Printing Photo Pass Pics

[trodrigue]

I recently ordered a big batch of pics that I got from Photopass, and had added borders to. When I picked the pics up, the borders were partially cut off. This was at Costco. I will be getting my money back, but my question is...Where can I get these prints done correctly and hopefully for a reasonable price. Thanks!

 

[audrabolster]

I like using snapfish, becuase they have great deals, and a great return policy!

 

[trodrigue]

Have you printed photopass pictures with borders there?

I know Costco will take my pictures back and give me a refund, but that does not solve my printing problem

 

[audrabolster]

I'm waiting on my first disk order now, so I'll have to try and get back to you?

 

[KerTggr]

Try scrapbookpictures.com

They have a great staff and flat rate shipping! They look at pretty much every picture they print. The only time I ever had an issue with them was when I ordered over 80 pictures and 30 of them were the 2"x2". Only One of the 2"x2" was cut incorrectly. They sent me out a new one the next day and didn't charge me anything for re-doing.

 

[bumbershoot]

What size did you order? If 4x6s, remember that photopass themselves print from 5x7 up...there might be a reason for that.

Also, since they are digital, they might have that funky sizing going on. In which case be sure Costco or another place knows that they are digital, and they will have to adjust something (I'm sure they know the technical term) to make sure the whole picture and border is printed.

I would highly recommend taking your question to the Photography forum, as I bet you that they will know the technical terms and much more of the answer than I do!

Or maybe a photo guru will or already has posted somewhere on your thread.

Good luck! Wish I were as up to date as you are on my photos...DS is turning 4 in May and I don't even have his first full year printed. Gack!

 

[trodrigue]

Thank you for the ideas. I will check the photography forum. I always forget about that one. I will try the scrapbookers option as well.

Molly-I just finished my 11 year olds first book! My secret is twice a year retreats for nothing but scrapbooking. In the last two years I have gotten a ton done in the 8 days I have devoted. That is basically the only time I work on my books. (That, and I got really organized about printing, and planning, and sorting, etc.)

 

[mareed]

What size did you order? If 4x6s, remember that photopass themselves print from 5x7 up...there might be a reason for that.

This is the reason. The photopass print files that you receive are a 5X7. If you print a 4X6, you're going to lose a bit on the long (6") side. If you want a print of what you see on the screen, you'd have to order a 5X7. If you don't do the cropping yourself to 4X6, most places take an equal amount off each side. I keep this in mind when I'm doing my photopass edits for the CD, but a few of the borders (like Test Track), there's just not really anything you can do, and you're going to lose a bit of the border. The Tink with pixie-dust usually comes out OK, as well as most character signatures, but I crop the pics myself to 4X6 before sending my prints to be made online via Shutterfly so I don't know that I crop an equal amount on each side.

So, to the OP, you'd have the same results anywhere that you print a 4X6 - it's not something that Costco did wrong, so they're really doing you a favor if they're refunding your money. The only thing you can do to help is to use photo editing software and crop it to 4X6 yourself so that you have control of what is cropped.

It's odd that the original unedited photos on the CD are scaled to 4X6, but any ones that you add a signature or border come scaled to 5X7.

I don't know that this is going to help get the photos you want, but at least you'll have the explanation and can stop driving yourself crazy trying to get the impossible printed somewhere!

 

[bumbershoot]

mareed is the All Knowing Photography One!!!!!

trodrigue, twice a year retreats for scrapbooking...nice! Have you ever seen those scrapbooking cruises? That would be so cool. (though the theme cruises are so spendy)

 

[jernysgirl]

mareed is the All Knowing Photography One!!!!!

trodrigue, twice a year retreats for scrapbooking...nice! Have you ever seen those scrapbooking cruises? That would be so cool. (though the theme cruises are so spendy)

There needs to be a Disneyland scrapbook retreat! Although... If I were scrapbooking at DL I don't think I would get much done! LOL!

 

[jemilah]

I own a camera store and photolab and am surprisedn they did not let you know the pictures were cropping. They should have giving you the option of making the image smaller or up-sizing to 5x7. A good lab would have but big stores do not really care they are doing 1000's of photos and losing one customer is not a big deal for them. Find a quality lab in town, your memories are worth it. And yes get a refund!

 

[trodrigue]

There needs to be a Disneyland scrapbook retreat! Although... If I were scrapbooking at DL I don't think I would get much done! LOL!

I know I would not get a thing done at DL! As it is, I go to a mountain resort (Wallace Falls Lodge) where there are not many distractions.

 

[trodrigue]

I understand what you are saying, but that doesn't explain why my enlargements had the same issue. Shouldn't my 5X7's and 8X10's have turned out correct?

 

[jemilah]

They probably took no time to look at the image ........or maybe they cropped the border on purpose?
If the image was saved 5x7 the the next step would be 10x14 the 8x10 proportions would be cropped. On 35mm film 4x6 is full frame....5x7's crop and so do 8x10's to get the full image you need 8x12.
They can zoom down the image so you can get it with a white border any size you want. Since you don't get much interaction with the printer at costco , they don't have the chance to explain the proportions.Hope thats helps a bit , let me know if you need more help!

 

[cmwade77]

I would recommend Ritz Camera (some parts of the country they are called Wolf Camera) and look at the pictures before paying for them, if the borders are cut off simply tell them that you don't want them.

Another option would be Walgreens, they are often less busy and have the time to look at the pictures prior to printing them to ensure things like this doesn't happen.

 

[SandrA9810]

All the pictures do get cropped. The computers in the parks size the photo first then adds the border over the top of that to turn out correctly. Even the 5x7 get cropped, but only a small amount compared to the 8x10, 6x8 I think has the biggest cropping, I think.

Unfortantly, the only CD i bought was in the park, with none of the borders on them.

 

[trodrigue]

They probably took no time to look at the image ........or maybe they cropped the border on purpose?
If the image was saved 5x7 the the next step would be 10x14 the 8x10 proportions would be cropped. On 35mm film 4x6 is full frame....5x7's crop and so do 8x10's to get the full image you need 8x12.
They can zoom down the image so you can get it with a white border any size you want. Since you don't get much interaction with the printer at costco , they don't have the chance to explain the proportions.Hope thats helps a bit , let me know if you need more help!

Jemilah,
Thanks! I actually know of a small shop that I think I can go to to do some prints. I don't need all of them perfect, but am willing to pay a little more for the ones that I do want done correctly.

 

[4Ollies]

Shutterfly gives you the option of not cropping so you keep your whole picture but the size is reduced and you have a white border around it. Doesn't bother me but might others.

 

[mareed]

This won't help the OP or others who already have CD's, but as I'm looking at my current photos online and doing edits, I noticed a possible solution.

I’ve gotten the photopass CD for several trips in the past, and like the OP, I noticed that for pictures where you add a border all the way around (like the Test Track border), when you print a 4X6 of the photo, you end up losing some of the border, and it just doesn’t look really good. The problem is that the edited photo is scaled to 5X7 dimensions, so if you print a 5X7 you get what you see, but you lose some with a 4X6 (which is what I print out for my albums). When you add a border or icon and “save as copy”, you can see that it defaults to a 5X7 print under the “product type”. With my photos this time, I’m changing the product type to “two 4x6 prints” and it’s obvious that it’s saving the photo a bit differently than when it’s left at the default 5X7.

I haven’t actually tried this before because I never thought about it, but I’m assuming that the print will come on the CD scaled to a 4X6 print instead of 5X7. With many of the icons/borders/signatures, it wouldn’t matter if you lost a bit of the photo when you print a 4X6 (you’d lose a small part along each of the long sides), but with the ones that go all the way around like Test Track and the ones with a character-type border (like Minnie’s polka-dots), it looks funny when you print a 4X6 and lose some of the border.

Has anyone tried this and can confirm that is you save the copy as 4X6, it actually comes scaled to 4X6 on the CD? I can certainly report back after I get my CD, but that will probably be at least a month from now.