Photoshop® Elements 6 for Dummies®

Chapter 14. Getting It on Paper

In This Chapter

• Preparing files for printing

• Working with printer profiles

• Using Epson, HP, and Canon printers

• Using professional print centers

• Ordering prints online

• Looking at other Elements print options

Perhaps the greatest challenge to individuals using programs like Photoshop Elements, and even the professionals who use its granddaddy, Adobe Photoshop, is getting what you see on your monitor to render a reasonable facsimile on a printed page. You can find all sorts of books on color printing — how to get color right, how to calibrate your equipment, and how to create and use color profiles — all for the purpose of getting a good match between your computer monitor and your printer. It's downright discouraging to spend a lot of time tweaking an image so that all the brilliant blue colors jump out your computer monitor only to find that all those blues turn to murky purples when the photo is printed.

If you already read Chapter 2 and 3, you're ahead of the game because you know a little bit about color management, color profiles, and printer resolutions. After you check out those chapters, your next step is to get to know your printer or your print service center and understand how to correctly print your pictures.

In this chapter, we talk about options — many options — for setting print attributes for printing to your own color printer, and we toss in some ...