Home based computer printers have been around since the very first commercially inkjet printer, the SQ-2000, became available to the public in 1982. Ever since, society has seen some major advancements in the design. Printers were bulky and slow, with poor quality. Nowadays, home printers are much faster, smaller, and of much higher quality. But people with home printers don’t usually take full advantage of their equipment. Through we are more digital in places, society still uses printers on a daily basis for physical copies of important documents, pictures to hang on our walls, and a whole lot more.
Photo printing, when performed to a professional quality standard, generally requires professional quality software. There are plenty of software choices on the market that can adjust images for the highest quality professional photo printing done right from a person's home. Printing from home allows you to choose exactly what type of paper you want to use, how you would like to format your pages, and it gives you the flexibility of printing as many copies as you would like to print. Pro software can allow the printer owner to set up a way to choose things like dpi for printing, size of the image on the paper, and other details.
Everything Needed to Print Quality Pictures
- Printer Ink - All printers require printer ink to print anything. Without printer ink, the printer will likely state that it is without ink and will need it to proceed with printing. Printer ink can be purchased in individual colors or in a variety pack. All printers use different types of inks, with different sized cartridges. Be sure to check the exact type of ink that the printer uses to ensure that it will work.
- Paper - In order to print anything, paper is required for a printer. Simply purchase any type of paper that will fit in your printer comfortably, then choose which size of paper has been placed into the printer in the print setup page on the computer before printing. There may also be options on the printer itself to choose what size of paper, if the printer has a screen with buttons to move around its menu. Some printers can print on thicker paper, while others can only handle standard paper. Be sure to check which type of paper the machine can work with.
- Instruction Guide - Every new printer will come with a handy instruction manual. If the printer does not have one at all, then there may be an instruction guide found online for whatever the printer's specific make and model is. Instruction manuals can help with providing answers on how to work with the machine. They generally are able to answer all questions unique to the machine itself.
- Power Source - The last thing anyone will need to print at home is a power source. Any wall outlet will do, as long as it can fit the printer's plugin type. Some are three-pronged, while others are two-pronged.
Questions and Answers
Here is a list of some of the more commonly asked questions about printing and printing photos.
Q: If the photo printer has WiFi or Bluetooth capability, is a printer cable necessary?
A: Printer cables are useful if you are having difficulty connecting the printer's WiFi capability to the home's WiFi or Bluetooth network. Some printer owners prefer the direct connection, since there are less issues.
Q: Why are there different paper types to print pictures?
A: Different paper types will provide a different quality to the image transfer. Matte paper and Gloss paper have different textures, which will affect how the ink lays on them differently.
Q: Why is full color printing considered to be superior?
A: High quality publications print in full color for a reason. It depends on what the person printing wants for their printing needs, but full 4-color (CMYK or Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black) range seems to attract more people market-wise for pros over black and white printing.
