A customer of mine recently wanted to know why her pictures appeared to have a layer of line impressions. We went through her printing process and made some adjustments that cleared up the problem.
(But I have to tell you, it's cheaper and you'll get better results by taking your flash cards to Office Max, Walgreen's, or even Costco to get them printed.)
In this case, she wanted to print a couple at home for convenience. So here are the adjustments:
All picture and printer software will be different, but they have common lingo. For instance:
DPI settings (Dots Per Inch): Hers was set at 300 which is fine for text. We changed it to 1200 dpi for the pictures.
Picture quality: Hers was set to Everyday quality. We changed it to "Best" quality.
Resolution matters "before" you take the picture, but doesn't help much afterward when it's time to print. If you want a really good quality printout, then set your digital camera to a higher resolution. It will take up more space on your flash card, but the print will be great.
Note: I usually don't print my photos, instead I upload to my computer or website so I keep my resolution at low to medium.
I hope this tip helps you! (Just go to Office Max...)