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printing photographs

How to Choose the Right Printer for Graphic Design

by Rich on September 15, 2009

Planning to print out your own business cards and brochures? If you’re not doing huge print runs, printing on your home or office printer may be your only option. But not every printer is equipped to handle the demands of graphic design printing. Here are a few things to look for when choosing a printer to print your marketing collateral.

Colour printing capabilities. You’ll need excellent colour printing capabilities if you want to use your printer for business graphics. Look for a printer with a high DPI number. The acronym “DPI” means “dots per inch,” and it refers to the amount of coverage per square inch that the printer is capable of. The higher the DPI number, the richer and more vibrant the colours.

Photo printing capabilities. Will you be printing photographs as part of your brochures? If so, look for a photo inkjet printer—while laser printers can print decent-quality photo images, they don’t look as good as an inkjet’s photos. In addition, consider the type of camera you’ll be using and the method it requires for connecting to a printer. Is your printer compatible, or will you have to download your images to your computer first?

The per-page cost. Manufacturers and your office supply store should be able to tell you how much the printer you’re considering would cost to print per page. Bear in mind, however, that manufacturers often estimate the per-page cost by assuming an ink-on-paper coverage of about 5%. If you’re printing graphic design documents, you’ll probably be printing on a higher quality setting and using thicker coverage—so your per page costs will likely be higher than the manufacturers’ estimates.

Margin printing capability. Some inkjet printers won’t print all the way to the edge of a document. This may be a problem for you if you’re printing business cards, brochures, direct mail postcards and so on. You’ll either have to take that design limitation into account when creating your documents, or you’ll have to find a printer that can print all the way to the edge. Make sure you ask your office supply store staff before buying a printer.

Print speed. Because you’re going to be printing higher-quality documents than the usual, most printers’ fast print speeds will probably be much faster than you’ll actually experience with the printer. If you can, find out how long the printer takes to print photo-quality or best-quality documents, including processing time—more complex files require additional time to process, and some printers are faster at this than others.

Bear in mind that Laserjet printers are often much faster than inkjet, but they have their own drawbacks as graphic design printers. Print speed may be important to you—especially if you’re printing several hundred documents at once on a regular basis—but you may have to make sacrifices in terms of quality to get a faster printer.

Multifunctionality. How do you plan to use your printer? If you could see the usefulness of a printer that also scans and copies documents, you may need a multifunctional printer. These printers often function as scanners, copy machines, and sometimes even fax machines.

Print mediums. Not every printer can print on every medium. Some printers—particularly Laserjet printers—can only print on paper with a weight of 105 gsm (grams per square metre) or lower. Others have the capability to handle a wide range of mediums and heavy papers, from card stock to menu paper. Look for a printer that can handle the mediums you plan to print on.

Graphic design printing demands a lot from printers, and not all machines are designed to handle these demands. Still, there are some printers out there that can deliver the print quality you need to print business marketing collateral. Look for a printer that doesn’t compromise on quality, but also doesn’t break your budget—and bear in mind that your per-page costs will likely matter more than the initial cost outlay for the printer. Test the printer before you buy to judge its print quality, speed, and the way it handles the mediums you want to print on—and you should be able to find the right printer for your needs.

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Printing vs. Developing Photos: The Pros and Cons

by Rich on June 18, 2009

Getting your photos printed used to be simple: you give your roll of film to a developer at a camera store or department store, wait an hour or a few days, return and pick up your developed shots. Today you can print your own photos from home, and the options are endless-in terms of papers, ink, and types of printers. So should you print your own photos from home, or go the more traditional route and take them in to be developed? Here’s a look at the pros and cons.

Printing Your Photos At Home

If you have a digital camera, printing your pictures at home is the obvious choice.  Inkjet printers are often easy to get: they’re low-cost, and sometimes they’re thrown in for free when you buy a computer.  Printing at home definitely has its advantages, but it has its drawbacks as well.

One of the biggest reasons why some people prefer to print at home is the convenience. There’s no traveling to the store to drop off film and pick up prints, and there’s no waiting-you get your prints immediately.  In addition, you can print only the pictures you want-you don’t have to print all the pictures on your digital card.  In addition, with photo manipulation software, you can experiment with your images on your own and create some interesting effects.

Printing isn’t perfect, however. The printers are typically inexpensive, but photo printer ink and paper can be costly.  Some people prefer to have professionals deal with removing red-eye and adjusting the lighting and contrast in the pictures; with digital printing, you have to do it yourself. While using printing software isn’t difficult, some people would rather not spend time learning how to use the software and printer to best effect.

The most frustrating thing about printing your own photos, however, is what happens when problems arise. When you send your pictures away to be developed, you never have to deal with printer jams or figure out why that strange line is appearing on your pictures.  If you don’t have the right combination of printer, ink and paper, the quality of your prints may be very low-and even the best printers and ink don’t produce quality as good as what you’ll get from a developer.

If you have a digital camera, printing at home isn’t your only option. Some development centers allow you to bring digital pictures in on a disc or thumb drive, and there are also online picture development companies that will print digital images and mail them back to you-no waiting involved.

Professional Picture Development

The first thing you’ll notice with professionally developed pictures is that the image quality is generally better than what you’ll get with home-printed shots. This is usually the case no matter what type of Inkjet printer you have. It tends to be less expensive per picture to get your pictures developed at a store-you don’t have to buy ink or paper, and you don’t need special printing equipment. For these reasons, some people have chosen to stick with the traditional route even if they have digital cameras.

The downside is the lack of convenience. You usually have to wait to get your photos, and you may have to travel to pick them up. If you want to print a larger sized photograph, you may have to pay considerably more-or the store may not be able to handle your request. With home printing, it’s just as easy to print a large photo as a small one, provided your software supports it. If you’re experimenting with different photography techniques, special requests can be expensive.

So which method is right for you? It depends. There are benefits and drawbacks to each. Printing at the developer’s is typically less expensive and higher quality, although you’ll have to wait for your photos and there’s not much room for flexibility. You have much more room for experimentation with a home printing system, and the convenience is a big reason to invest in a photo printer-you can print only the pictures you want without waiting. You will make some sacrifices, however, in terms of cost and quality.

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