What software is best for picture layout ?

[KnightCrawler]

There is plenty of image editing software out there but what software is the best for actually laying the pictures out and printing them ?


I have Easy-Photoprint installed and it's OK but I would like something with more options for how photos get printed on the page.

 

[Nifty]

I hate to admit it, but when I was in a hurry to print about 250 pictures for a family reunion I used the default "Photo Printing Wizard" that comes with Windows. I selected all of the images, right clicked, chose print, and set the layout to use either three 4x6 prints or four 3x5 prints. I also use Microsoft Picture It for quick resizing of photos (I like the tool that automatically resizes images keeping the correct ratio).

I hope that helps!

 

[Grandad35]

I use Qimage. It is "color aware" (supports color management), has excellent interpolation routines that automatically upsize your low-res files to your printer's native resolution (600x600 for Canon, 720x720 for Epson) and allows custom layouts and batch processing. It also has many other features that I don't use (cropping/editing/etc.), but which may be of value to you.

On the dowside, it only runs on PCs and some say that it has a "quirky" interface. It takes a while to learn to use its features properly, but that is true for any powerful application.

Google for Qimage and download the free demo when you have a few hours to experiment.

 

[panos]

Grandad this is amazing indeed.

I downloaded the trial version and immediately printed out an 1024x768 image (so that I would test the resizing algorithms) with both the standard Windows imaging software and Qimage.

Ive shown the images to 5 people so far (posted here). They all have agreed that the Qimage printouts were better.

And here is a test for you all. What follows is the original image I printed for the test and two scannings of two photos I printed for the comparison. Which one you think is best?

Print settings:

PAPER: Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy
INK: Cyan: Canon, Magenta: Canon, Yellow: Jetyoung, Photo black: Jetyoung
SETTINGS: Photo Paper Pro, High quality, Magenta -10, Yellow -5, Intensity: -5
(Presented images have been cropped to fit Rob's space requirements)

ORIGINAL IMAGE

PRINTOUT X

PRINTOUT Y

Which one is the Qimage printout? The answer will be revealed on Sunday!

 

[Grandad35]

Panos,

I have printed some 800x1200 images at 12"x18" (67 ppi) with Qimage, and they came out far better than I had any right to expect. The standard Windows printing software doesn't interpolate pixels at all - it just prints the pixels as they happen to fall on the paper. I can see the differences in your scans, but there are a lot of "jpeg artifacts" that obscure some of the details. Could you rescan a smaller area (say just the lion's head) at a higher ppi to make the differences more obvious. I overlaid the same area of both images at the same scale in PS, then quickly flipped between the two - the difference is easy to see.

Once you see what a good interpolation program can do for your prints, you'll never want to print with Windows.

 

[panos]

Grandad, you are right. I have replaced the images with trimmed versions saved with the lowest possible compression -- no artifacts this time and easier to evaluate.

I believe the photos speak for themselves....

Oh, and I just bought Qimage... 43 euros for such an improvement is a steal!

 

[panos]

OK... and the answer is... PRINTOUT Y was made by Qimage.

The differences in quality are obvious:

1) The pink flower in the bottom left: look how jagged it looks in Windows imaging.

2) The metallic screws across the head: they look really hexagonal in Qimage.

3) The rosettes behind the screws: how much detail is lost in Windows imaging.

4) The creeper leaves on the right: vains are so much better in Qimage.

The are many other improvements, but I believe these ones are the most obvious. The difference in the screws is the most striking on the naked eye.

This quality is not a result of some cheapo sharpening or "image improvement" algorithm... It was all done at the interpolation level, so these guys have really done their homework!!!

 

[BlasterQ]

Good one! I never really notice the difference when I print using the standard windows printing wizard and other software, until now.
It's probably time to admit that I need glasses.

 

[panos]

Actually I just made an interesting observation.

The forum software makes sure that images will be shrunk to best fit your browser window size if you don't have enough space for the images.

In most cases this is great, but not in this one. So I suggest that one should right click and save the images and then perform a comparison with program that doesn't resize them. I think the difference in quality will then become even more obvious.

 

[Graphicuser]

To InkJet Master and all that are interested,

For Me, there is only one graphic program! ADOBE, Although I am forced to use other features that Adobe does not redially probide, I still do all my "sizing, touchup, cropping, Clonning etc. Then for multi print on a page I use the only one that was available when I started doing photographic work for the local Senior Center.
It is "Print Six" As stated, you can print 6 approx. 2.75"x3.75" of different shots on each page. Using double sided paper for an album is best, although quite a bit more expensive. I have many hundreds of shots there at the Center and most are very good quality. (The outcome of the print job is always dependant on the quality of the photo to start with).
The website to Print six is: www.sixdigitalphotos.com , the regular version has their add on bottom of each printed page. The Commercial version does not. This is what I use.
There are several layouts you can use, I just haven't had the requirement to use any except the 6 photos on a page. Have experimented with a few others but not any real important jobs...
Good Luck,

Graphicuser