Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac: The Missing Manual

Chapter 16. Printing Your Photos

Now that you’ve gone to so much trouble making your photos look terrific, you probably want to share them with other people. This chapter and the next look at the many options Elements gives you for sharing photos with the world at large.

This chapter covers the traditional method: printing images. You can print them at home on an inkjet printer, take them to a printing kiosk at a local store, or use an online printing service. And you’re not limited to ordinary prints these days: You can create hardcover books, calendars, album pages, and greeting cards with online services, too.

Getting Ready to Print

Whether printing at home or sending photos to a printing service, make sure your image file is set up to give you good-looking prints. The first thing to check is your photo’s resolution, which controls the number of pixels per inch (ppi). If your photo doesn’t have enough pixels, your print will look grainy and pixelated. Most photo aficionados consider 300 ppi ideal; a quality print needs at least 150 ppi to avoid the grainy look you see in low-resolution photos. See Resizing for Printing for more on reviewing and setting your photo’s resolution.

Tip

Be sure to set your resolution to a whole number—decimals may cause some printers to put black lines on your prints. So a ppi of 247 ppi is fine, but you may have problems if the ppi is 247.32. (Older printers are most likely to have trouble with decimals.)

When printing on photo paper or sending your photos ...