STEP BY STEP PREPARE TO PRINT

Get to grips with key printing skills in photoshop elements

01 Improve tonal range

Open the image and click on Expert mode. Click the Layers icon, then the Create Adjustment Layer icon, and choose Levels. Drag in the black and white points to boost contrast. Hold Alt as you drag to see clipped pixels, and set to a point just before they occur.

03 Set the Print resolution

Grab the Crop tool from the Tools panel. We can specify a size and resolution for our image in the tool settings below. Set Resolution to 300 pixels/inch, the correct resolution for all prints. To use an image for on-screen viewing or the web, it’s 72 pixels/inch.

05 Sharpen for Print

Double-click the Zoom tool to jump to 100% view, which shows the pixels. Go to Enhance> unsharp Mask. Amount controls the strength, while Radius determines how wide the edges in the image are sharpened. Set Amount 168, Radius 1.7, Threshold 1.

02 Boost the Blues

Click the Adjustment Layer icon and choose Hue/ Saturation. Increase Saturation to +10, then click on the master drop-down at the top and choose Blue. Increase Saturation to boost the blues. Once done, hit Cmd/ctrl+shift+alt+e to merge all the layers into one.

04 Choose a Print Size

Go to Width and Height to specify the dimensions of the print. We’re making an A4 print, so we set Width 29.7cm, Height 21cm. Typing ‘cm’ (centimetres), ‘in’ (inches) or ‘px’ (pixels) after the number sets the unit of measurement. Drag a box to crop the image.

06 Set Printer Profile

Go to File>print. Choose a paper size, then set Select Print Size to Actual Size. In More Options, choose Color Management. Set Color Handling: Photoshop Manages Colors. Choose a printer profile (download this from the paper/printer manufacturer). Hit Print.