Learn to... Print great photographs

Daniel Lambrou from Kodak gave us a few tips on finding the right printer for producing quality photo prints at home.

If you want to print your own photos you need a high-quality printer that's easy to use.

Ideally it should have a memory card slot and a preview screen so that you can pick and print your photos straight from your camera's memory card without having to use a PC.

Dpi - or dots per inch - is often seen as an industry bench-mark for the quality of any given printer. But equally important, if not more so, are things like a printer's colour range gamut and skin-colour reproduction.

With Kodak printers the settings are already optimised for the best possible performance, with paper sensors in the tray to adjust the settings according to the type of paper you're using. These settings make it simple to get good results.

Learn to... Be a Photographer

At 10am on QVC TV every day this week we'll be bringing you tips and advice to develop a range of skills and hobbies in our Learn To... series. See our TV guide for more information. Today, Learn To Be a Photographer!

We caught up with Mat Trim (LBIPP) from Fuji who offered us his top ten tips for taking great photos.

#1: Don't snap. Take a photograph
A lot of people just take snaps, and don't think about what they're doing. It's a different thing taking a snap and a photograph.

A snap is what people take with a mobile phone camera or something similar. When you have a digital camera, people sometimes don't think about what's in the picture; rubbish bins, things growing out of people's heads, inappropriate signs, the list is endless!

It only really takes two or three seconds of thought and you can change the whole picture.

#2: Nobody looks good shot from a low angle
If you ever have a professional portrait done, the guy is halfway up a step ladder. So, for portraits always get height and shoot down.

Everyone looks better. It gets rid of double-chins and all sorts of problems. The only drawback with shooting down is if someone's losing their hair!

Simon's excited about Saturday's Today's Special Value

As the Christmas period gets fully underway, my ‘ol camcorder is back out for Nativity plays and parties. Mine's a good few years old and is a digital tape-based one that has served me well for nearly 10 years. But as tapes cost a fortune, I've been thinking I should upgrade... 

... so I'm pretty chuffed to be presenting a camcorder TSV from JVC this Saturday! It's packed with loads of clever features, and at a great price it's a real steal.

I'm trying one out and hopefully I'll get some great shots of the kids. I think it will make a great Christmas present for the family and as we've organised special delivery, you'll get it in time to wrap and enjoy seeing the faces when it’s opened on the big Ho Ho!

Check it out this Saturday, Simon x

Simon on gardening, cameras and early starts

With half term over, together with a nasty sick bug that brought down the whole family, it’s nice to be back into the early morning routine! But having turned the clocks back, those early five o’clock starts do seem awfully dark and lonely.

It’s been nice to work with Kathy on a regular basis and have a bit of a catch up before The Morning Show starts. But I think my unshaven, un-showered, pre-show appearance has taken her aback a bit!

Anthony Heywood reports from the IFA electronics show 2008

Hi everyone, Anthony here,

I'm actually sat in my hotel room in the heart of Berlin after a second exhausting day of filming at the IFA electronics show. It's the largest showcase of electronics in Europe and the second largest in the world just behind CES in Las Vegas. I went to see what's happening in the world of tech and am here for three days in total - you really need that amount of time to get to see everything here - it's so vast.

I flew out from Heathrow's new Terminal 5. All the gates there have large flatscreen TVs from Samsung, who actually have one of the largest halls at IFA, and coincidently that's the first hall I came across when I got to the show.