The Secrets of Professional Photo Printing_11

Today’s home photo printers can yield equally as good results as retail photo labs, and with much more control. Wish to print on matte or rag paper? Use greeting card paper stock? Add text or captions such as scrapbooking? All are easy when you do it yourself. But getting the best quality out of your printer demands some knowledge of resolution and dpi, paper and ink types, and colour correction. Here’s what you will need to learn to create pro-quality picture prints. 1. Use the finest quality camera settings in your camera prints begin with great images. Always set your camera to the maximum resolution (number of pixels) and quality (compression level) it could capture. Typically this will be set in a menu on the LCD display, such as that of the Canon camera below. High-resolution images take more distance, and will cut the number that can fit on a memory card, but today’s memory cards are so big and inexpensive that in case you hope to run out of space until you get to a computer, it is ideal to simply get another card. Resolution and quality configurations to get a Canon camera (click to enlarge). Also get acquainted with the other picture settings on your camera, for example picture modes and white balance. To learn more, check out CNET’s The Secrets of Professional Photo Printing superb guide to scene modes, and Darren Rowse’s white balance tutorial. With the perfect exposure, your photos will shine on-screen and in print. 2. Scan at the right resolution For printing images from older negatives or prints, it is critical to use the proper scanning settings. Most scanners have a automatic mode, where you just select”record” or”photograph” as well as the scanner software figures out the remainder. For more control, change to a scan software’s expert or skilled mode, so that you may set the parameters directly. For instance, when scanning a print which is going to be enlarged, scan at a higher resolution than normal to give enough detail. Ideally, you need to end up (after editing and cropping) with an image which matches the native resolution of the printer (usually 240 or 300 dpi). Adjust the scan resolution accordingly. Scantips. Com includes a detailed tutorial. “Professional” scan settings to get an Epson scanner (click to expand ). 3. Correct exposure and color issues Now that you’ve got high-quality source pictures, it’s time to improve them. Mature scanned photos will normally have fading and colour balance issues that can often be corrected with automatic programs from your preferred photo editor, like the Tint tool in Roxio PhotoSuite (a part of Creator 2010), and also even the Enhance tool in iPhoto