Check cost & quality

Please do calculated estimates of what you believe a card would cost if you print it yourself using an photo printer with ink or a color laser. In general it is usually just as cheap, if not cheaper, to order the cards as developed paper versions of digital photographies. By using such services online or in local stores you would end up with super nice quality, thick sturdy paper and save some money.

Printing basics:

1. Photo ink: Use only ink photo printers for best high quality result and their original inks. Don’t print on anything else if you want best results. Good photo printers are very cheap today as the company will earn from the ink instead.

2. Photo paper: Use only real photo paper. For example, Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II (PP-201) 10×15 cm would work great for printing a card at a time on most photo printers that can handle the format. Use whatever brand suits your printer, the one mentioned here isn’t necessarily the best for you.

3. Decide if you want to print one card per (small) paper sheet, or several cards per (larger) sheet. Your total cost may vary depending on this, as may the amount of prep work you put down.

4. Turn off all kinds of color corrections and color modifiers in your OS and printer software/settings before printing.

5. Turn off all types of resizing by the printer settings/OS. Use exact templates instead, made for the dimensions of your selected paper.

6. If you edit the official print sheets with the cards or create your own versions of them: Don’t place cards next to the edge of the paper where the paper ends unless you can print borderless with success. You will usually want to avoid borderless printing for the cards.