65. Set Print Options Before You Start  103 About Color Management
104 About Adobe Gamma
See Also  66 Print an Image
67 Print a Contact Sheet 68 Print a Picture Package
Before printing, you should use Page Setup to set various print options. Photoshop Elements presents Page Setup in two parts. The first dialog box is fairly simple and governs general print options for the application such as paper size and print orientation: portrait orientation or landscape orientation. The second dialog box enables you to set specific printer options such as paper type and quality. These settings affect jobs sent to the printer by Photoshop Elements during this Photoshop Elements session only, so don't worry that your Microsoft Word documents might suddenly start printing in photo quality. You should check, however, to make sure that these printer settings are still in place before printing a second time from Photoshop Elements; some printers reset these selections with each print job whereas other printers do not. KEY TERMS  | Portrait orientation A page printed across its shortest edge. Landscape orientation A page printed across its longest edge. |
1. | Choose File, Page Setup
Open the image you want to print in the Editor, or select the image in the Organizer. In either the Organizer or the Editor, select File, Page Setup from the menu bar. The Page Setup dialog box for Photoshop Elements appears.
| 2. | Choose Paper Size and Click Printer
In the Page Setup dialog box, the only change you typically make is to choose a different paper size from the Size list, which you might do if you are printing on 4"x6" paper, for example. You can also change the Orientation of the page if you like, and the Source, which tells the printer which paper tray to use (if your printer has more than one).
After making selections (if any) from this first Page Setup dialog box, click the Printer button. A second Page Setup dialog box appears.
 TIPS  | When you use color management (see 103 About Color Management and 104 About Adobe Gamma for how), the colors you see in your Photoshop Elements images are adjusted to approximate the colors and tones your printer is capable of reproducing. However, if you have more than one printer or printer driver, color management adjusts onscreen colors only for the current printerwhich is either the Windows default printer or the one most recently used. If your photo printer isn't the default, and you intend to use it to print images in Photoshop Elements, follow these steps to change printers while still editing, so that images onscreen look as they will when printed. You can print several images on one sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper using the Organizer. Even though these images might be printed in 4" x 6" size, for example, do not change the Paper Size in the Page Setup dialog box because you are using standard letter-sized paper. |
| 3. | Choose Printer
In the second Page Setup dialog box, choose your printer from the Name drop-down list (if necessary). If, for example, you have both an inkjet and a photo printer, make certain that the printer named here is the one you intend to use for printing your image(s).
| 4. | Click Properties
Click the Properties button. The Properties dialog box specific to your printer appears.
| 5. | Set Printer Options
Because the Properties dialog box that appears is specific to your printer, what you see might only look similar to what's shown here. Consult your printer's manual for specific instructions regarding your printer's options. (The example shown here is for an HP DeskJet printer.) For my printer, I click the Paper/Quality tab and open the Media list to select the paper type I plan to use, such as glossy photo paper. I can change the Quality settings as well; for example, I select Best quality when printing photos.
Many printer dialog boxes include an Advanced feature, usually attainable through a button or tab. When you click this button or tab, all the printer's major options are listed categorically on one screen. Click the name of the category to see all the options for that category, such as Paper/Output for the size and thickness of paper you intend to use, or Graphic for resolution and color management options. If the Advanced settings are located on a separate dialog box, click OK to finalize your changes and return to the main Properties dialog box.
Some printers allow you to rescale an image to a different size for printing by specifying the size you want in the printer's Properties dialog box. However, you'll get better results if you rescale the image using the Print Preview or Print Selected Images dialog boxes provided by Photoshop Elements. Do not use both the printer's and Photoshop Elements' rescaling features, or you'll scale the image twice. Also, as noted earlier, you can achieve the best results by rescaling the image to the print size you want before printing. See 60 Change Image Size or Resolution.
TIP | If you use a photo printer, you should thoroughly research which brand and grade of photo paper works best with that printer; if you pick the wrong photo paper brand, the prints might smear. If you're printing on an ordinary inkjet printer, you will get the best quality using that same manufacturer's photo paper. Also, if you're printing to a dye-sublimation printer, use only that manufacturer's paperdo not substitute a different brand. |
| 6. | Click OK
To finalize your printer settings, click OK to close the Properties dialog box. Then click OK to exit the second Page Setup dialog box, and OK again to finalize your choices from the first Page Setup dialog box.
Now that you've specified the printer and options you intend to use for this Photoshop Elements printing session, you can select the images you want to print. For most printers, these printer options will remain in effect until you exit Photoshop Elements; some printers reset these options with each print job, so check them each time you prepare to print.
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