Digital photo printing has revolutionized the way photo printing is done. There is no use if you keep storing all the images you shot on your digital camera on the computer hard disk or on the memory card. To enjoy them more you need to print out those photographs. It will be a great idea to see all those fantastic digital pictures as hard copy or printed photographs. Let us now see how we could go about digital photo printing.



The fun part of digital photo printing is you can do it at home! But before that you need to consider the following that will get you started:

First buy a good printer. You don't need more than ink jet printer – at least six colors to start with.

Secondly, buy photo-editing software. Look for simple software under $100 that has more automatic features like color correction, brightness control; auto focus etc. next step is to get good quality paper. Don't compromise on this; invest in thick glossy paper which will give you high quality prints. Another important thing that you need to consider is the DPI or dots per inch. For normal 4 by 6 inches prints 300 dpi is adequate. For 5 by 7 or 8 by 10 you can go up to 600 dpi. Depending on your printer and software you may be able to print up to 1200 dpi, which is more than adequate.

Digital photo printing requires few components that make up the total process of printing. There are many good printers designed exclusively for the sake of printing digital camera photos. These printers are sold along with cartridges and photo papers and not meant for printing everyday document. These digital printers can transfer the images from your digital camera onto photo paper with great degree of quality and perfection. Generally the ink and paper are sold together when you buy a good printer and it will cost roughly 30 – 70 cents on an average per print. The best part is the printers themselves have become inexpensive and very affordable.

Another advantage in digital photo printing using these inexpensive printers is you do not require a computer for their functioning. You can print directly from the digital camera. Some cameras also enable the users to connect directly to a PictBridge compatible printer using USB cable. Some printers include memory card slots, which make it really simple to print images direct without even using up the battery in your camera! Few examples of these great printers are: Canon's Selphy DS700 and CP330; among many others.

Hope you got some good idea about the various digital photo-printing devices. Make sure that before starting to use, play around with the settings take a few test print outs on ordinary paper and then migrate to expensive photo paper. And most important don't forget to have fun while you enjoy the digital photo printing experience!