Digital Photography 101 - The Basics Of Digital Photo Printing

With digital photography there are many ways you can share your pictures but for those really good photos, most people still want to print them out and frame them for all to see.

In addition to framing and displaying your best pictures, there are several other reasons that you may want to print your photos. Here are just a few ways you can use printed pictures:

* Framed for the mantle, table and wall displays

* Posters

* Wallet pictures

* Memory books

* Greeting cards

* Photo crafts

* Photo competitions

Even in our digital day and age, we still have lots of interesting and beautiful things to do in print! But printing a photograph isn't as easy as selecting "Print" on your computer. Printing a quality print of a photograph is trickier than printing, say, a flyer. These photo printing tips will help make the process easier so you can get better quality prints.

Digital Photography 101 - Pixels Matter

Before you resize a picture on your computer, figure out first if you may ever want to print it. If so, always keep a copy of the original.

Anytime you think you may want to print a picture that you take, make sure that the image is taken in high enough resolution. With so many digital cameras on the market, the best rule of thumb is to always set your camera on the highest resolution possible- this way you'll always be able to print an image when you want and not be disappointed.

If you want a quality picture, it's important that you use the proper settings on your printer. Look at your camera manual or the manufacturers recommendations on their website. You can then use a photo editor to resample the pictures to the right dpi. If you're new to digital photo printing, dpi stands for "dots per inch.". The higher the number of dots per inch the finer the picture grain will be and the better your photo will look. The ink jet printers on the market today that are used for quality photo prints often have dpi resolution of around 1200 to 4800. This sort of dpi will produce quality prints of photographs that have around 140 to 300 pixels per inch.

Please note that the ppi or pixels per inch is the measurement for the resolution of a photograph taken with a digital camera, not to be confused with the height and width of the photo. For example a 200 pixel x 300 pixel photograph would be quite small, while a photo with a 300 ppi needn't be small because ppi refers to the quality not the physical size of the picture.

Digital Photography 101 - Paper for Picture Perfect Prints

Make sure to use photo printing paper and if possible, use paper that is recommended by your printer's manufacturer for best results. For projects like greetings cards, use special card stock paper. Both are sold at many office supply and crafts stores, as well as online.

If you need extra large prints or high quality photographs, you should go to your local photography store or order them from a reputable online retailer.

Have fun printing your digital images!