Tips

In this article we’ll focus on meeting your output needs; in other words, choosing a printer. It’s essential to choose a printer that matches your output requirements in terms of print size, quality and longevity and also, perhaps, versatility and printing speed. Different photographers will place different priorities on these characteristics because no printer on the current market can provide an all-in-one solution for every camera user.

Inkjet prints will last longest when they are protected from direct sunlight, heat, humidity and airborne chemicals. Storing them in ø¢â‚¬Ëœarchival’ albums provides the very best protection but, with today’s long-lasting inks and papers there’s no reason not to put prints out on display – as long as you consider these issues.

Although home-based inkjet printing is far more efficient and cost-effective than the silver halide-based darkroom systems used by photographers in the past, many photo enthusiasts still complain about the high costs of printing their photographs. Fortunately, there are ways of reducing many of these costs and getting more ‘bang for your buck’ from your printer. In this feature we outline some of the strategies you can adopt.

You don’t need to pay top dollars for a printer that can make black and white (B&W) prints. It’s easy to make acceptable monochrome prints from a low-priced printer – as long as you understand how the printer driver works. By ‘acceptable’ we don’t mean ‘exceptional’. Exceptional monochrome prints require an advanced driver and three levels of black ink density. Such printers cost more than $1000. But even a $100 photo printer can make B&W prints that look better than many prints from photolabs if you go about it the right way.

It’s easy to produce your own greeting cards and a very satisfying way to share your photos with family and friends. All you need is a suitable software application, an inkjet printer and the right kind of paper and inks. (We’re focusing on ‘hard copy’ cards in this feature because there’s no shortage of online templates and services for creating e-cards.)

We’ve covered one cost-effective printing strategy in printing multiple images on a single sheet of paper. But this isn’t the only way to keep your printing costs low.

The choice of ink is dictated by the printer you buy because each printer is designed for a specific ink set. Each printer manufacturer formulates inks to meet the needs of the print heads in printers in their range. In some cases there is a different set of inks for each individual printer; in others, one ink set can be used with several models in the range.