Printing Photographs from your Computer

Now my skills as a photographer are not the best in the world, But there is the odd occasion that one particular Photo turns out good and I want to print it out on Paper.

Not a problem .. Photo Quality paper, photo quality ink and you have the perfect holiday snap.

However these items don't come cheap.  I need a Canon BC-22e Photo cartridge and the relevent paper.  The cartridge costing anywhere from £18 to £30  (depending upon where you shop)   added to the £5 or so you spend on the special paper, Makes printing photos quite expensive.

Now my "bugbear" when printing Photo's is Cost and Waste.  I don't often find the need to print Photo's and when I do, undoubtedly the Cartridge has dried up and I need to fork out another £18- £30 for a replacement!

So imagine my horror when over the Festive season, My mother had a look at the photo's stored on my Harddrive and asked me to print out around 20 of them.

Now considering the fact that she wanted fairly large sized Photographs I worked out I would need at least 2 cartridges + Paper ... Total cost of around £41-£65.

Now  even at the cheapest option we are talking of £2.00 per photo, Not exactly cheap.  So being a thrifty sort of person  (Some might say a tight fisted Scotsman)  I looked at ways around this.

Currently on my Canon Multipas Scanner/printer I use cheap compatible cartridges (Panda) Selling in ASDA at just under £3.  Quite a saving on the Canon Brand at £17 and the Quality is quite good.

Now the main reason that you require a Specialised Photo ink for printing Photographs, Is that normal Inkjet ink will run if it comes in contact with water.   If you use your normal printing ink with Photo Quality paper, the Photos look great, But the slightest dampness and you are in trouble, also the ink does tend to fade over time.

I have the solution ... And a very easy and cheap option.  Simply print out you Photographs using you everyday ink but using Photo quality paper ... Then Laminate them.

A Laminator can be purchased today for under £20, 10 laminating sheets will cost you around £5  (But will cover 20/30 Photo's depending on the size).

The results from this method are quite astounding, And even taking in the cost of purchasing the Laminator/Photo Paper and Laminating sheets I can print off the 20 Photographs for around £33

So if you have a hoard of digital photo's stored and would like to print them off.  Try using Photo paper and normal ink, If the Quality is acceptable ..Rush off and buy yourself a laminating machine ..It will save you money in the long term.