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Digital cameras eliminated the cost and trouble of a trip to the photo lab every time you shoot a few photos. But while it might be easy to get those photos on Facebook or Flickr, printing them out to hang on your walls is a little more difficult.
While none of the follow options are totally free, here's three ways to get high quality prints from your digital camera without breaking the bank.
'''Use your existing printer.''' Once you've got your photos on your PC, and fine tuned them a bit with Photoshop, GIMP or some other image editor, you can print them out using a standard inkjet printer.
The quality of prints you get from an inkjet will vary considerably depend on the brand and capabilities of your printer. While very few inkjets are capable of museum quality prints, so long as you stick with smaller image you should be able to get decent results.
Be sure to buy some decent quality glossy or matte photo paper. See your printer's instructions for more details on the best types of paper to use.
'''Invest in a photo printer''' Generally more expensive and often limited to smaller print sizes, dedicated photo printers are nevertheless capable of higher quality prints than traditional inkjets.
High-end photo printers often use a technique known as dye-sublimation. Rather than squirting dots of ink on a page the way an inkjet does, dye-sublimation printers use a chemical process to transfer ink to paper. The result is much higher quality prints. The trade-off is a correspondingly higher price tag.
Many dedicated photo printers also allow you to print directly from your camera or memory card, eliminating the hassle of downloading all your images onto your PC before printing.
'''Head back to the lab''' If you're only interested in printing a few images it might well be cheaper to have your photos printed by a lab. Most drug stores still offer printing services at reasonable prices.
Just bring your camera's memory card down to the store and load your photos into the printer. A short while later you'll have nice glossy prints.
If you've spend a good bit of time refining your images and editing them to perfect, you'll probably want true museum-quality prints. For that we recommend a professional photo lab which generally offers higher quality printers and knowledgeable staff that can help you get more out of your images.
'''Online Services''' If you've got your images on your PC already, there's no need to head to drug store, the web is filled with printers that will allow you to upload your images and deliver prints to your door.
Many of these services also offer options like bound books, calendars and more.
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