optimum settings for printing an image from photoshop ? please help

[rookie wizard]

hi, i recently edited a bunch of photographs from my tour using ps cs3. they look fine in the computer but when printed, the colors looked over saturated, with pixels being seen where colors blend (or should blend)from one tone to the other.

so is there a separate color scheme setting in ps cs3 for web viewing and printing ? if yes, please tel me how to go about it.

thanks a lot.

[theArchitect]

When you say you can see where the colours blend, do you mean you can see bands of colour (like thisthis), if so it sounds like you are saving as a GIF or low quality JPEG. Saving at a higher quality may improve things.

The other 2 places that something may have gone wrong is
1) with your monitor if it is not colour calibrated - i.e. you are causing over saturation as you can't see the proper effects on your monitor.

2) your printer - again if it's set up to use specific inks & paper it may not come out right. Do you get the same results if you send your image to a lab to print?

[rookie wizard]

yes, they are like the 8-bit gradient dithered. so, now what ? change the setting to 16-bit ? or something else ?

[teaking]

What are the size of the images your printing in terms of px value and what is the psyhical size you are printing to?

I suppose the file type and quality setting for the image would be handy to know to.

And as for advice I would suggest viewing your edited pictures on anther screen or a friends computer if they looks similar on both then you can narrow it down to the printer and your colour management.... one thing have you got it set for the printer to handle colour or photoshop?