Printing Photos using Canon Deskjet Printer

[srijan_roy_choudhury]

<p>Hello friends<br /><br />I own a <strong>Canon Pixma MP180 printer</strong>. Recently after acquiring my D90, I have decided to take some print out of the photos rather than going to any Photo Lab.<br /><br />I have never printed photographs with this printer of mine, so please help me out in printing, <strong>how exactly should I approach the whole thing so that I get best possible result out of this printer</strong>.<br /><br />To test, I have taken print outs of 4 photos on a A4 Photocopier Paper (ordinary paper, mainly suitable for document printing), through Picasa3 but the colors do not look great, I would say that colors look blotchy.<br /><br />I shoot RAW and save the files to highest quality JPEGS with 300dpi resolution. <strong>The color-space I use to save JPEGs is sRGB</strong>.<br /><br />Please help<br /><br />Thank you</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>The single most important step is to use paper meant for this purpose, and then, when printing, to tell the Canon print driver dialog <em>which paper you're using</em>. The matchup between the paper and the simple, available options in the printer driver will be easiest if you choose quality photo paper sold by Canon (since their own software will know exactly what it is, and how to apply the ink to it). <br /><br />If your prints are too dark, then your computer's display is probably too bright.</p>

[srijan_roy_choudhury]

<p>Thanks Matt<br>

No the photos were neither dark nor overtly bright. The exposure was reproduced fine (to my untrained and inexperienced eyes at least). Though there was lack of color gamut, I mean all the color ranges were not printed, as I could see on my CRT monitor.<br>

I told the "Printer Driver" that "Normal Paper" was being used and chose "Normal" quality print. It seems that the paper might have soaked some ink, as the papers are not that thick...I can partly see through the paper if I look at a light source (like a 40 watt fluorescent light).<br>

So exactly what type of paper I should use? Will this printer be good enough to reproduce a photo 8"x10" suitable for framing? And should I lower the dpi to 240? Well, as I said this is first time I am trying to print photos with this printer and unfortunately I can not afford to experiment much as the printer cartridges are very costly. :(</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Yes, thin generic paper not meant for photographic prints will definitely look awful. It's just the way it is!<br /><br />I'm an Epson guy, not a Canon guy, but the same rules apply. First thing you have to decide is if you want a glossy surface to your prints, or a matte surface (or somewhere in between). You can use <strong><a href="http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/standard_display/resources-and-learning-consumer/reference_materials-consumer/paper_guide">this page on Canon's web site</a></strong> to get a couple of paper model numbers, so you can go shopping. Scroll down that page for the "serious" paper. Yes, you'll be able to frame it!</p>

[srijan_roy_choudhury]

<p>Thanks for the Link Matt.<br>

I am thinking of "Framing" the final print. What do you think about the prints suitability (in terms of print quality) to frame, provided I print on a good quality photo paper? Moreover, is it not better to print on a Matte paper if I intend to frame the photograph?</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Certainly I prefer matte paper if I'll be framing the print behind glass. A lot of it depends on where you'll be hanging the print (lots of window light, etc, causing glare/reflections? etc).<br /><br />If you mount the print in a mat board, be sure to use acid-free materials, so that the print paper isn't subjected to non-neutral pH.<br /><br />You should certainly be able to print a frame-worthy, and long-lived print if you use quality materials. Canon says that the ink from that unit's cartridges should give you a 100-year print. Let's assume that's only half true ... 50 years isn't bad. Keep the prints out of direct sunlight, and that will help.</p>

[srijan_roy_choudhury]

<p>Thanks Matt....excellent response...<br>

I would be hanging it on the wall, most probably the wall beside the staircase with my other photos. The lights will be natural, but not direct sunlight.<br>

Regarding framing, I would be giving it to a shop, and I hope that they would use Acid Free pH, but honestly, I can not be sure. Frankly speaking, in my country these trades are still traditional and mainly done by artisans who are doing it for generations. So they are good on "skill" but not knowledgeable about the nuances of the trade...sadly.</p>

<p>Please tell me whether I should print from TIFF or best quality JPEGs saved from RAW files? Secondly, whether I should change the color space to AdobeRGB from sRGB? Thirdly, should I reduce the resolution to 240dpi from 300dpi? And finally, is there anything that I should do before printing which I might have missed to ask you?<br>

Thanks again Matt....</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>For simplicity, I would just leave everything in sRGB. There's no need to change from the slightly smaller gamut of sRGB to Adobe RGB <em>after</em> you've captured the image. You should be able to print very satisfactorily from either the high-quality JPG or the TIF. Just keep those original NEF files around, in case you need to rething your results, later.<br /><br />I would just leave the image's resolution at 300 dpi, and let Canon's printer driver handle the task of getting it to your printer correctly. Can't really comment on any other preparation steps, other than to give some thought to the fact that when the print is mounted to a window-cut mat, some of the print (perhaps just a few mm) is going to be hidden behind the mat. So, make sure that the outer margins of your print don't contain anything vital to the image.</p>