Some photographers may take thousands and thousands of digital photos without ever printing one of them.  However, if you're somebody who likes to print off copies of your photos, the quality of the printer you're using can dramatically affect the quality of the prints. Printers for digital photos range from simple on-click models to high-end professional machines with plenty of options for various formats. The paper which you use for your prints can also affect the clarity of the image. Digital cameras can produce extremely high-quality images,  but this quality won't be seen in prints if your printer and paper aren't designed for printing high resolution photographs.  Of course, if you only print digital photos once in a blue moon and don't want to invest a lot of money on a specialty printer, and high end paper then you can always take your memory card to a professional photography lab to produce your prints. Ink jet models are the most widely used home printers.  These printers may be all purpose - designed for printing documents and images, or designed specially for printing photographs. A good all-purpose printer can still produce high-quality images, but a photo-quality printer will go the extra mile, and provide you with professional standard  photos. Another popular type of printer for producing photographic prints is a dye-sublimation printer, or ‘dye-sub' printer. This is a computer printer that uses heat to transfer dye to the paper. The process usually prints one color at a time and the image is gradually built up, layer by layer.  These printers also produce a fine coating on each print, giving them a glossier, longer lasting finish than most ink jet printers.  Dye-sublimation printers produce exceptional quality photographic prints, but the cost per photo can be relatively high compare to ink jet prints. With most printers, you can control their settings from your computer's printer driver. This allows you to choose the type of paper, print quality, page orientation and paper size.  If you want a professional looking photo, be sure to choose the highest quality settings and use a paper that is specifically designed for photo printing. Make sure to let the photos dry properly before storing them, as the inks may smudge while they are still fresh. Many modern digital cameras allow you to connect directly to a printer, enabling you to print good quality photos quickly and easily in just a few steps.  In particular, small, portable printers are quite popular, due to their ease of use and the fact that no computer is needed. You simply insert the camera's memory card, pick the photos and then print them off. There are also more and more wireless printers on the market now too and these are also popular with digital photography buffs. Even if you have the best printer on the market, a little understanding of things such as pixel resolution, dots per inch (dpi) and pixels per inch (ppi), will help you to get the best quality prints from your images.