Digital Picture Printing

An Introduction To Digital Picture Printing

Okay, so you've loaded up your hard drive with some great pictures, and now you're all done sorting through them and picking out your favorite ones, and now you're ready to print your best shots out, hang them on the wall, sell them to TIME Magazine, or show them off to friends and family. So... what do you do?

Well, when it comes to digital photograph printing, you've got a few options. Depending on what you want to do with your photos and what your resources are, you'll be able to make the decision on your own easily enough...

Visit the following sites for Digital Camera Supplies

Your Computer Printer
Whether or not you want to use your home computer printer depends on a few things. Firstly, of course, will it actually print the images in a decent resolution and with all the colors intact? Will it be able to print on glossy paper without ruining the image? Can it print an image as large as you'd like, or do you need a two foot by three foot poster? You know the answer to these questions far better than we do, of course.

Print Shops
We can't give you exact prices, as it depends on the shop you hit up, and what you need printed, but if you've never been to a print shop before, there's a good chance it costs less than you think it does. More importantly, online print shops tend to cost even less than the big chain companies. These shops can print out anything you want in any size you need on any paper you prefer, and with pretty good resolution and color quality. If it's at all necessary, the print shop should be your first choice. One piece of advice, though. If you're just wandering into the nearest print shop, look at the finished product BEFORE you pay. It's not uncommon for new, poorly trained employees to print something out in the wrong shape and size, on the wrong paper, or even completely botch the job. We're not trying to scare you off, of course. Most of the time, the employees are well trained, they know exactly what they're doing, and you'll get exactly what you want. Just remember that you're under no obligation to pay for shoddy work at these shops, and if the employee on hand tells you that you need to pay for all the paper they wasted messing the job up over and over, they're simply wrong. We advise choosing a regular shop from the more competitive world of online digital photograph print shops.

Clothing
Something a lot of people don't seem to know, it's not hard to have a T-shirt or a Christmas stocking or whatever you like emblazoned with a photograph you've taken with your digital camera. There are a few ways to go about this. First, you can go to the nearest craft store and see if they have iron-on transfer paper. You can print any image you like directly onto the paper, and iron it onto your shirt. The problem with this is that they don't hold very well. Remember those iron on transfer you used to get out of cereal boxes? After three or four washes, they'd be flaking and peeling off, which is fine if you're after the vintage look, but if you want something that will hold, you'll want to put your image on a CD and take it to a sportswear shop. A good online print shop will have the proper equipment to do a solid transfer onto nearly anything you'd like when it comes to digital picture printing.