Printing Digital Photos

[shacks]

Hi,

I have recently purchased a Canon Bubblejet i950 which produces great photos.

However, I am yet to find some software that can produce photoquality prints of any size up to A4. I currently use easyphoto however this only allows 6x4 or 8x6 or A4.

I have found that layout print (that also came with the printer) only produces poor, draft prints.

Please help on a (preferably free!) software that can arrange and print my photos at photo quality.

Many thanks

Paul

[ryuwulf]

Hello,

I am also experimenting with print quality.
The one thing that i have found is to have a higher
resolution than your printer .

in other words, if your printer has a max of 300 lpi, save your pic at a resolution around 450 or higher(rough guess).



You will get getter results. I read this on 3 books about printing and scanning. My only trouble is getting my monitor calibrated properly.

Some of my prints come out lighter when i print.

oh well...

good luck

[roncor]

I use QImage from http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/. You can set a Custom Size, although, I have not tried it myself. This program is very nice.

[PaulB]

Don't confuse image resolution with printer resolution - they are not the same.

It is generally accepted that for photo quality output a digital image needs to be 300dpi.
This resolution is the ideal and can be lower depending on the image subject/contrast/fine detail etc but take it as an aiming point.
For a 10"x8" print we ideally need an image of size (10x300) x (8x300)dpi = 3000x2400dpi which is nearly what a 10D will deliver.
In practice the 10D (mine anyway) will print to A3 without problems.

Setting the printer to give best results depends upon the printer resolution - which is expressed in dpi but as an inkjet printer output is made up of dots of six colours, mixed as appropriate to form each dot, the printer resolution has to be much higher than image resolution in order that you do not see each individual dot but a smooth tone or transition from one colour/shade to the next.

This is why printer resoloution for photo output starts at 720dpi and goes up to 5760dpi on the latest printers.
However setting too high a printer resolution will not always result in better prints, just use more ink.
A good starting point is 1440dpi on the printer.
My Epson 1290 shows little difference even on A3 between 1440 and 2880dpi on most subjects.
Using too high a printer resolution on a low resolution image can make the finished print look pixelated because the edges of the individual pixels are printed too sharply.
Hope this helps

[Leighow]

I have the Epson 880 .. but .. I also have PS.
***********************************

You mention poor, draft quality prints. For the 1st year or so, my prints were not really acceptable. This year, after reading all about "Color Management" on this site, when I print most G2 images they are quite close to what I see on the screen. Occasionlly black can be a problem, and I need to better understand why.

I should add that in my own case, I print only occasionally given that it costs $72 for refills. However, I alter every photo's size to suit its ideal crop. Of course I am limited to 8.5 by 11 inches.

[msvirick]

ArcSoft PhotoPrinter will print your photos in any fashion and sizes with different dimensions.
Worth looking at it.