How To Print Better Pictures or Photos with Digital Camera

It’s easy to take nice shots, but what do you do with them once they are ‘in the camera’?

If you have 4 Megapixel resolution (not ‘effective pixels’ as quoted in some camera blarb, which includes Interpolation of Pixels by the Camera) then you should be able to produce prints upto about A4 size with reasonable results, and even better at smaller sizes.

Have you tried printing the same picture at various sizes and comparing the results? The smaller ones should look better!

If printing at home, make sure your printer is set up correctly, with the appropriate settings for the paper you are using, etc. I always suggest using ‘Inkjet Paper’ if you have inkjet/dye-sub printer as the printed image does not ‘bleed’ into the paper (which causes colour problems) and it actually saves ink.

A good Photo quality paper will produce great results when used in conjuction with a Photo-printer.

If you are using ‘external’ processing and still getting bad results, then you need to check the software on your PC/Mac – Does a test print of different coloured squares appear the same as it does on screen?

Also, don’t assume that ‘external’ processing is always 100% true. I’ve had re-prints taken from the same file and the colour of the sky and trees has been slightly different.

Get someone else to take a few pictures with your camera, also to view your pics on screen before printing. Try somone else’s camera, and print a similar image on your printer, and compare!

Digital is a great way to shoot pictures, whether you are taking snap-shots ad-hoc, serious considered compositions, or shooting semi-pro set-up. It’s cheap And forgiving because you can delete what you don’t like, and decide to re-shoot where necessary!