Comments on: Where do you get your digital images printed?

By: john stephen lewis

john stephen lewis — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:36:51 +0000

A 4 x 6 enlarges to a 5 X 7, not a 5 x 7.5, ect. Cropping is an essential part of making a print. Our traditional print ratios, at least in America, have nothing to do with the ratio of the image captured. This is true even with old film. It’s just that most people never stared at their negatives under a light box to evaluate the editing decisions of a photolab. From the comments It sounds like some companies are helping people keep all the image. Fair enough. If you’re ever in doubt just make the canvas the same size as the print you are ordering, or at least an exact proportion, and cut off the dead space later. If you make your print fatter, they won’t make it shorter.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:55:43 +0000

I have been ordering from pixamo.com- There are tons of different sizes and formats to choose from and I can also send them to other family members from the website- good for gifts and holidays.

By: Diane Clancy

Diane Clancy — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:22:31 +0000

Hi Alyson, I also print on a good quality Epson and I am very happy with the quality – though it is sometimes a hassle. I like the control of the output. And the speed. I have a little Imagekind shop where I upload images and they print as someone buys them. They have set sizes depending on the size file you upload. I have heard from other artists the quality is excellent. I can’t bet their prices with my own printing … and they use Epson also. ~ Diane Clancy http://www.dianeclancy.com/blog

By: Kathy Eyster

Kathy Eyster — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 16:16:15 +0000

I’ve used Kodak’s online print service (www.Kodak.com) with success for my photography. Someone else already pointed out the main reason images get cropped when printed: the proportions of compact (point ‘n’ shoot) digital cameras are different from the print sizes we’ve become used to. At the Kodak site you can turn off the automatic cropping feature so this doesn’t happen to your pictures. It’s under the Advanced Print Options and is called “Zoom & Trim”. If you turn this off, then the photo is not cropped when printed. Also, if you have adjusted your picture’s brightness & colors yourself on the computer, then you would want to turn off the Kodak Perfect Touch image correction (also under Advanced Print Options) so they don’t try to “fix” your corrections. Doing both of these things helps me get pictures that look like what I uploaded. Kathy

By: Sheila

Sheila — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 03:47:00 +0000

Snapfish alerts you that (after you’ve added photos to your cart and are ready to process the order) you have digital photos that will be cropped unless you ok them to process them in true digital ratio. I’ve had this done and I like it. The only drawback is that the actual print you receive really is smaller than 4 x 6. I just ordered prints of some quilts that I’d already done some manipulating of, so I am anxious to see how they have been processed, i.e. will anything be cropped off.

By: Carol Holaday

Carol Holaday — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:25:06 +0000

Whoops! I was wrong about Shutterfly, it is Snapfish that works with my Costco account. I can’t see how to edit my last post. I order prints through the Costco site and they use the Snapfish service. I also order from Shutterfly and have prints mailed to me. Same sort of editing choices as to full image, borders, etc., on from both. I think the Shutterfly site is a bit easier to use, but I sure like being able to pick up my prints the same day and reject any that are “wrong”. Carol

By: Carol Holaday

Carol Holaday — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:30:28 +0000

I use Shutterfly (order on-line and pick up prints at Costco) and I am able to crop as I like (full image or less) using their custom cropping tools, add borders (I like either black or white) and get the full image on any size of print. I can preview the results before pressing the “order” button. Fast service (pick up same day), good prices, great quality prints with lots of options. Carol Holaday

By: Janet White

Janet White — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:14:39 +0000

White House Custom Color has software that lets you see exactly what you get. Calibrate you monitor as they suggest and you get exactly the color and cropping you see on your screen. http://www.whcc.com

By: Fran Fruit

Fran Fruit — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:05:23 +0000

Most photo processing operations (including online ones) are still set up to print based on traditional film-to-paper sizes: 4×6, 8×10 and so forth. But digital cameras produce images in a different proportion, generally 3×4 (or in “widescreen” format, 9×16). So if you order a 4×6 print, for example, the lab has two options: They can enlarge the image 150% and make the short dimension 4.5″ and cut off half an inch (1/4″ on each side) to fill the 4×6 frame; or they can keep it at 100%, which means you end up with half an inch of white space on either side of your 3″ wide image. For most amateur snapshot-takers, who stand too far away from their subjects, filling the frame and cropping some of the edges is preferable to seeing a smaller full-frame image with “wasted” white space around it. If it’s important to show your full image as large as possible, I’d recommend ordering a print whose smaller dimension is in proportion with the larger dimension of your art, even if you have to order a larger print than you really want. (Order an 8×10 if you want to print your image at 6×8, for instance — then trim the excess yourself if you wish.)

By: Stacey Peterson

Stacey Peterson — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:06:21 +0000

Try http://www.iprintfromhome.com – they cater to artists (making slides, etc) and will make prints without cropping your artwork. Essentially, if your image is 3×6″, they’ll make a 4×6″ print with a 1/2″ of white on either side so the entire image is showing. They’re the only online photo service I’ve found that will do this. They also do slides with black border when the image doesn’t fill the frame. I prefer to make my own prints with a good photo quality printer so I can control the color, but I’ve had good results with iprintfromhome.com, and they’ve even emailed me before when I forgot to check the right box to make sure I wanted my images cropped.