How to Print 4×6 Photos on HP Printer

We’ve all been there. You’re trying to print photos for your family reunion or so when surprise! you can’t figure out how to print 4×6 photos on an HP printer. Don’t worry; it’s not just you; some people who have ever tried to print such sized photos have run into this problem.

You don’t need to be a genius technician to accomplish this. It’s super simple to print 4×6 photos. Such sized pictures are just big enough to be viewed from a distance and look great in frames on your desk, mantle, wall, etc.

This tutorial will show you how to print 4×6 photos on an HP printer. So buckle up and enjoy the ride!

What Size Is 4×6 On Printer?

4×6 on a printer measures approximately 4 x 5 ⅞ inches. But it is typically just rounded off to the nearest whole number, so the dimensions are 4 inches by 6 inches.

The size is standard in the photofinishing industry because it mirrors the aspect ratio of most viewfinders of digital cameras. When you preview your photos from your camera’s LCD screen, you see the image at the same ratio as it will be printed.

So if you print an image from a computer without altering its dimensions to look stretched or squashed compared to how it appeared onscreen, then use a 4 x 6 size. A 4 x 6 photo has a 3:2 aspect ratio similar to 35mm film and DSLR cameras.

How to Print 4×6 Photos on HP Printer?

If you recently bought an HP printer and wonder how to use it, we can help you. Printing a picture on a 4 x 6-inch photo paper is easy and not rocket science.

Before we get started on the procedural part, you will need the following:

The HP printer (of course)
A 4 x 6 photo paper
Your favorite photo that you want to print
A computer or laptop/desktop. You can also use a smartphone
Cables to connect your PC/smartphone to the printer if it doesn’t allow wireless printing

Follow the steps below to the latter:

Step 1: Connecting the Printer to your PC or Phone

First, make sure both devices are powered on. Then, connect them using the appropriate cable for your printer. It could be a USB cable or an Ethernet cable.

You can also print via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. To do that, you’ll need to make sure your printer has a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth interface. You can connect it to your PC via the following steps:

Go to Settings
Then to “Devices”
Select “Printers and scanners.”
Tap “Add a printer or scanner.” Select the printer in question.

If you can’t seem to find the printer, then use the steps below:

Once the “Add device” screen appears, click “The printer I want isn’t listed.”
Select your connection type. It could be either USB or network. Select “Add a local printer” and follow the prompts if you’re using USB. For networked printers, select “Add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer,” then follow the prompts to complete the setup.

There are also two ways to connect your phone to your printer for smartphones. The first is by using a cable, and the second is by wirelessly connecting them over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The method you choose will be primarily determined by how old your printer is, what type of connection you have on your phone, and whether or not you can connect your printer to the internet.

For the Cable Method:

Find the appropriate cable that fits your phone as well as the printer. Some smartphones use type-c cable. Make sure you get the right type.
Insert the cable heads into both gadgets’ correct ports, and that is it!

If you’re going cable-free, then the good news is that it’s pretty straightforward and the easiest way to print photos. You’ll need to make sure both devices are turned on and that they are in close enough proximity that they can talk to each other. Then, in most cases, when you print something from an app on your phone (like Google Drive or Cloud, for example), you’ll see a menu pop up asking which device you’d like to print to.

It would be best if you were connected to the same Wi-Fi network or via Bluetooth for the cable-free method to work.

Step 2: Choose the Right Photo Paper

Choosing the right photo paper can be confusing if you’re unsure what to look for. Photo papers come in four different types; each has unique characteristics. Choosing the right one depends on how you want your photos to look.

We have the following types of papers:

Luster/satin paper: If you like the look of glossy photos but don’t want them to be as shiny, luster or satin photo paper is a good choice.
Glossy paper: If you’re going for an attention-grabbing image, glossy is perfect. It enhances the colors in your photo and gives it a vibrant, high-contrast look.
Matte paper: Matte may not have the same eye-catching quality as glossy. However, it prints in high quality, making it worth considering.
Canvas paper: Canvas photo paper offers a quality near to Matte. However, it has a rough texture and needs a lot of care.

Make sure the paper you choose measures 4 x 6 inches if you need to print borderless photos.

Step 3: Load the Photo Papers into the Printer Tray

To load photo paper into the printer tray, follow these steps:

Remove any papers that may already be in the tray. If you had loaded other papers. If you added anything to a print queue, you might need to cancel it before removing the paper.
Load the photo paper so that the glossy side of the paper is face-up and aligned with your hands as you carefully load it into the center of the tray.
Push the tray back into place.

The procedure you use to place the papers in your tray will depend on the printer model. If the above procedure is too general for you, you can always get printer-specific instructions from HP’s official documentation website.

Step 4: Print the Photo

To print a photo on your PC, start transferring it to your PC using an easy method like USB cable, Bluetooth, or flash drive. Then open the photo on your computer with your favorite photo editor and edit it if you want to improve contrast, brightness, color balance, etc.

Once you’ve transferred the photo on your computer and made any edits you want to make, follow these steps to print it:

Go to the location folder of the photo in question
Right-click on it
Select “Open with” and choose “Windows Photo Viewer.” You could also use MS Paint for this. If you are on a MacBook or Linux machine, use the appropriate software to open the photo.
Place your cursor on “File” in the menu bar at the top of your screen
Select Print from the drop-down menu
If you have multiple printers set up on your computer, select which one you want to use
Click on “Document Settings” to customize the print size
Tap “More Print Settings”
Change the color settings to your specifications, and make sure you set the print size to 4 x 6 inches for the photo to print without borders.
Once you are done with settings, tap “OK’ then “Print.”

Print Smartphone to HP printer, Follow These Steps:

Make sure your phone and printer are on the same wi-fi network or connected via a cable.
If you have an iPhone, open the image you want to print in the “Photos” app. If you have an Android phone, open the image in the “Gallery” app.
Tap the “Share” icon.
Tap “Print.”
Choose your HP printer and print options (such as one-sided or two-sided printing, color or black and white. Don’t forget to set the size to 4 x 6).
Tap “Print” to send your photos to the printer.

Print Google Cloud Print on your Smartphone:

Open your photo in the Google Photos app.
Tap the three vertical dots at the upper right of the screen and select Print from the list.
In the bottom left corner of the screen, tap Select Printer.
Select Cloud Print from the list of options that appears.
If you’ve previously signed into Google, you’ll see a drop-down menu with your credentials listed; if not, tap Sign In and follow the steps to add your account information to your phone now.
You’ll see a list of printers; select which one you want to print to by tapping it (if it doesn’t appear, make sure your printer is turned on and supports Cloud Print. Link it to your smartphone).
Choose whether you want to print a single copy or multiple copies of your photo and whether you want it to be in color or black and white. (Don’t forget to specify the size to 4 x 6 inches)
Tap “Print”

How Do I Resize a 4×6 Photo to 8×10?

When you resize a 4×6 photo to an 8×10, the aspect ratio changes, this means that the image will lose some of its original quality. And you may want to do this in an editing program instead of printing it directly from your printer.

If you’re using MS Paint or Photos:

Open the image and choose Edit Pictures from the menu.
Select Resize and then enter your measurements in inches or centimeters on the Edit tab.
Tap your Enter button when you’re done and save your changes.

With Adobe Photoshop:

Open your image in Photoshop and then click Image > Image Size.
Enter your new dimensions, ensuring that “Constrain Proportions” is checked so that your aspect ratio stays correct.
Click OK to save your changes.

To resize when Printing:

Open the 4×6 photo in Windows Photo Viewer and click Print.
You can change the size of your print by dragging the edge of your photo until it reaches the desired length. You can also change the Print settings to get the right size.
Then click “Print” when you’re ready to print it.

You could also resize your pictures using web apps. Search them on Google, visit their pages, upload the picture and specify the dimensions. Once resized, download it to your gadget.

How Do I Print a 4×6 Photo on 8×11?

Here’s the scenario: you just took an excellent photo, and you want to print it out big so you can take it to your local frame shop and have it framed, but you don’t have any of those small four-by-six print papers. The good news is, you don’t even need them! You can print a 4 x 6 photo on an 8 x 11 printer paper. It’s so easy, and here’s how:

You’ll need a graphics program like Photoshop, Corel PaintShop Pro, Paintshop Pro X8 or X9, CorelDRAW, or GIMP to complete this project. If you don’t have one of these programs, there are some free online options available. You could also use MS Paint for this purpose.
Open the Image in your editing app.
Once your image is open in the program, resize it. Simply enter the new dimensions from the “Size” tab and hit your Enter button. You could also resize it using your mouse until the desired size is obtained.
Edit the image to improve its quality. Resizing reduced the quality of your photos. So do not forget to play with Brightness, Cue, Contrast, and other settings to obtain the best quality.
Print the photo on 8 X 11 paper using the procedure captured above.

What is the Pixel Size for a 4×6 Photo?

So, you want to know how to print 4×6 photos on a hp printer, and you don’t know what the pixel size should be?

We can’t tell you precisely the pixel size because that will depend on your camera quality. But we can tell you that for a 4 x 6 photo, you need a minimum of 600 x 900 pixels. You should also shoot at 150 image dots per inch (DPI).

You could double the size to 1200 x 1800 pixels and 300 DPI for the best quality.

Conclusion

And there you have it. If you were looking at how to print 4×6 photos on an HP printer, you’ve now got all the info you need to do it. You only need to load the paper tray with 4×6 photos paper and connect the printer to your computer with a cable or Wi-Fi. Next, open the photo you want to print in image editing software. Adjust the editing program’s brightness, contrast, and color levels.

After that, click “print.” It’s as easy as that! And now you can get back to what matters: taking more photos of your pets, friends, or family doing fun things!