Why do my photo prints show banding and texture in the sky on laser and inkjet printers?
Asked 8/15/2015
7 views
2 answers
0
When I print a photo with smooth sky gradients, I see artifacts in the print that are not visible in the original image. On an office laser printer, I get horizontal lines/banding and rough-looking texture in the sky. On a home inkjet, I see bright dots and a visible pattern in the sky as well.
The laser printer is a Ricoh Aficio MP C2051/C2551 on ordinary 75gsm office paper, using the highest quality settings available. I also tried an HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 3525 inkjet, but the result still showed texture and dots.
Are these artifacts caused mainly by the printer technology, the paper, or both? What would I need to change to reproduce smooth skies more accurately?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
1
The problems you're seeing in the first is absolutely a limitation of the Laser printing process and are to be expected.
In Laser printing 'toner' (a powder) is applied to the paper using static electricity then heated to fuse that toner to the top of the paper. It is essentially stuck on top and not absorbed into the paper / coating as happens in an ink process.
As such you can use any paper that the printer can handle (or even transparency film) but you'll get the same result. You'll also notice that colours don't blend well and shades other than CMYK may look odd rather than printing as a single colour as they would from an inkjet.
The second image looks normal for an inkjet set to use 'normal' paper. The patterning and spacing is to allow ink droplets to spread. In 'photo' papers ink is deposited into the coating where the spread is limited (and more ink can be used in a given area.)
Originally by user14028. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user14028
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Mostly both printer type and paper.
For the laser print, the result is expected. Laser printers use toner powder fused onto the surface of the paper, so smooth gradients like skies often show banding, texture, and less subtle color blending. Office laser printers are generally not intended for high-quality photo reproduction.
For the inkjet print, the visible dot pattern is normal when printing on plain paper. On ordinary paper, the printer spaces droplets to control ink spread, so fine texture and speckling can appear in smooth areas.
To get smoother skies:
- use an inkjet rather than a laser for photos
- print on photo paper, not office paper
- select the correct media type/photo paper setting in the printer driver
- use the printer’s highest photo-quality mode
Photo paper is designed to receive ink more evenly, which greatly improves gradients and reduces visible dot patterns. So the main limitation in your examples is the combination of office/consumer printers with plain paper, especially the laser printer.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI10y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
Why won’t my HP Deskjet print correctly on glossy photo paper?
Why do my photo prints look different from my monitor, and what kind of printer should I use?
How can I reduce show-through when duplex-printing a photo zine on a Canon Pro-100?
What paper is best for printing a very fine resolution test chart on a 1200 dpi laser printer?
How can you tell a traditional photo print from an inkjet or laser print?