This Side Down

Plugging in…

Inkjet printers have brought the production of photographs to the masses. Or have they?

Ink is expensive and one doesn’t get much ink mileage from a cartridge (you think gasoline is expensive?) Photo paper is expensive and myriad choices confound the buyer. Fiddling with the digital image takes time, and knowledge. By the time one manages to print one 5 x 7 gotta-have photo, it has cost about an hour of valuable time.

So you’ve figured out how to print more quickly – education is a wonderful thing. Now, why, oh why is that photo so blurred and why won’t the ink dry in seconds, like the instructions said it would?

“What happened” lamented a client of mine, who had printed photos many times before? Panic set in – was the printer failing, was the ink compromised, did the paper lose its sheen?

Operator error – the photo paper was placed in the paper feeder, glossy side up. With normal, bond paper, it doesn’t have a “preferred” side; some inkjet printers require the paper glossy side up, some glossy side down. Some photo papers (matte finish) are difficult to see which side is the printable side. When all was said and done, that beautiful 8 x 10 photo cost just under $ 100 to print. And, no, it wasn’t being entered in a contest, not being framed for a showing, not being submitted to a newspaper to accompany a potential Pulitzer Prize article. My client just wanted to print the photo to see it.

Once you’ve printed a hundred dollar photo, you’ll never forget to check the paper before putting it into the printer again.

ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is it turned on, is it right-side down?

Unplugged