Now that you’ve gone to so much trouble to make your photos look terrific, you no doubt want to share your masterpieces with other people. This chapter and the next two look at the many different options Elements gives you for sharing photos with the world at large.
This chapter covers the traditional method: printing photos. You can print them at home on an inkjet printer, take them to a kiosk at a local store, or order prints online. Elements makes it especially simple to use Shutterfly and Kodak Gallery, Adobe’s online printing partners. You also get an easy connection to several other popular online photo services (A Few More Ways to Share). The best thing about ordering prints online is that you’re not limited to just ordinary prints: You can create hardcover books, calendars, embarrassing t-shirts—you name it.
If you create online albums at Photoshop.com (Online Albums), you can let friends order prints directly from your personal Photoshop.com web page. (Those prints come from Shutterfly.)
It’s worth noting that while the basics of printing are the same whether you’re using a Windows computer or a Mac, some things are a bit different between the two platforms. As you go through this chapter, you’ll see the differences noted as they come up.
Whether you’re printing at home or sending photos to a printing service, you need to make sure your image files are set up to give you good-looking prints.
The first thing to check is the photo’s resolution, which controls the number of pixels per inch (ppi) in the image. If the photo doesn’t have enough pixels, then the print will look grainy and pixelated. Most photo aficionados consider 300 ppi ideal; a quality print needs a resolution of at least 150 ppi to avoid the grainy look you see in low-resolution photos. See Changing the Size of an Image to learn how to check and—if necessary—tweak a photo’s resolution.
Be sure to set the resolution to a whole number—using decimals may make some printers print black lines on photos. For example, 247 ppi is fine, but 247.35 ppi may cause problems. (Older printers are most likely to have trouble with decimals.)
If you’re printing on photo paper or sending photos out for printing, make sure the images are cropped to fit a standard photo paper size. (Cropping is covered starting on Cropping Pictures.) And if you’re printing at home, the paper and ink you use make a big difference in the color and quality of the prints. It may seem like just a marketing scam, but you really will get the best results by using your printer manufacturer’s recommended paper and ink.