Expert: LizaL - 10/18/2004

Question
I print photos in Adobe Photoshop Elements where I add text (ie. prayer, inspirational quotes, etc.) and when I select normal quality for my printout the text is much darker, but the "bands" appear in the printout. When I use best quality, the bands disappear but the text is lighter. Please advise. Thanks.

Answer
Hi Paul,

You're right, the bands will disappear when you use a higher quality selection in printing. I can suggest a couple of things:

1. Have you tried changing paper? If you're using a regular paper (not photo paper), you might try a bright white paper -- when you next buy paper, compare the shades of white and get the brightest. You might also try a lightweight card stock. And if you are using photo paper, try a matte next time you buy some. The matte finish might make the lighter text not so noticeable.

2. I've had banding, which I've remedied in Photoshop by just printing with a higher quality resolution. But I've never had the lighter text problem. This might just be inherent to Elements. You might have to compensate by making the text darker to begin with.

3. What format are saving your files in? For printing, try EPS or TIFF as your file format. You could also try and place an EPS or a TIFF that you've created and saved in Elements, and place it into a page layout program, and see if it prints better that way.

Please let me know if these things help, and if not, please post back. I'll be more than happy to keep trying, until we find a solution!

Lisa