Photos are an important part of our everyday life. We use them to remember, to tell about our life, show others our relatives, friends and experiences and we like to decorate our home with them to give it a personal touch. For all of those reasons, we need to get the photos from the camera to the paper. So it is good that we have the technology to print our photos, so that we can arrange them in photo albums or frame them and hang them on our walls.
The history of photo printing however is long: It already started in 1885 with the introduction of the world’s first printer. After that the technology became to evolve rapidly and around the 1990s, the first digital printing options were developed. Nevertheless, the technology of photography and photo printing is even in our already modern times continuously advancing in a pace that one can easily miss out on new technological breakthroughs. To prevent that, this article gives an overview of the most recent developments.
Pocket photo printers
Pocket photo printers are a new development, that are developed over the past few years and becoming increasingly more popular. The printers are portable and connect with your phone or other devices usually over Bluetooth so that one can print from any place. The pocket photo printers are very practical in the everyday life and especially useful for people who work within a creative field.
3D printing
Even though 3D printing itself is not a new development, it is getting increasingly used in different fields of life and work. It can add new depths to photographs, since it creates textured prints and it custom frames. 3D printing therefore offers new creative ways to set your printed photos in the right spotlight.
Inkless Printing
Another new technology that was developed in the past years, is the inkless printing. Technologies like ZINK, short for Zero Ink, eliminated the need for traditional link cartridges for portable printers. It uses a special paper that has colour crystals embedded which are activated by heat to create the images. However, those technologies also are known to pose risks to the user’s health. Another way of inkless printing is laser printing, which is also used in normal printers.
AI and Image Enhancement
AI is increasingly used for different fields of work and life. It also starts to become relevant for photo printing, since it is used to enhance photo quality. Some printers start to have AI included to correct colour balance, remove imperfections, and enhance details. Therefore AI can be really useful to create even more impressive prints than before.
Environmental Sustainability
Eco-friendly printing technologies are becoming increasingly more important over the past years. Climate change forces a lot of industries to re-think their production, if they want to be fit for the future. Eco-solvent inks, but also recycled or sustainable paper are therefore developed to make printing more eco-friendly. Some technologies also try to reduce the energy consumption of printers.