Print Help and Advice Required

[Rob MacKillop]

I thought I would print a few of my efforts, B&W and colour. I bought some HP Advanced Photopaper, and used my HP Photosmart inkjet printer, and the results were uniformly terrible! Very blotchy, poor colours, just really poor overall. Quite disappointing.

So, what does one do to get acceptable prints?

I would like to maybe frame one or two of my images, so would like a decent-quality print. Can one do it on a budget, or if there only a few, would it be better to email the images off to a specialist printer?

 

[Allan Batchelor]

i have used these guys on a few occasions now Rob

Online Digital Photo Printing - 40 FREE Prints - PhotoBox

 

[Paul Lange]

I have a HP C5280 all in one printer and apart from the annoying fact that you cannot customise the colour profile it is a very good high resolution printer. I'm guessing you have could have one of the following issues.

Non Genuine Print Cartridges
Blockage in a Print Cartridge
Printing on Wrong Side of the Paper

If you want to get them printed Joan West, a member here runs a printing company I think it's called Imaging South Wales. Probably has a link on the trade section on RPF.

 

[Ralph Thornton]

I have my best images printed professionally on a LightJet 5000 photo printer. This printer uses a computer controlled set of red, green and blue lasers to expose real photo paper. The detail one can get is outstanding. I us PhotoCraft in Colorado for my printing.

 

[Pete Askew]

Probably the most cost-effective route is to use a proffesional printing service and as Paul said, Joan would be a good starting point and produced some guidance on how to submit etc. http://www.realphotographersforum.c...imaging-north-wales-rpf-loyalty-discount.html

As to your printing problems with your own printer I guess a good place to start would be as Paul suggested. Run the print test from the printer and clean / align as indicated. Then check what colour space you are using in PS and look to see that you are outputting at the correct resolution etc. Make sure also that the printer setup has the appropriate paper selected and that the resolution is OK (300 ppi) and set to photo quality.

It might be an idea to share the various setting you have so that folks can suggest any improvements etc. It should be possible to produce decent prints oneself although, as I said at the start, it might not be the most cost-effective route. But having bought printer, paper and ink it is worth doing some at least.

 

[Hamish Gill]

I can recomend Joan too! She has just done me 12 large prints and they are rather nice!
Joan is really nice too!

Otherwise ... The mentioned instructions on cleaning etc are worth a try!

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, guys. Much to consider.

 

[Joan West]

I thought I would print a few of my efforts, B&W and colour. I bought some HP Advanced Photopaper, and used my HP Photosmart inkjet printer, and the results were uniformly terrible! Very blotchy, poor colours, just really poor overall. Quite disappointing.

So, what does one do to get acceptable prints?

I would like to maybe frame one or two of my images, so would like a decent-quality print. Can one do it on a budget, or if there only a few, would it be better to email the images off to a specialist printer?

Here's our email address if you want to get in touch on Tuesday info@photoimagingwales.com or give us a ring if you prefer 01248 371060.

regards

Joan (glad you liked your prints Hamish)

 

[Hamish Gill]

Unfortunately they were looked at and returned to the packaging
Work has gone a bit nuts with work and getting new digs and new employees - such things I would never have dreamed of happening but have to take priority over everything else ... Still all good fun and the new office is going to look pretty snazzy with my photos on the wall as they rotate with the cafe

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Hi Joan, I'll be in touch after Easter.

Rob