye sublimation printer
– Special “dye-sub” printers are now available specifically designed
for printing your digital photos at home. These printers use special
ribbons and heat-sensitive paper to produce photo-like prints. These
usually print on paper that comes in standard photo sizes (4-by-6 inches,
5-by-7 inches, etc.). These printers can be very small, are fast and are
quiet.
Tips to making great prints
1.
Keep your camera set at the highest possible resolution and lowest
compression settings.
2.
Avoid using Digital Zoom – while digital zoom may get you closer to your
subject, it often produces an image that is distorted and fuzzy.
3.
Video cameras – if you’re planning on shooting still photos, use a still
camera. While video cameras are capable of shooting still shots, the
quality is not even close to what you can get with a digital still camera.
4.
Cameraphones and PDAs – Everyone is carrying cameraphones and PDAs these
days, and most of the new ones have built-in cameras. The resolution of
these cameras are usually very low, however, and not optimized for
keepsake quality prints. If you do want to make prints from these devices,
you can usually remove their media card and put them in your computer just
like any other media card.
5.
Always make a backup – there is always a possibility of losing the digital
information on your memory card or your computer’s hard drive, so save
your digital images until you have prints or CD-ROM ”Digital Negatives”
made.
6. If burning a CD of the
images to print at home, be sure it actually worked before bringing the CD
into the lab.
How can
I get the best prints from my inkjet printer?
Practice. There is a little more to it than that, but in spite of all
the advertising hype about photo realistic prints, making the best prints
is not a science, but rather a craft. You get better as you make a print,
evaluate it, make adjustments and try again. Here are some tips on getting
better prints from a photo quality inkjet printer:
Be
sure the dpi (resolution) of your image file is correct. All inkjet
printers today are optimized for an image at 200-300 dpi at the printed
size. The printer resolution is how the dots of ink are laid down on the
paper by the printer and has nothing to do with the dpi of the actual
image file. Image dpi higher or lower than 200-300 dpi (the actual number
will vary depending on the printer, the paper used and your personal
preference) will produce worse images from the printer. A high dpi for
printer resolution can help make the image more photo-realistic to a
degree, but this also depends on the pattern of how the inkjet puts the
ink down.
Paper, paper, paper.
You must use the right paper, a paper optimized for photos. There are many
choices available now, from glossy to mat to canvas surfaces, but the
paper must be white enough and coated properly for inkjet inks.
Set
the driver carefully.
When you go to print, check on the printer’s properties. You must choose
the proper image quality (usually “Best”) and the right paper. You may
have to experiment with a couple of sheets of paper to get the right
setting if your particular paper isn’t listed. Select "color management"
(such as ICM) if your printer driver has it.
Test.
Try a print, evaluate it, make adjustments to the photo and print again.
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