Photo Credit: Tailored Lighting Inc. (left and center); Andrew Darlow (right). From left: Three SoLux Task Lamps; a SoLux Art Light; the paper advance button on an Epson Stylus Photo R2400.

Instruction manuals for today’s inkjet printers can only take you so far. Before you press print on your photo-quality inkjet printer, here are five tips that can help you to find new papers, avoid common pitfalls, save time and money, and in general, help you to keep your sanity intact when making inkjet prints in your home, office or studio.

1. Look for sample packs. They can really save you money!

Sample packs of paper or swatch books from different companies allow you to see the variety of papers available so that you can test their product without making a large investment. Many companies offer sample packs, and some distributors, including Shades of Paper and Inkjet Art Solutions make their own sample packs from various papers.

One company I’ve known for many years, Hawk Mountain Papers, based in Pennsylvania, produces an impressive line of acid-free single- and double-sided art papers. The company offers three different sample packs called “Starter Packs” with between 26 and 30 sheets each (most of them 11x17 inches in size). Each sample pack is affordably priced, and each pack also includes a coupon that can be used to save money when making a future purchase from the company. Other companies with sample packs (or sample rolls) that allow for experimentation with many high quality papers (or in some cases, canvases) include Breathing Color , Red River Paper and UltraFineOnLine (search for “sampler pack”).

2. Check if your paper is susceptible to "flaking" or "scuffing."

Flaking is fairly common on textured inkjet papers (often called “watercolor inkjet” papers). Flaking looks like small pin holes in a paper’s surface after printing, and is usually more apparent in the dark areas of a print. Flaking can often be reduced by brushing the print surface with a soft drafting brush before printing, but I recommend avoiding papers that are very prone to this problem, especially if you will be putting the prints in an album or in a portfolio where they will be stacked on top of each other.

Also more common on matte papers then semi-gloss/gloss papers is scuffing. Scuffing can occur on the surface of a print in a number of ways. The printer itself can cause scuffing as the paper is guided through the internal rollers and/or wheels. Another common reason for scuffing comes from touching the paper surface before or after printing. Using cotton gloves when handling rolls of paper or canvas can help protect the fragile surface of many papers. Matting prints is one way to help reduce scuffing and flaking when showing prints. Using acid-free interleaving sheets in books and between individual prints is another way to help reduce scuffing and flaking.

3. Keep your lighting in mind.

Most prints made with the latest pigment-based inksets from Canon, Epson and HP (and other manufacturers) will not show a significant change in color when moved between common types of light sources, such as daylight to indoor incandescent lighting. However, black-and-white prints are especially susceptible to slight shifts in appearance under different lighting conditions; this can be especially problematic when evaluating prints containing people.

If you make a print that is visually neutral under warm incandescent light (like a standard light bulb, which is approximately 3000 degrees Kelvin) and then view the same print under daylight at noon (approximately 5500 degrees Kelvin), the skin tones may appear greenish. Most people, as you may have guessed, would prefer not to look green in their photos! This is why I generally check my prints in light that’s 4000 to 5000 degrees Kelvin, which means that if the prints are moved into tungsten-balanced lighting, the image may appear warmer, which is generally more appealing to the viewer.

There are many companies who make lighting. I highly recommend the bulbs and Task Lamps from SoLux for viewing prints. For color-corrected daylight viewing—such as, if you are writing a book or printing an edition of images and want to replicate the light your printer is probably using—I recommend GTI’s and Just Normlicht’s products.

4. Use your printer's paper feed option to help reduce misfeeds.

If you’ve done any printing with a printer that feeds paper from an open tray you can often reduce feed problems by using your printer’s paper feed option. Many printers have a button that allows you to “pre-feed” a single sheet into the printer so that it moves to a place where it is firmly under the paper transport rollers and ready to print before you send a print job. This can help avoid possible misfeeds, and can also help to improve image quality because the paper will not have to travel as far prior to when the printer begins printing. This can also be helpful when feeding heavy sheets of paper, which tend to have more feed problems. With some papers, you can increase the percentage of successful paper feeds by guiding the paper in with a gentle push after pressing the paper advance button.

5. Discover free online layout or design websites.

There are many online resources available, including Canon’s Creative Park  an extensive website with many free downloadable layouts and graphics that can be used for personal use. The quality of the designs are amazing, and downloadable options include popup cards, cars, 3D animals, buildings of the world, photo frames, and much more. On Canon’s Creative Park site, you’ll also find some detailed Photoshop tutorials.

Epson has an area of its website called Epson Creative Zone with many free downloadable projects, including scrapbook page designs, greeting cards, mini accordion albums and award certificates. Under the “StoryTeller” section, there are about 15 different themes that were designed to be used with Epson’s StoryTeller Photo Books. All of the downloadable project art is Mac- and Windows-compatible. Epson also has a number of acid-free matte papers that are ideal for scrapbooking and related projects. In addition to 8.5x11-inch single- and double-sided papers, the company has 12x12-inch inkjet paper called PremierArt Matte Scrapbook Photo Paper for Epson, which is the ideal size for use with many scrapbooking pages and albums.

Another online resource filled with an incredible array of projects is HP’s Activity Center. The site has a Mac- and Windows-compatible online design wizard that allows you to quickly add text, change text color and fonts, upload photographs and print business and family-related documents (even custom trading cards) directly to any printer. Or you can export the finished document to a PDF file so that you have a standalone, printable archived version, which I recommend. Some other projects include a great one-page travel checklist, brochure layouts, gift boxes and printable gift wrap, wedding-related projects, and many more. HP offers Brochure and Flyer Paper in both glossy and matte versions. Both papers are double-sided and work well for many paper and bookmaking projects.


Andrew Darlow is a photographer, author and digital imaging consultant based in the New York City area. He is editor of The Imaging Buffet, an online resource with news, reviews and interviews covering the subjects of digital photography and printing. Portions of this article were excerpted from his new book, "301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers" (Course Technology, PTR), which covers tips and techniques for prepping, printing and displaying prints made using inkjet printers. For more information, visit the book's companion site at www.inkjettips.com.