May 06, 2008

How Can I Improve My Photo Prints?

By Kara Hiltz

PrinTip: The Secret to Printing Success Lies in Your Paper and Your Printer Driver

Frustration rears its ugly head when you snap the perfect photo and perhaps even spend time making it more perfect (perfecter?) in Photoshop or another image-editing program only to have your printer output garbage. Before you toss your printer in the garbage, read this Post because we'll show you a simple way to ensure that your photo prints elicit "oohs" and "aahs" from your family and friends. And most importantly, you won't need to invest much time.

Paper In, Paper Out

Think about what lies between your printer and your photo prints — paper! If you don't adjust your printer driver settings for the correct paper type, your printer won't release the right amount of ink. For example, if you ever printed a photo on plain paper and the printout was drenched in ink, your printer may have thought it was glossy photo paper. Unless your printer knows your paper type, it can't adjust its ink output.

Jon Canfield wrote the book on the settings in printer drivers — literally. In Print Like a Pro: A Digital Photographer's Guide, he discusses this topic in considerable depth plus many other topics beyond the scope of this Post. Below you'll find a summary of steps for setting the correct paper type in both Mac and Windows environments.

Take Advantage of Software If Available

If possible, use a color profile for the paper you plan to use. In fact, you may want to shop for paper based on the availability of a printer profile. (Read our PrinTip, What Are Color Profiles and Where Can I Find Them?) In conjunction with the color profile, use an image editor like Photoshop to apply the printer profile, thus offering you more control than your printer driver.

Also, check your printer's manual to see if your manufacturer offers any streamlined printing software. Epson offers software called EasyPrint that enables you to bypass your printer driver. EasyPrint works directly with your image-editing program to determine printer driver settings for you. This route is the easiest one, so take advantage if your manufacturer offers similar software for your printer model.

Choose From Two Printer-Setting Paths In Windows

If you use Windows, you can tweak your printer settings right from within the application you use to print your photo by opening the Print dialog box, or you can access the Printers And Faxes area through the Start menu to adjust printer settings. While the Printers And Faxes area offers system-specific settings in addition to printer-specific settings, your image-editing software's Print dialog box offers an easy-to-access option. Both choices guide you to the same settings if you're working with printer-specific adjustments (which you are), so you can choose whichever path you find more comfortable.

In the Printers And Faxes area, you can modify your printer settings by right-clicking on your printer icon and choosing Printing Preferences. If you access printer settings through an application's Print dialog box, click the Properties button to view the same settings.

From this point, you'll see different options and tabs depending on your printer. Canfield walks you through the settings for Canon, Epson, and HP printers. In particular, if you're using an HP printer, you must select an option from the What Do You Want To Do? list to view relevant paper types. For example, if you choose Photo Printing - Borderless from the list, you can choose from a list of photo paper types, whereas the default General Everyday Printing option offers only plain paper.

Divulge Your Paper Type to Your Mac

In Mac OS X, you must choose your printer settings through the Print dialog box in your Mac's image-editing software, such as Photoshop or iPhoto. Instead of tabs, you can access different setting categories through the Print dialog box's main pop-up menu, which you'll find right below the Printer and Presets pop-up menus. Choose your printer from the Printer pop-up menu, and then choose any stored settings you might want to use from the Presets pop-up menu. Or if you don't know about presets, just use the default Standard preset. To adjust your paper type, choose Quality & Media from the main pop-up menu (choose Print Settings for Epson printers). Then, you can choose your paper type from the Media Type pop-up menu that displays.

You can also adjust several other printer settings to get your photo prints just the way you want them. For more information about these additional settings, read the sample chapter, Using Printer Settings, from Jon Canfield's book. And remember, you can find just about any printer driver in our PrinTip, Where Can I Find Printer Drivers?

About PrinTips
Sometimes useful, sometimes fun, and always interesting, PrinTips enable you to get more out of your ink jet or laser printer. That said, we don't profess to have a monopoly on printer tips so if you have anything to add, please do so below.