Print quality with Nikon D60 and Kodak ESP 7

[jmwe29]

I've been using a Nikon D 60 with a 300mm lens to photograph birds at my feeders, and I'm getting some great photos. I want to print some of these up for half size notecards to give as gifts this fall and winter. I tried using card stock, and have set the printer (Kodak ESP 7) for best quality, but the colors are all washed out. This printer automatically detects photo paper, so I'm wondering if I'll have to use expensive photo paper to get that kind of quality, or if there's a way around this? I tried darkening the photos with HP software, but you can tell when the photos have been altered, and the quality still isn't as good as I'd like. My HP printer actually does a better job, but it won't allow me to keep the quarter inch margin all around, and apparently there's no way around that one. Does anyone know how to get photo quality prints on lesser paper on that Kodak printer?

 

[Boomn4x4]

I've been using a Nikon D 60 with a 300mm lens to photograph birds at my feeders, and I'm getting some great photos. I want to print some of these up for half size notecards to give as gifts this fall and winter. I tried using card stock, and have set the printer (Kodak ESP 7) for best quality, but the colors are all washed out. This printer automatically detects photo paper, so I'm wondering if I'll have to use expensive photo paper to get that kind of quality, or if there's a way around this? I tried darkening the photos with HP software, but you can tell when the photos have been altered, and the quality still isn't as good as I'd like. My HP printer actually does a better job, but it won't allow me to keep the quarter inch margin all around, and apparently there's no way around that one. Does anyone know how to get photo quality prints on lesser paper on that Kodak printer?

Order them from the Internets... mpix.com shutterfly.com etc.... They do all the work for you, and once you factor in the cost of buying paper and the price of ink... its usually cheaper.