Comment - Paper Types & Printing

Question

Some of you may already be in the know regarding this topic, but it recently became important enough for me to warrant mentioning something to the general public.
I've been struggling since before XMas with print quality out of iPhoto and Aperture. Have since given up on Aperture (trial version anyways) and done most of my work in iPhoto and PSE 4.
I had printed out 80 photos from my honeymoon on HP Photo Paper - which came in my 6-pack of replacement ink cartridges for my HP Photosmart 8250. I was under the assumption that HP would include high-quality compatible paper with their ink package. I wrestled with color/image quality issues out of iPhoto for months, and then this past weekend I purchased some higher-quality HP photo paper and tried that.
The difference in my prints was significant - they were a lot better. I was able to undo digital changes to most pics and just print them out 'straight' and the quality is now great.
Keep in mind that, no matter how long you work on an image on-screen, you will be limited by using lower-quality paper. Go for the good stuff and you'll be happy. Don't walk the same path I did.

Answer 1

GTCBrown:
I suggest you do what I do and that is to do all your printing from Photoshop Elements. You can set PSE up to manage color, set up the print size and get the most control over your prints that you can have.
I don't know how the HP print window is set up but both Canon and Epson has options for their different types of paper, gloss, high gloss, matte, etc. I've been using Epson's Ultra Premium Presentation Paper, Matte, and find it to be turning the best prints I've ever make. They look better than some professional photographer prints that we got recently.
Here's how you can use PSE to edit photos from within iPhoto and then just stay in PSE to do the printing.
Using Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements) as Your Editor of Choice in iPhoto.
1 - select Photoshop as your editor of choice in iPhoto's General Preference Section's under the "Edit photo:" menu.
2 - double click on the thumbnail in iPhoto to open it in Photoshop. When you're finished editing click on the Save button. If you immediately get the JPEG Options window make your selection (Baseline standard seems to be the most compatible jpeg format) and click on the OK button. Your done.
3 - however, if you get the navigation window that indicates that PS wants to save it as a PS formatted file. You'll need to either select JPEG from the menu and save (top image) or click on the desktop in the Navigation window (bottom image) and save it to the desktop for importing as a new photo.
This method will let iPhoto know that the photo has been editied and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..
If you want to use both iPhoto's editing mode and PS without having to go back and forth to the Preference pane, once you've selected PS as your editor of choice, reset the Preferences back to "Open in main window". That will let you either edit in iPhoto (double click on the thumbnail) or in PS (Control-click on the thumbnail and seledt "Edit in external editor" in the Contextual menu). This way you get the best of both worlds
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.