How to Print Your Digital Photographs

Digital cameras have reached saturation point. They’re now so cheap and available that most households have one and have replaced their film-based snappers with one of these more cutting edge devices. The simplicity and immediacy of digital has really helped to push the popularity of these new types of camera. Not only are they easy to use they can store many more photographs on their tiny memory cards. Not to mention that you can reuse the cards as opposed to the film rolls that you can only use once. So not only are digital cameras easier to use they’re better for the environment.

Not only have digital cameras made photography more flexible for everyone they’ve opened up the number of ways you can publish and share your pictures. Getting your precious memories off the storage card and into print is a simple enough process and now you can get your images at home without much fuss.

If you have a home PC and printer you can simply print your images directly out from there. If you use proper photo paper the results can be very good. However there are specialist home printers that you can buy to get really professional results. The good news is that you don’t have to shell out a huge amount of money on these printers to get great pictures.

Print at Home

The most popular home printers usually output in standard 6 x 4in postcard size though you can get some that go up to 5 x 7 inches. Most will come with a card slot so that you can take the memory card out of your camera and print directly without the need for a computer. They also come with small LCD screens so that you can navigate to the pictures that you want to print without fuss. The best thing about these printers is that as they’re designed specifically for photos the quality is very high. If you study the output close-up you can tell that the images aren’t from a professional printer but you really have to study the images at close quarters to tell. Best of all some of these home printers are portable and can be taken on holidays and outings for instant printing. Remember though that the paper and ink can be pricey and the printers can be very thirsty so they are generally expensive to run.

Print on the High-Street

If home printing is too much of a pain for you then you can still get your pictures printed on the high street. All you have to do is take your memory card into a photo store and you can choose which prints you want to get or just have the whole lot done in one go. The advantages to this system are that you don’t have to spend hours waiting for images to chug through a printer at home and that the quality of the prints will be better than that from a small photo printer. The initial price might also seem higher than that of a small photo printer but when you take into account the extra ink cartridges and specialist paper things even themselves out.

The bottom line is that whichever way you get your images printed the quality will be great. If you go for a home system you can choose whatever you want and in some cases take the printer with you for instant results. If you want higher quality prints and don’t have the time to spend waiting for your images to be produced then the high street printer is the best option.