When it comes to photo paper, you definitely get what you pay for. If you print photos on plain paper meant for a copier, you simply will not get professional looking photo prints. You will also not get photos that last! You want to use a photo paper for scrapbooking that is acid free and archival.

So once you have chosen your high quality, archival photo paper, it’s understandable that you want to use it as efficiently as possible while printing.

When you know the size of print you’d like to place on your page and if it’s a standard photo size, like 4x6, 5x7, or 8x10, it’s best to use paper pre-cut to that exact size and to print it without any white margin. These are called “Borderfree” prints and for these, you need a photo printer, which has the ability to print right up to the edge of the paper.

When you want to print multiple images on one sheet of paper, you have a few options:

The single most efficient way to use your paper is to use the fewest layers of it as possible. One way to accomplish this is to digitally create your page with software, importing your photos, all graphics, headlines and text all onto the same page. If you have a letter size photo printer, you will be limited to pages that are letter size. In that case, the paper you’d want to use would be archival photo paper in an 8-1/2” x 11” size sheet. With the wide format printer, you can print your photos and all other elements directly onto the same piece of 12” x 12” paper.