iPhoto 6 for Mac OS X

6. Printing Photos

Digital photography has brought with it an increased interest in viewing photos on the computer screen, which accounts for iPhoto's slideshow features. But even still, there's no denying the power of being able to send prints of your kids to their grandparents. Just as the computer didn't give us a paperless office, digital photography won't eliminate the desire for prints. People like paper.

iPhoto provides two ways you can apply your photos to paper: printing directly from iPhoto to your own printer and ordering prints in standard sizes from Apple.

Printing on your own printer provides instant gratification and feedback, since you can see exactly what the print looks like, make any corrections to account for the difference between the screen and paper, and print again. iPhoto can print photos in a variety of sizes and layouts. However, printing on your own printer isn't cheap (on a per-print basis), and unless you have a good printer, the quality might not be optimal.

For good qualitythanks to a true photographic processand reasonable per-print costs, look into ordering prints from Apple. You have to wait a few days before your prints arrive, but ordering prints is also a great way to get sizes that most standard printers won't give you (20" x 30", anyone?).

Gutenprint/Gimp-Print Drivers

What your printer can do is determined by its driver, system-level software provided by Apple or the manufacturer. There's also Gutenprint (formerly called Gimp-Print), an open source set of drivers for over 700 printers, which offers support for printer options that the manufacturers may not support in Mac OS X. For instance, if you want to print on roll paper or other unusual paper sizes, you may need to use Gutenprint. It's built into Mac OS X, though it may be worth downloading and installing the latest version so you have all the current printer drivers. Learn more and download a copy from: http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3.

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