How to Print Photos & Make Fine Art Prints: The Complete Guide

It's not hard to turn digital pictures into prints, but doing it well requires a bit of planning. This guide tells you how to print a picture, print photos, and make prints of your art. Whether you're printing family photos or your latest artwork, we’ll help you to make prints that look great and last for years.

Why Bother with Prints on Paper?

These days, everything is on screens, but there's something special about having real printed photos. Kids love to look through photo books. People who collect art want something they can put on the wall. Also, digital files can be lost. Just ask anyone who lost years' worth of photos when their phone died.

Prints are a steady source of income for artists too. After all, original paintings only sell once, while good reproductions keep making money month after month.

How to Make Prints of Your Art

You need to have clean digital files before you can print. There are two main ways to get here.

Photographing Your Work

Photographing your work is a simple way to get it in digital form, and works particularly well for larger or three-dimensional items like oil paintings, thick acrylics, and sculptures. Good-quality cameras are more affordable than ever now, although for best results we recommend using a tripod.

Natural light usually works better than man-made light for photography. If you must use indoor lighting, try using some LED panels or cheap diffuser screens.

If your camera lets you, shoot everything in RAW format. RAW files have a lot more data than regular JPEGs, so you can fix problems later.

Scanning Flat Art

If your artwork's flat and can fit on your scanner bed, you should scan it instead of taking a picture. Most home scanners can easily handle 300 DPI. Want bigger prints? Increase it to 600 DPI. Check that the scanner glass is perfectly clean before you start, because any imperfections will show up on your scan.

Making Files That Print Well

Printing photos direct from your camera can produce underwhelming results. With the simple photo-editing software available today, it’s easy to make subtle tweaks that will bring out the best in your artwork.

Basic Fixes That Everyone Should Know

1. You can use any photo editing program, like Photoshop, GIMP, or even the basic software that came with your computer. Change to CMYK color mode right away because that's what printers use.
2. Start by cutting out the junk around the edges and straightening out the crooked pictures.
3. Increase the contrast; prints almost always need more punch than what looks good on screen. While you're at it, fix any strange color casts. Most pictures taken inside come out too yellow or too blue.
4. Use healing tools to find dust and scratches.
5. Add some sharpening, but not too much – or you could end up with “halos” lining your images.

Tech Settings

Make sure your document size is the same as what you want to print. The standard resolution is 300 pixels per inch and you shouldn’t need to go much higher than this.

Are you planning full-bleed prints where the ink goes all the way to the edge? Put a border of about an eighth of an inch all the way around. Print shops cut this off, but it keeps the white edges from showing.

You can either save your master files as TIFF files or keep them in the format that your program uses by default, with all the layers. Flatten everything and save it as a TIFF or PDF when you're ready to print. Avoid JPEG compression as this can impact the image quality.

How to Print a Picture: Choosing Where to Get Your Work Printed

There are three basic choices, each with clear pros and cons.

Print Services Online

They take care of everything once you upload your files and choose your products. Services like CanvasDiscount make it especially easy—you can turn your photos into stunning wall art that arrives ready to hang, without leaving home.

Print Shops in Your Area

Fine art prints are sold in most cities. They use high-end giclée printers with inks that won't fade for decades. You can look at samples first, ask questions, and get the work done to your exact specifications. But it costs more, you have to drive there, and it takes longer.

Getting Your Own Printer

If you’re thinking of investing in your own printer, we recommend looking for a model with at least eight ink cartridges. Good-quality printers can cost a lot of money, but they let you print whenever you want, take full control of everything—and over the long term, the cost per print will be much lower.

Picking Papers and Supplies

The material you choose to print your work on can transform the way it looks, so it’s worth choosing carefully.

Types of Paper That Work

• Cotton rag papers look professional and last a long time.
• Most art looks good with a matte finish.
• Glossy photo paper makes colors really stand out, but it also shows every fingerprint.

Don't buy cheap office store papers; they turn yellow quickly and look terrible. Spend the extra money on archival papers that won't break down.

Canvas Choices

When done right, gallery-wrapped canvas looks like real paintings. Heavy cotton canvas lasts longer than thin canvas that sags over time. If they don't use UV-resistant inks, the colors will fade. CanvasDiscount offers high-quality canvas prints with fade-resistant inks to preserve your artwork for many years.

Other Available Options

• Metal prints on aluminum look great and are almost impossible to break.
• Acrylic prints look like they came from a fancy gallery.
• Wood prints are great for pictures that have a rustic or vintage look.

Testing Before Large Orders

Don't ever skip test prints. Before printing your final versions, order samples or print out small copies. The colors on your computer screen won't be the same as the colors on paper. The texture of the paper changes how pictures look. Companies have different levels of print quality. One test print now saves money and trouble later.

Look at the skin tones in portraits first to see if there are any color issues. Check the small details to make sure everything stays clear. Check the quality of the paper to see if it matches what you want.

How to Price Your Prints for Sale

Find Out the Real Costs

Add up the cost of paper, ink, packaging, shipping, and your time. Then multiply by three or more. It sounds high, but the costs of doing business eat into profits quickly.

Limited editions with fancy certificates cost a lot more than regular prints. People are willing to pay more for things that are only available to them.

Where to Sell Them

Marketplaces have built-in traffic, but it costs money and there are a lot of other sellers. Your own website makes more money, but you have to do marketing work. Art fairs are a great way to meet customers in person.

If you're willing to pay booth fees or commissions, coffee shops, galleries, and craft shows all work.

How to Get People to Buy Your Prints

1. When it comes to making sales, email lists are better than social media. People can find your work on Instagram and Pinterest, but building an email list gives you direct access to prospective clients.
2. Show prints in real spaces. People need to see how prints will look in their own homes, so take pictures of them hanging in real rooms.
3. Collaborate with home stagers and interior designers. They always need art and usually have a lot of money.
4. Write good product descriptions that include the words people actually use to search for them. “Blue ocean sunset print” is a better title than “Azure maritime meditation.”
5. Put a watermark on everything you post online, but don't make it too obvious. Put high-resolution files in a safe place. It's cheap insurance to register valuable works with copyright.
6. Track your limited editions correctly. Keep track of everything by numbering it. Authenticity is important to collectors.

Final Thoughts on Printing Artworks

It takes practice to learn how to print a picture, print photos, and make prints of your art, but the basics aren't too hard. You can get most of the way there with good files, good materials, and a professional presentation.

Start with a small amount. You can even try a Canvas Wall Display to test different layouts and check how different prints work together. Such an approach helps you check everything in advance before scaling up. These basics will help you stay on track whether you're printing family photos to give as gifts or starting an art business.