3 Steps To Better Digital Prints

3 simple steps you can take to get better prints from your digital photos…

1. Watch the resolution – Remember that in order to get a quality print, you’ll need to have the DPI to back it up. The “Dots Per Inch” – pixels if you will – are the stuff your photos are made of. If you don’t have enough of ’em, you aren’t going to get a good print.

As a general guideline, try to keep your resolution between 200-300 DPI. More than 200-300 DPI doesn’t hurt, but usually isn’t going to improve the image much either (unless you look at your prints with a magnifying glass or something).

If your photo doesn’t have the resolution to make the size print you want, consider a smaller print and some nice matting. Don’t “force” your photo program to create the extra pixels you need – it just never works very well.

2. Use Good Paper – When printing photos, use a “photo” paper. Generally, the stuff the printer manufactures sell is really good. It’s designed to be used with the ink in your printer and will almost always give great results.

If you don’t want to fork over the big bucks for the paper from your printer manufacturer, there are some good alternatives out there. For instance, I’ve had a lot of luck with various papers from Kodak, and I have a friend who’s had great results with Office Depot photo paper (really). It usually takes a bit of experimentation to get the printer settings (paper, color, etc) just so, but once you have it, these alternative papers do look great.

Oh, and if you really wanna get fancy, I’ve even seen some pricey “fine art” photo papers you may want to consider.

3. Printer Settings – This is the most important of the bunch. When you print a photo, be sure to hit the “Properties” button on your printer dialog box.

The first thing to check is for a “paper type” option. If you’re stuffing photo paper into your printer and have plain paper selected. In order to get the best quality, always match your paper type properly!

Next, check the color settings. Some printers give you a ton of options here, some none at all. In my experience, most of the time I just go with the defaults and I’m pretty happy. If you think your photos could look better, by all means use this area to try and enhance ’em.

Here’s how my screen looks – your mileage will almost certainly vary:

In conclusion, don’t be afraid to experiment. Sure, you’ll go through some photo paper in the process, but discovering the best print settings will be worth it. Besides, once you find the ideal match between paper, resolution, and printer settings you’ll be able to repeat it all the time.

How Many Sheets

If you’d like to see a quick list of the sheets in the current workbook, simply open the file’s property dialog box. To do so, choose File, Properties. Then, click the Contents tab, and Excel will display a complete Complex workbooks usually contain several worksheets, and keeping up with all those sheets can be a list of sheets in the current workbook.

Adding DOSKEY to your DOS Window

One way to have DOSKEY available when you open a DOS window would be to have it in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
This takes away conventional memory, even when you don’t have a DOS window open.
To only use DOSKEY when you open a DOS window:

Right click on your DOS shortcut
Select Properties
Click on the Program tab
Add DOSKEY > NUL to the Batch File field
You can also add /INSERT if you prefer

A Clear Vision

Want to spice up your desktop with super smooth font text? Well ClearType settings are the way to be, my friend.

1.) Go into Display Properties
2.) Under Appearance Go to effects
3.) In Effects set the combo to ClearType instead of normal.

Now watch as your desktop and your text automatically transform to give you that graphical edge you’ve always wanted.

Not happy with the default ClearType setting? You can go to Microsoft’s site and tune up ClearType here: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/
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