Getting Great Photo Prints From Your Digital Camera

The first step to getting great digital photo prints, is to make sure you use a good quality digital camera.

Digital photos are gaining popularity over traditional film photos because of the features and convenience associated with the newer technology. In some cases it's even more cost effective to print your own photos at home instead of taking them to a developer or sending them in.

Here are some words of wisdom for making great digital photo prints at home.

There are really 4 key components to a great printed photo: Image, Printer, Ink, Paper. Each is part interrelated therefore equally important for success.

The image is the starting point for a good photo. There are many different camera models out there, but in general, you will need at least 3.2 megapixel picture taking ability. Some snazzy digital SLR cameras have 8 megapixels or more. The camera should always be set to the highest resolution while taking the shots just in case you want to make enlargements later on.

Image transfer is crucial! Do not just throw the highest pixel image at some paper, you may not be happy with the results.

Sometimes, too high of a pixel count will create unsightly jagged color transitions in your photo and waste a lot of your ink and time. Too few pixels and the photos will turn out very "grainy". It's usually best to stay within the 200-300 pixels per inch range.

This chart may help you determine your appropriate photo sizes.


Print Size : Good Results (200 ppi) : Excellent Results (300 ppi)
========================================================
4x6 inch ... 800 by 1200 px (~1 mpx) ..... 1200 by 1800 px (~2 mpx)
5x7 inch ... 1000 by 1400 px (~1.5 mpx) .. 1500 by 2100 px (~3 mpx)
8x10 inch .. 1600 by 2000 px (~3 mpx) .... 2400 by 3000 px (~7 mpx)
11x14 inch . 2200 by 2800 px (~6 mpx) .... 3300 by 4200 px (~14 mpx)
16x20 inch . 3200 by 4000 px (~13 mpx) ... 4800 by 6000 px (~29 mpx)

Legend
========
px = Pixels
mpx = Megapixels
ppi = Pixels per inch


(data compiled from PC World.com)


For example, if you had a picture taken with a 1.5 Megapixel digital camera, a 5x7 inch print is probably the largest size print that would work. Anything larger than a 5x7, may not look good.

However, if you had a picture taken with a 14 Megapixel camera, you should be able to print out a 11x14 inch print with excellent results (300ppi), or a "good" looking 16x20 inch print at 200 ppi.

In addition to the digital camera image, there are a few other components that go into making good quality digital photos you'll want to be aware of: Your printer, the ink cartridges you use, and the quality of the photo paper you use. Each component factors into your end result.

So How Long Will Your Digital Prints Last?

Once revolutionary, digital cameras have become a fact of everyday life.

While digital photography has many benefits, consumers need to be aware of the risks facing their images. Because hard drives and digital media can be damaged and file formats can become obsolete, making photographic prints with the highest-quality inkjet printing technology is the best way to share and preserve memories.

But can an inkjet print last as long as traditional lab prints? With some basic understanding regarding print longevity, today's photos, printed on affordable home printers, can last 100 years or more-far longer than traditional color lab prints, which is important since nearly three out of four people want their photos to last forever, according to a recent PictureMate Family Memories Survey, conducted by Harris Interactive.

Today, inkjet prints can be made on a wide variety of papers with dye- or pigment-based inks. Although both can provide excellent quality, dye-based inks achieve lower levels of longevity on different kinds of paper while pigment-based inks offer greater resistance to light, ozone and water on a variety of papers.

So with the goal of keeping those treasured photos for years to come, remember the following points:

1. Ink & Paper Make A Big Difference

Major printer manufacturers design ink and paper to work as a system to deliver the highest possible print quality and, in some cases, the best possible print longevity. The Epson Stylus C88, for example, retailing for about $79, uses Epson DuraBrite Ultra pigment inks and produces prints that can last more than 100 years when framed under glass.

Consumers looking to save money by purchasing ink cartridges and/or paper from third parties, including store brands and even traditional film manufacturers, should beware. Their prints may not have the same image quality or longevity as the printer manufacturer's system of ink and paper.

Buyers should also be skeptical of any one-size-fits-all, universal compatibility claims for nonbrand ink and paper.

2. Too Much Light

There is no greater danger for a photo than direct exposure to light. However, when it comes to light, photos printed by inkjet printers can fare much better than traditional lab prints.

It's important to understand a printer's capability to provide protection against fading that best meets your needs.

If you don't know how your printer stacks up, or are considering buying a new printer and want an independent comparative longevity rating, you can visit Wilhelm Imaging Research at www.wilhelm-research.com.

3. Even Photos Hate Air Pollution

Gaseous pollutants, especially ozone, can directly affect how long an inkjet print lasts. The best and simplest way to protect any photo from gaseous pollut-ants, including smoke and cooking fumes, is to keep displayed photos behind glass in a frame, or in photo albums, and choose a printer that uses a pigment-based ink, which has greater resistance to ozone.

4. Keep 'Em Cool & Dry

Lastly, high temperature and humidity levels can negatively affect the longevity of photos. This goes for large prints displayed openly, as well as snapshots stored in shoeboxes in the back of a closet. Fortunately, home printers that use pigment-based inks when used with the right papers offer great resis-tance to humidity and temperature extremes.



There are four points to focus on so your photo memories won't fade.

Turn Your Old Photo Paper Prints into Modern Digital Format Albums

Although digital cameras have been around for a few years and are becoming more and more popular many of us still have a large number of older film camera paper prints, slides and negatives. Most people keep their paper prints and negatives at their homes and only use digital formats for new photos they shoot with their new digital cameras. In this article we will discuss converting your old paper prints into digital format.

Photos are usually kept at home in one of three formats:

Paper prints: the most common format, usually at sizes like 4X6 and 5X7. Over time paper prints tend to lose their quality. Depending on how well they are kept the paper might turn yellow and bend and the colors might fade.

Negatives: also known simply as film. This is the processed film usually 35mm from which the prints where made. Although negatives can get damaged over time they are more likely to maintain their high quality. Negatives are hardly used unless new paper prints are needed.

Slides: very similar to negatives used for projecting photos on a large screen.

There are many advantages to digital photography. Having your photo album in digital format allows you to easily print paper copies either at home or using a printing service, to view your photos on your computer, to share photos with friends and family and maybe most importantly to practically archive your photos for eternity. So if digital format is that good why not convert all those old photos from traditional paper and negatives to digital? Here is how:

There are different considerations when converting from paper to digital. Professional photographers spend a lot of time and money on this process. For most amateurs and consumers very simple methods can be used which are both cheap and easy. Scanning paper prints and negatives requires different equipment and considerations. For most home users scanning the negatives is not necessary.

Scanning paper photos prints

Photo paper prints are easy to scan. You can choose to scan them yourself at home (purchasing a scanner that can do the job is usually cheap and costs less than a $100). You can also choose to mail them (or hand them) to a professional scanning service that will scan them for you and mail you back the originals and a DVD with the digital scans (such services include www.digmypics.com, www.digitalpickle.com, www.britepix.com and many more)

There are pros and cons to scanning at home or using a professional service. If you have a small number of photos scanning at home is easier. If you have plenty of photos using a service might be easier but you can end up spending more money. In addition mailing your one and only hardcopy of your photos is a risk since they might get lost.

If you are going to scan at home consider the following:

Resolution: the resolution of a scan is measured by the number of dots per inch that the scanner can produce. Most scanners can scan at 1200 DPI or more. Usually the scanner can be set to scan at different resolutions. The higher the resolution the slower the scan and the bigger the photo file size will be. For most paper prints scanning at 300 to 600 DPI is enough but you can experiment scanning at higher resolutions if you feel it provides better results.

Speed: If you have a small number of photos speed is not an issue. If you have hundreds or more of photos scanning speed becomes important. To get fast scans you would have to scan at the lowest resolution possible that results in good enough scans – for most paper prints 300 to 600 DPI is enough.. Also if you’re going to buy a scanner check the scanning speed (usually measured in the number of scans per minute make sure that you check the speed at the DPI you’re going to use).

Photo feeding: if you only have a small number of photos this is not an issue. If you have many photos make sure that the scanner you buy allows fast and easy loading of photos. Some higher-end scanners will let you load a stack of photos and will automatically feed and scan them for you. These scanners are the right choice if you are planning on scanning hundreds or more photos.

Scanning negatives and slides

Scanning negatives and slides is harder than scanning paper prints. In most cases it is easier and maybe cheaper to use a professional scanning service (such services include www.slidescanning.com, www.myspecialphotos.com, www.pixmonix.com and many more). If you want to scan at home your standard flat scanner will not be good enough. In most cases you will need to spend money on purchasing a film/slides scanner. Those scanners are more expensive than the flat paper scanners. Negatives and slides are small high resolution sources and thus require scanning at higher DPI than paper prints. In most cases 2400DPI or higher should be used.

The considerations for scanning negatives and slides are similar to scanning paper prints. If you need to scan just a few negatives or slides speed and ease are not important but if you’re going to scan hundreds or more you should spend more money on scanners that can feed the negatives or slides automatically or can just load a roll of film and scan it.

The good news is that in most cases scanning negatives is not needed at all. For most amateurs and consumers scanning home photo paper prints is more than enough and scanning the source negatives is a not needed. It is recommended of course to keep the negatives in a safe place. You can use the digital scans for future prints or just for viewing on your computer screen and sharing with your friends and family.

In conclusion scanning your photo paper prints is easy. You can do it yourself at home or you can use a professional scanning service. You can convert all your memories into digital format with a small investment and make sure that you can enjoy those photos and also keep them in their original quality for eternity.