about double the price of a standard size printer and get yourself what is called a large format printer. Still, for less than $500.00 you can print up to 13x18 prints in most cases.

We are partial to the Canon brand of printers and have used them exclusively for more than 8 years now. They were the first to offer the individual color ink tanks. Our second choice, and one I have had good experiences with in the past are the Epson line of inkjets. They were the second to offer individual colors and have a great reputation for quality. I don’t recommend HP printers at all, even the new individual color models. Their print driver requires access to the system directory on your computer and this can caus

Digital cameras are everywhere these days. Film is definitely on it’s way to the history museum. The problem with that is that until it’s printed, it can only be seen on a computer or the small screen on the back of the digital camera.

So, you have this great new digital camera and you’ve taken lots of photos for your new scrapbook. Now, how do you get them from the electronic bits to the printed page? Well you could go to a store or photo shop and have them print your images for you, but isn’t that what you did with film? Wasn’t the point of all this great digital photo technology that you can print your own photos at home without having to pay someone else to do it.

Here are some tips to help you get started and to save you a little money at the same time:

I know your first concern… Isn’t this going to be more expensive if I do it myself? It’ll probably seem like you’re spending a lot of money at first but spending the money to get a good printer and the right software will save you a lot of money in the long term.

You have to have a good printer. Now, I’m not just talking about the quality of the print, although that is important. I’m also talking about how long it will last and the cost of replacing the ink and parts that wear out.

You can buy a good print quality printer for less than a $100.00. But, it could cost you 2 to 3 times the cost of a printer 3 times that expensive when you add up the prices of the ink cartridges and print heads that that model uses in an average year. Lexmark is a perfect example of this printer model. Print quality is great, and the cost of the printer is sometimes as little as $50.00. But, Lexmark ink cartridges and print heads are some of the most expensive on the market. Not to mention it’s drivers don’t let you control the ink output and tends to use more ink per print than is really needed. This is how the company makes it’s profit… on the renewable supplies instead of the printer.

Model’s such as the Lexmark and many of the Hewlet Packards (HP) use the old cartridge system where all the ink colors are contained in one single container. That means that as soon as you use up one color (magenta for skin color usually), you have to replace the whole $30 to $40 cartridge even though you still have ink in other colors inside. That’s what can really triple your per print costs.

Do yourself a favor, spend the moderate extra money and get yourself a (minimum Six color) individual ink tank printer. That is, an individual ink cartridge for each individual color. That way, when one color runs out, you just replace that one color ($5 to $12 depending on size).

Ink jets are wonderful for printing snapshots to small portraits. You won’t need more than that unless you wish to print 12x12 scrapbook pages. If that’s the case, you’ll need to spend about double the price of a standard size printer and get yourself what is called a large format printer. Still, for less than $500.00 you can print up to 13x18 prints in most cases.

We are partial to the Canon brand of printers and have used them exclusively for more than 8 years now. They were the first to offer the individual color ink tanks. Our second choice, and one I have had good experiences with in the past are the Epson line of inkjets. They were the second to offer individual colors and have a great reputation for quality. I don’t recommend HP printers at all, even the new individual color models. Their print driver requires access to the system directory on your computer and this can cause

you get started and to save you a little money at the same time:

I know your first concern… Isn’t this going to be more expensive if I do it myself? It’ll probably seem like you’re spending a lot of money at first but spending the money to get a good printer and the right software will save you a lot of money in the long term.

You have to have a good printer. Now, I’m not just talking about the quality of the print, although that is important. I’m also talking about how long it will last and the cost of replacing the ink and parts that wear out.

You can buy a good print quality printer for less than a $100.00. But, it could cost you 2 to 3 times the cost of a printer 3 times that expensive when you add up the prices of the ink cartridges and print heads that that model uses in an average year. Lexmark is a perfect example of this printer model. Print quality is great, and the cost of the printer is sometimes as little as $50.00. But, Lexmark ink cartridges and print heads are some of the most expensive on the market. Not to mention it’s drivers don’t let you control the ink output and tends to use more ink per print than is really needed. This is how the company makes it’s profit… on the renewable supplies instead of the printer.

Model’s such as the Lexmark and many of the Hewlet Packards (HP) use the old cartridge system where all the ink colors are contained in one single container. That means that as soon as you use up one color (magenta for skin color usually), you have to replace the whole $30 to $40 cartridge even though you still have ink in other colors inside. That’s what can really triple your per print costs.

Do yourself a favor, spend the moderate extra money and get yourself a (minimum Six color) individual ink tank printer. That is, an individual ink cartridge for each individual color. That way, when one color runs out, you just replace that one color ($5 to $12 depending on size).

Ink jets are wonderful for printing snapshots to small portraits. You won’t need more than that unless you wish to print 12x12 scrapbook pages. If that’s the case, you’ll need to spend about double the price of a standard size printer and get yourself what is called a large format printer. Still, for less than $500.00 you can print up to 13x18 prints in most cases.

We are partial to the Canon brand of printers and have used them exclusively for more than 8 years now. They were the first to offer the individual color ink tanks. Our second choice, and one I have had good experiences with in the past are the Epson line of inkjets. They were the second to offer individual colors and have a great reputation for quality. I don’t recommend HP printers at all, even the new individual color models. Their print driver requires access to the system directory on your computer and this can caus

when you add up the prices of the ink cartridges and print heads that that model uses in an average year. Lexmark is a perfect example of this printer model. Print quality is great, and the cost of the printer is sometimes as little as $50.00. But, Lexmark ink cartridges and print heads are some of the most expensive on the market. Not to mention it’s drivers don’t let you control the ink output and tends to use more ink per print than is really needed. This is how the company makes it’s profit… on the renewable supplies instead of the printer.

Model’s such as the Lexmark and many of the Hewlet Packards (HP) use the old cartridge system where all the ink colors are contained in one single container. That means that as soon as you use up one color (magenta for skin color usually), you have to replace the whole $30 to $40 cartridge even though you still have ink in other colors inside. That’s what can really triple your per print costs.

Do yourself a favor, spend the moderate extra money and get yourself a (minimum Six color) individual ink tank printer. That is, an individual ink cartridge for each individual color. That way, when one color runs out, you just replace that one color ($5 to $12 depending on size).

Ink jets are wonderful for printing snapshots to small portraits. You won’t need more than that unless you wish to print 12x12 scrapbook pages. If that’s the case, you’ll need to spend about double the price of a standard size printer and get yourself what is called a large format printer. Still, for less than $500.00 you can print up to 13x18 prints in most cases.

We are partial to the Canon brand of printers and have used them exclusively for more than 8 years now. They were the first to offer the individual color ink tanks. Our second choice, and one I have had good experiences with in the past are the Epson line of inkjets. They were the second to offer individual colors and have a great reputation for quality. I don’t recommend HP printers at all, even the new individual color models. Their print driver requires access to the system directory on your computer and this can caus

at means that as soon as you use up one color (magenta for skin color usually), you have to replace the whole $30 to $40 cartridge even though you still have ink in other colors inside. That’s what can really triple your per print costs.

Do yourself a favor, spend the moderate extra money and get yourself a (minimum Six color) individual ink tank printer. That is, an individual ink cartridge for each individual color. That way, when one color runs out, you just replace that one color ($5 to $12 depending on size).

Ink jets are wonderful for printing snapshots to small portraits. You won’t need more than that unless you wish to print 12x12 scrapbook pages. If that’s the case, you’ll need to spend about double the price of a standard size printer and get yourself what is called a large format printer. Still, for less than $500.00 you can print up to 13x18 prints in most cases.

We are partial to the Canon brand of printers and have used them exclusively for more than 8 years now. They were the first to offer the individual color ink tanks. Our second choice, and one I have had good experiences with in the past are the Epson line of inkjets. They were the second to offer individual colors and have a great reputation for quality. I don’t recommend HP printers at all, even the new individual color models. Their print driver requires access to the system directory on your computer and this can caus

about double the price of a standard size printer and get yourself what is called a large format printer. Still, for less than $500.00 you can print up to 13x18 prints in most cases.

We are partial to the Canon brand of printers and have used them exclusively for more than 8 years now. They were the first to offer the individual color ink tanks. Our second choice, and one I have had good experiences with in the past are the Epson line of inkjets. They were the second to offer individual colors and have a great reputation for quality. I don’t recommend HP printers at all, even the new individual color models. Their print driver requires access to the system directory on your computer and this can cause problems with many of the new firewall and security programs that are now required for cable and many DSL users. They aren’t a bad quality printer if you have no choice, I just don’t recommend them.

Next, you’ll need to buy some photo editing software. There are lots of brands out there many of them for pros but you can easily find software under one hundred dollars that will have lots more options than you will ever use. Look for software that has automatic settings so that the computer can automatically color correct, auto focus, brighten, or darken, etc. At least until you learn what comes next. If you do some research, there are also some good FREE software programs out there. Scrapbookers, take note of www.ComputerScrapbookTraining.com - Free Digital Scrapbooking 101 Mini-Course based on a totally free photo and office program.

Now that you have everything you need and have spent your initial setup funds… it’s time to really dig in and learn your software and equipment. Take the time play with the settings and to experiment with different results. Don’t try to print perfect photos right away. You probably can get great results right out of the box and with default settings. But, with just a little time and some experimentation, you may find that you can use less ink, get truer colors and save a bundle in supplies by learning the settings on your driver and software. Most people with a little time and practice can even learn to do basic photo special effects. Take the time to learn and it will pay off in big dividends down the road.

OK, it’s time to talk paper! There, is the one place that you are going to have to spend some money from time to time. You can have take the perfect, well focused image, but if you print on the wrong paper, you’ll be sadly disappointed in the final print. The whiter and the shinier the paper, the brighter and cleaner your final print will look. Get the nice thick glossy paper, it’s worth it. I’ve tried the cheaper paper, which is good for travel books and test prints, but you need the high quality stuff for long lasting quality prints.

I’m not saying you need to use quality photo paper for every project. On the contrary, I personally use a good quality white card stock for many of my mini-scrapbook (4x6) travel book or gift book projects. It creates photos that look like they have a matt finish inside the plastic sleeves of the finished scrapbook.

That’s where experimentation and learning what your setup can and cannot do for you. I also find that card stock is perfect when I want to just print a scrapbook background paper and hand scrap the rest of the page.

What is DPI, dots per inch? Depending on your printer and your software you may be able to print up to 2400 dpi which is probably unnecessary for what you’re doing. For up to a 4 by 6 inch print