11 common printing mistakes and how to fix them

Photographers sometimes fear that printing their own photos will be costly and difficult, and is better left to specialists. But pros who do their own photo printing say it actually enables them to manage expenses more effectively, offers greater creative control, and can even make them better photographers.

There are several common misconceptions about photo printing – that it's inconvenient and time-consuming, or that it's impossible to get colours looking right. One thing that is true, though, is that trial-and-error can be expensive.

Printing your own photos at home or in the studio, however, can be incredibly rewarding – when done right. Even with a high-quality Canon printer, however, a few simple mistakes can lead to poor print quality, wasted ink, or mismatched colours. Fortunately, Canon's end-to-end photo printing solutions make it easy to get professional results from capture to final print.

In this guide, Canon photo printing experts Frederic Vaneesbeck, Jay Sinclair and Suhaib Hussain share the 11 most common printing mistakes – and how to fix them. Read on to discover expert tips that will help you save time, reduce waste, and produce vibrant, gallery-worthy photo prints that last a lifetime.

• Mistake 1: Printing low-resolution images
• Mistake 2: Using low-quality file formats
• Mistake 3: Ignoring colour management
• Mistake 4: Software conflicts during printing
• Mistake 5: Not cropping images for paper size
• Mistake 6: Mishandling paper and ink
• Mistake 7: Skipping paper profile settings
• Mistake 8: Choosing the wrong Rendering Intent
• Mistake 9: Printing for the wrong lighting conditions
• Mistake 10: Forgetting to proof before printing
• Mistake 11: Neglecting printer maintenance

Photos from smartphones or shared on social media are commonly reduced in size and compressed, which often happens automatically when you upload them to some social platforms, and this means they may be too low-res to look good in print, especially at large sizes.

"For making high-quality photo prints, the ideal resolution is 300dpi (dots per inch)," says Frederic. "To calculate the practical maximum print size, you can therefore divide the image's pixel dimensions by 300. This means a 45MP camera such as the Canon EOS R5 Mark II delivers sufficient resolution for prints of up to roughly 27 x 18 inches [69 x 46cm] in size, while for a 24MP camera such as the EOS R3, EOS R8 or EOS R50 the maximum size is about 20 x 13 inches [51 x 33cm].

"That said, if you want to create really large poster-sized prints, you'll naturally view them from a greater distance, so you can afford to drop the resolution to 150dpi. You can then print the image twice as big, but it will need to be viewed from some distance to look right.

"You can also use editing software such as Adobe Photoshop to interpolate pixels, but this cannot create genuine detail and the files can get much bigger – not megabytes but gigabytes in size."

Alternatively, Canon's advanced Neural network Upscaling Tool can enlarge images by up to four times with superb image quality. Unlike conventional interpolation, its deep-learning engine analyses the image content, resulting in fewer artifacts and better fine detail. And unlike other AI upscaling tools, it uses camera and lens information and respects bokeh, preserving background blur and producing a true-to-life result. The subscription-based tool (free trial available) runs locally on your Mac or PC, works with JPEGs or TIFFs, and could be an ideal solution for producing beautiful large-size prints of photos that might have marginal resolution.

Even when you're printing a photo you've taken yourself with your Canon camera, it's a good idea to avoid lowest-quality JPEGs, particularly if you want large prints. "The lossy compression of the JPEG file format means you lose more and more image data with increased compression settings, which results in losing pictorial detail from your prints," Frederic explains. For the best print quality, he recommends shooting RAW, processing the RAW file in Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP) to give the image the finish and feel you want, and then printing directly using Canon's free Professional Print and Layout (PPL) software, which can be used as a standalone application or as a plug-in within your preferred image editing software.

When you save the image, Frederic advises using the 16-bit TIFF format, which preserves more of the colour and tonal detail than 8-bit formats such as JPEG. If storage space is an issue, then he suggests exporting to JPEG but at the 100% quality setting to reduce the risk of disappointing prints.

In addition, Suhaib advises being wary of aggressive levels of Unsharp Mask and other sharpening tools. "These tools can make your images look really crisp on screen. However, printing them enables much greater resolution and brings fine detail and texture to the fore, without the need for aggressive sharpening. Over-sharpening your images can have an adverse effect on image quality, as well as introducing haloing around edges and unwanted levels of image noise in areas such as skies, water and smooth surfaces."

To get your prints looking exactly like you want them to, it's essential to calibrate your monitor. This ensures that colours and tones are displayed accurately and consistently, so that the prints you produce match what you see on your screen. "Some high-end monitors offer a self-calibration feature, but most need to be adjusted to the correct settings using a monitor calibration tool," says Jay.

To get the best possible output quality on Canon's imagePROGRAF PRO Series printers, Canon recommends its Professional Print and Layout (PPL) software, which as mentioned works as a standalone program or a plug-in within your preferred image editor. "This software was designed by Canon to make the printing process easier," says Jay. "It provides the tools to do all your colour management.

"Printing in Adobe Lightroom¹ or Adobe Photoshop can lead to problems. It's not an issue with those programs themselves, but an issue with them competing with the printer driver to manage the colours. Both try to manage the colours at the same time and add their own colour processing. Because PPL was designed by Canon for Canon printers, you'll avoid that issue, so it simplifies the whole process."

What's more, Suhaib adds, "for optimum quality and fidelity when printing from a Mac, it's important to use the Canon printer driver to select print and paper properties, rather than relying on Apple AirPrint."

By default, Canon cameras produce photos with a standard 3:2 aspect ratio, although other aspect ratios are available in camera menus. When you print, however, you might use A4, A3 or A3+ paper sizes, which have a different aspect ratio. If so, Frederic recommends taking the time to crop each image to the correct proportions for printing, "to make sure the composition looks its best and you keep all the important elements in the scene." This is worth doing even if you opt to scale the image down so it all fits on the paper and print with borders, he adds, to ensure that the borders are the same size all the way around.

It's also important if you're producing borderless prints. In the past, borderless printing was an option only if you used glossy or lustre photo papers, says Suhaib. "However, some of Canon's latest printers, including the PIXMA PRO-200S and imagePROGRAF PRO-310, feature ultra-precise paper transport systems that enable borderless printing on matte photo paper and fine art media, so you only have to have white borders if you really want them."

You can crop for printing within PPL, which will optionally display guides to help you refine your composition according to the rule of thirds. Doing this in PPL affects only the printed output, leaving your original image untouched.

Natural oils on the skin can contaminate the surface of photo paper and fine art media, so it's best to avoid touching the printable surface when handling the paper before printing. It's also important to consider drying time after printing, Suhaib says. "When creating photo prints on glossy or lustre paper using dye-based inks, the ink is quickly absorbed beneath a protective outer layer and the print is touch-dry pretty much as soon as it leaves the printer. Even so, it's best not to touch the surface for a while so it can fully dry.

"Pigment-based inks take much longer to dry on any type of photo paper or fine art media, so it's important not to touch the surface for quite a while to avoid any risk of smudging. If mounting photo prints in an album or behind glass, it's best to leave them overnight beforehand to dry completely."

As for the ink, buying independently manufactured inks can seem an attractive money-saving option, but Suhaib doesn't recommend it. "Genuine Canon LUCIA PRO II inks are formulated to the highest standards to ensure accuracy and consistency in terms of tone and colour rendition, as well as delivering excellent archival qualities, so you can be sure prints will last a lifetime," he says. "They also have an ensured level of purity, helping to avoid the risk of blocked nozzles in the print heads. All these aspects can be severely compromised when using non-genuine inks."

The Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1100 uses 12 next-generation LUCIA PRO II pigment inks, 11 of which are newly developed. These inks have greater abrasion resistance, which can be critical for prints that are handled a lot, such as those produced and transported for exhibitions. In addition, LUCIA PRO II inks deliver enhanced image robustness, ensuring high light resistance and improved long-term preservation and durability.

When you print using PPL, it is vital to tell the printer what paper you are using by selecting the correct paper in the paper menu in PPL and also the paper menu on the printer. For colour accuracy, depending on the printer and the paper manufacturer, you may be able to specify an ICC profile or an AM1X file.

An ICC (International Color Consortium) profile contains information that allows a printer to reproduce accurate colours on a specific type of paper. "If you don't select the correct ICC profile, the image can come out looking completely different," says Jay. "You could calibrate your screen and do everything else right but if you select the wrong profile, your image is not going to print the way you want it to."

If you're using non Canon branded papers on a Canon pro printer, Frederic also highlights the value of using AM1X custom media config files, where available. "These specify the black ink type, ICC profile and extra information about the ideal ink density, the optimal height of the print head, the drying time and any constraints regarding borderless printing, for particular media," he explains.

If you're using a Canon pro printer that supports them, AM1X files can be downloaded from the paper manufacturer's website and installed using Canon's free Media Configuration Tool. This tool may be installed when you initially install your printer driver software. Otherwise, visit Canon's printer support page, select your printer, then click Software. Find Media Configuration Tool in the list, and install following the instructions. Your printer User Guide will contain a section explaining how to use the software.

Printers are not capable of producing quite as wide a range of colours as your camera has captured. Within a colour managed workflow, you can use the Rendering Intent setting in the Print dialogue to tell the printer how to deal with colours that fall outside its printable range or colour gamut.

The Perceptual setting aims to preserve the overall visual impression of colours in an image. It will map out-of-gamut or clipped colours to the closest-match printable colours, then adjust the other colours to preserve the relationship between them.

The Relative Colorimetric setting maps out-of-gamut colours to the printer's nearest reproducible colours, but doesn't alter in-gamut colours. "You may get slightly less saturated colours, but brightness values will be most stable with this rendering intent," says Jay. "This makes it the ideal choice for near-neutral and black and white images."

Something people often don't think about is the environment in which the print will be displayed. "Consider whether your print will be displayed under natural daylight, which will have a relatively cool colour temperature, or artificial light, which will be warmer," Suhaib says. "If you're creating large-format prints, it's useful to create small hard proofs first, so you can check them under the relevant lighting source to ensure you're happy with the results. It can be particularly important when colour accuracy is critical, for genres including portraiture, landscape, wildlife, and fashion photography."

If you're producing prints for an exhibition, you can minimise blown-out highlights in photo prints by using the Optimize for exhibition lighting option in PPL, so that the prints' dynamic range is visually expanded under bright exhibition lighting. Simply choose the setting that best matches the conditions under which the prints will be viewed, including typical spotlight lighting (700 lux) or a high-intensity spotlight (1,400 lux).

Find out more about lighting your prints for exhibition.

Provided you have colour-calibrated your monitor, soft proofing your images with Canon's free Professional Print & Layout (PPL) plug-in enables you to view a simulation of what your image will look like when it's printed on paper. "If you don't soft proof, there's a chance your images will come out flat when you're printing on fine art and matte papers," Jay says.

"Also, the software's gamut warning will alert you if the printer is not capable of rendering a colour you've asked for. Basically, soft proofing is making sure you're profiling the paper exactly for the print, and you're seeing how it's going to come out before you print out an image."

As well as soft-proofing options, Suhaib recommends hard proofing with the Pattern Print option in PPL. "You can use this to create a variety of thumbnails of your image on the media that you're going to use for the final print, each with subtly different tonal treatment and colour rendition. You simply choose your favourite option for creating the final print. It works particularly well for getting exactly the right look and feel for both colour photos with subtle hues and for high contrast black and white prints, especially when using fine art papers."

What's more, soft-proofing might not be enough with some types of images. Computer monitors and other display screens struggle to accurately display really deep blacks, whereas pro printers such as the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-310 and imagePROGRAF PRO-1100 are class leaders in this respect. "This is especially true when using fine art papers such as Canon Fine Art Smooth and Fine Art Rough media," says Suhaib. "Don't rely on soft-proofing when printing dramatic black and white images, but create some small test prints on your chosen media so you can see what the final result will really look like."

Inkjet printing is a very exact science and an incredibly high-precision process. Suhaib recommends running the printer's Print Head Alignment utility from the printer driver to ensure utmost accuracy. "Do this when you first set up a new printer, and again if you transport it from one place to another. It's a good idea to repeat the process every few months, even if the printer doesn't get moved."

Canon's print heads are designed to be resistant to blockage, but Suhaib emphasises that it is also a good idea to run the Nozzle Check utility from the printer driver once in a while, especially if you're creating large-format prints, which are relatively expensive to produce. "If you see any faint lines in the Nozzle Check test print, run the Cleaning utility and then re-run the Nozzle Check."

Canon printers have built-in diagnostics to make sure everything's running smoothly, and Frederic says it's important to keep an eye on printer status and take notice of any warnings. "If ink cartridges are running low, you'll get a notification. You should still have sufficient ink to carry on using the printer, but high-volume photo printing can drain the remaining ink quickly, so it's good to order replacement cartridges as soon as possible." Continuing to use depleted cartridges can result in faded or uneven prints. "Some printers also have a user-replaceable maintenance tank, which should be changed as soon as you get a warning that it's full," Frederic adds.

"You won't get a notification if there's an updated software driver for your printer, so it's worth checking from time to time in the Support section of the Canon website. If you get a notification that a printer firmware update is available, it's always best to download the update file to your computer first, download the printer firmware utility, and connect the printer to the computer using a USB cable to apply the update."


Producing your own photo prints can be a richly rewarding experience and creatively very satisfying. Keep these tips in mind to help you create great prints every time. For the latest in print technologies, see Canon's range of professional photo printers.