Are you having trouble getting your printer to print clean and clear digital pictures? If you own a digital camera rated for two megapixels or better, there's no reason you can't print photos at home that look better than those from a photo lab. But most people, especially first-time digital camera owners, make two mistakes: they don't have their camera set for the highest image quality and they don't have their printer set-up for the right paper type or resolution.
First, go into your digital camera's set-up menu and select the highest picture resolution (sometimes referred to as "quality" or "size"). Also, if your camera offers you the choice of saving the photo as a TIFF or JPG file, always choose TIFF. TIFF files are larger and you won't be able to take as many photos per digital memory card, but the images will look much cleaner, crisper, and more highly detailed than a compressed JPG image. The catch is that most digital cameras come with a paltry 8 or 16MB memory card, which holds only a few high-resolution TIFF images. One solution is to buy a larger memory card, such as a 128MB or larger. It'll cost you $50-100 but it's well worth it when it comes time to print those photos. They'll look much better than what you've been shooting at lower resolutions.
Next go into your printer's settings on your PC (Windows users go to Start/Settings/Control Panel/Printers and Faxes to find your printer's setup options) and make sure your printer is set for its highest quality color photo printing. Sometimes this is expressed in dpi, or "dots per inch." 2,400 or 2,880 dpi is what you want, unless your printer is a newer model that can do 4,800 dpi. Some printers also have a "Quality versus Speed" setting, which offers a tradeoff between faster or better looking prints. For documents, use the Speed setting, but for photos, always go with the Quality setting.
Last but not least, when you're ready to print, make sure you choose photo paper instead of plain paper. There's a big difference between the two, and not even the best printer on the market can produce professional quality prints on plain document paper. Photo paper, either glossy or matte finish, is a must for photos. Also, make sure the photo paper you select is of the same brand as the printer. This isn't a scam by the printer manufacturers to get you to buy their paper - printer makers design their printers around their own paper and vice-versa. You can sometimes get away with using a different brand of matte finish photo paper, but it's the glossy paper that will cause problems every time you try mixing brands. Your prints will come out with smearing and weird, unnatural color balance. If you use glossy paper, always make sure your paper and printer are the same.

If you follow these steps and configure everything correctly, your pictures will turn out as if they were processed in a lab. Remember to always check your camera, computer, and printer. By checking these three items, your pictures will hopefully turn out clean and clear every time.

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