printing help

[randy_nacol2002]

I'm thinking about entering some photo's in our county fair here in Bakersfield. I normaly don't worry about perfection in my printing. Could some of you all give me some tips about doing great prints. I'm also thinking about sending some of the pictures out to ,if so what site would do the best ? Thanks in advance ...

[tomlaronge]

Randy,

I think that if you want constructive printing suggestions you will need to tell us what printer and paper you are going to use, what print size you plan to make and perhaps you need to post here your images so we can see what might be best for a given image.

As you know, "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" so what turns on one person may turn off another. In general, if you are doing general photography as opposed to fine art printing, I would suggest you consider using a paper surface somewhere between a true glossy and a semi-gloss like a luster. Depending upon printer, you might want to keep your printer resolution at or near about 300 ppi for images at or below a size of 8" X 10" and at about 240 ppi for larger images.

I suggest that one of the most important edting steps for a good print is to adjust your range of colors and their densities to produce a snappy, eye-catcing picture. This probably entails that you minimize clipping and optimize the detail in your images.

Best of success and please share your blue ribbon with us.
Tom

[randy_nacol2002]

Sorry it took so long to get back Tom. We had to spend all day at the Vets yesterday with a litter of kittens . I just bought an Epson 580 printer so I'm still getting use to it. As far as the paper I'll be using Kodak , not sure semi gloss or high gloss yet. All my photo's are under 200 ppi but I'll edit them to 300. When I saved them the first time I saved them for web but I do plan to save for printing. I have even thought of sending them out to A professional printer like Photo Works. Or even Wal mart. I hear they do a good job as well.

[Fernan]

Hi Randy, try using Epson paper is made for Epson printers. You get better prints using the printer manufacturer paper. That has been my experience.

[tomlaronge]

Randy,

I second the recommendation for Epson paper with your printer. Epson paper tends to be a bit on the expensive side, but i find this to be worth the difference to my way of thinking. I do print with Epson paper, Ilford paper and Red River paper routinely and not for fine art printing, which I rarely do. My favorite overall is the Epson paper although there are some advantageous differences for certain images with the other papers. And, Randy, even an untrained eye can see visual differences among these papers.

At least twice per year Epson paper goes on sale and many dealers routinely discount this between about 10% and 15%. So, take a good look at your dealer for a break or check out the better places on the internet and particularly where free shipping is included in the paper purchase price.

If you have 20ppi image files, going to 300 ppi may result in a disservice to the image. You might try some experimenting by comparing the results of printing at 200 ppi, 220 ppi, 240 ppi and 300 ppi. I suspect your best results will be closer to the 24o ppi mark than the 300 ppi mark. In any event, I think your experiments will be well worth the efforts and guide you correctly to the best results for you.

Tom