Problem with printing pictures

Diamond · Mar 12, 2005

I have a problem when printing pictures.. I am using a digital canon camera, i have saved the shots on a cd and sent them to be developed in the studio, but the quality of the pictures were very bad after printing, maybe because the paper used was glossy.. is there a particular kind of paper that should be used that would give best results??

Mumfandc · Mar 12, 2005

Glossy or matte...the paper surface is usually irrelevant. What do you mean by "bad"? Blurriness? Color cast? If it's a color cast that's the problem, then you need to make sure your monitor is calibrated to the standards of your printer.

Also, you have to consider your resolution. Many (usually consumer) digital cameras shoot images at 72 dpi resolution which is intended for use on the WEB. When PRINTING an image, standard is 300 dpi for good quality images. I think people are really mislead by companies when it comes to "MEGAPIXELS". Some 5.0 MP digital cameras will say "Take pictures as large as 20"x30"!!" But technically...you can print that image the size of a football field if you wanted to...

When you convert a 5.0 MP image into 300dpi resolution you can only print a standard "good quality" image around 8x10 inches. Any larger and you get interpolation which are added pixels which are "made-up" to fill in the gaps and degrade the image the larger you resize it.

But if you want to know...the paper which many consumer labs and the vast majority of expensive pro-labs print colored images on (w/Lightjet, Chromira and other "continuous tone" high-resolution processes) is Fuji Crystal Archive. It's pretty much a standard.

Nikon Fan · Mar 12, 2005

I don't think I'd say that paper surface is irrelevant...I bought some cheap paper from walmart and it was horrible because the surface wouldn't hold the black inks for some reason. The better paper prints better pics IMO.

Unimaxium · Mar 12, 2005

eromallagadnama said:
I don't think I'd say that paper surface is irrelevant...I bought some cheap paper from walmart and it was horrible because the surface wouldn't hold the black inks for some reason. The better paper prints better pics IMO.

But if they were printed in a lab, then chances are they'd use a decent paper. I think the point is that glossy vs matte shouldn't make much of a difference. Technically, I've heard that glossy tends to be sharper due to the way light reflects off the surface, but in this situation I don't think it is enough of a difference to make any kind of real change in quality. But you're right that good paper can make all the difference from bad paper.

Mumfandc · Mar 14, 2005

eromallagadnama said:
I don't think I'd say that paper surface is irrelevant...I bought some cheap paper from walmart and it was horrible because the surface wouldn't hold the black inks for some reason.

Oh I wasn't referring to inkjet papers...but photographic papers.

Diamond · Mar 15, 2005

Mumfandc, eromallagadnama, unimaxium
Thanx alot for the information

kfoster · Mar 15, 2005

If these shots were done at a lab then they probably weren't printed unless they are larger then 11x14 or 12x18. Labs will typically make true photographs when doing a digital print just like printing film unless the image is larger then the above mentioned sizes. The machine casts the digital image on photo paper like it would for printing when using a negative.

I think your problem is your lab. Or, are you converting your files before sending them to the lab?

Try a different lab.

K