where do you get your pics developed??

[wheelerkidz3]

ever since we got a digital camera a few years ago, i've been really slack about getting my pics developed. umm...i've only printed off a few in the past year and a half!
i finally got all my pics organized on my computer though, so i thought i'd send away for some, i uploaded to walmart.com, and the pics came in today. i have to say...i'm really not impressed! i'm glad i didn't order all the pics i wanted to. i don't have a photo printer, and i have about 250 pics i want to get printed. walmart was the cheapest, due to shipping prices. they cropped out a lot of my pics though...
example...dd got her hair cut last week, and donated to locks of love. i took tons of pics...both with her long hair, and her new short do. well, when the pics came back....half her head was cut out of a lot of the pics!!! maybe i just didn't upload them right?
can anyone help me out? did i do something wrong? can anyone suggest a good developer??
thanks!

 

[YEKCIM]

I've been using Sam's Club for the past couple years, for 4X6's and been very happy with the quality. I generally burn the edited pix to a CD, put it in the kiosk, click "Print All" and come back later in the day for good quality $0.14 prints.

Of course, that only works if you have a membership...

~YEKCIM

 

[SharonLowe]

First, you need to make sure that your photos are the same aspect ratio as the prints you are ordering. Some digital sensors do not give you the "normal" 2x3 ratio that will give you uncropped 4x6 inch prints. If they aren't the same ratio, you should crop them so that they are (eg., 4x6, 8x12 or whatever size print you want). That way, you make the cropping decision, not some minimum wage Walmart worker.

I've used both MPix and Shutterfly with good success. No idea how the prices compare to Walmart, but the quality is good.

 

[Furgus]

Mpix, Home, and Ritz.

Really if you are going to do a lot of printing, it may be worth while to buy a decent printer. I have an Epson Picturemate(Dedicated 4X6), and an Epson R340(up to 8.5X11). I love them both, and I hope to upgrade later this year for an Epson R1400, or equivalent.

 

[MICKEY88]

could you post some of the pics with your daughters missing head..

that will help determine why they were printed that way

 

[Master Mason]

I order my prints, the few that I ever get from my smugmug account. I have been more than happy with them. I think that 4x6 prints are 19cents. Which when you concider ink etc, is cheaper than I can print them at home.

you can get a trial site at smugmug, upload the ones you want, order your pics, and you never have to pay for the account unless, like me and a bunch of others, you find that it is a great thing to have. Any of us that have smugmug accounts could also give you a code to save $5 on yours if you decided to go that way as well.

One other thing that is nice about smugmug is when you order a size that isn't the same ratio, you can chose the crop as well.

 

[wheelerkidz3]

I've been using Sam's Club for the past couple years, for 4X6's and been very happy with the quality. I generally burn the edited pix to a CD, put it in the kiosk, click "Print All" and come back later in the day for good quality $0.14 prints.

Of course, that only works if you have a membership...

~YEKCIM

the few that i did print throughout the year, were printed at sam's club! i do love the quality of them!

could you post some of the pics with your daughters missing head..

that will help determine why they were printed that way

LOL!! that just sounds so funny! my scanner doesn't work...but i will take a pic of the pic in a little bit. will that still help? a pic of the pic, and a pic of the original?

 

[MICKEY88]

the few that i did print throughout the year, were printed at sam's club! i do love the quality of them!



LOL!! that just sounds so funny! my scanner doesn't work...but i will take a pic of the pic in a little bit. will that still help? a pic of the pic, and a pic of the original?

could you just post the original digital file...

 

[wheelerkidz3]

these are the 2 pics.....

how do i post the original digital file? i resized these in photobucket, cuz they were posted in a diff. thread.

the whole top of her head...about midway...was cut off in both prints.
i have to take dd to dance class, but i'll look back here in a little bit for more help! thanks so much!

 

[MICKEY88]

these are the 2 pics.....

how do i post the original digital file? i resized these in photobucket, cuz they were posted in a diff. thread.

the whole top of her head...about midway...was cut off in both prints.
i have to take dd to dance class, but i'll look back here in a little bit for more help! thanks so much!

both of these if cropped carelessly to 4x6 would result in the top of her head disappearing, they should have cropped from the top down

 

[MarkBarbieri]

It's an aspect ratio problem. A 4x6 print is not nearly as tall as your first picture. Your picture, as posted here, is 392 pixels wide and 639 pixels tall. To match 4x6, the picture must be cut down so that it is only 588 pixels tall (392 / 4 * 6). The alternative is to print it so that it is 6" tall, but leave about a 1/6" wide border on both sides.

This is a common problem because there are so many different standards for aspect ratios. The aspect ratio is the relative width compared to the height of a picture. Some common print examples are 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 11x14. Cameras also vary, include 3x4, 4x6, and 9x16. The problem is that most of these don't match, so you have to cut off one part to make them fit.

 

[wheelerkidz3]

yikes! soo...how would i fix this? whenever i have gotten prints done before, i would just take them my memory card, and tell them i want prints of each pic on the card. i've taken them to sam's before, and they've always come back ok. i'm pretty disappointed in what i got from walmart, cuz most of the pics are all cropped in odd places....like a half a head missing!!
so, is this something i have done? what do i need to do in the future? do i have to resize somehow before uploading to a photo site?

 

[Master Mason]

yikes! soo...how would i fix this? whenever i have gotten prints done before, i would just take them my memory card, and tell them i want prints of each pic on the card. i've taken them to sam's before, and they've always come back ok. i'm pretty disappointed in what i got from walmart, cuz most of the pics are all cropped in odd places....like a half a head missing!!
so, is this something i have done? what do i need to do in the future? do i have to resize somehow before uploading to a photo site?

That is your best bet, to crop them yourself to the size you want to print, that way you control the crop

 

[MICKEY88]

yikes! soo...how would i fix this? whenever i have gotten prints done before, i would just take them my memory card, and tell them i want prints of each pic on the card. i've taken them to sam's before, and they've always come back ok. i'm pretty disappointed in what i got from walmart, cuz most of the pics are all cropped in odd places....like a half a head missing!!
so, is this something i have done? what do i need to do in the future? do i have to resize somehow before uploading to a photo site?

I'd take them back to walmart and ask them to reprint them.

I've learned to always shoot wide{leave room on all sides for cropping}

your options would be resize/crop them before printing, or send them to a lab where you can do the crop when you upload,

keep in mind that the 4x6 ,5x7 and 8x10 crop are different.

with walmart, you can view the crop after uploading and choosing your pics for print

 

[YEKCIM]

If you don't have an editing program, and don't want to invest in expensive software, you can download Picasa2 and use it. It's free and has a preset 4X6 template. You would need to do any editing, including cropping, and then export the edited version to another folder (Picasa doesn't alter the original file) in full resolution. Once your photos are all edited and exported, just burn them to a CD, pop it in the kiosk at the StuffMart or Sam's, select 4X6 size (if that's what you want), hit "Print All" and you're done, except for picking them up and paying for them!

~YEKCIM

 

[SharonLowe]

the whole top of her head...about midway...was cut off in both prints.
i have to take dd to dance class, but i'll look back here in a little bit for more help! thanks so much!

Both of these are odd sizes - it looks like you cropped at least the bottom one because it is much thinner than the top one. Most places on line let you control your own crop. Not sure why Walmart doesn't.

 

[extreme8]

On a completely seperate note,
It's tremendous that your daughter is caring and selfless enough to make a sacrifice like that for a cause like Locks of Love.
It says a lot about her.

 

[Michele]

I use Shutterfly and am always happy with the prints.

 

[MickeyMFan]

I have used Winkflash online for 2 years now. I LOVE them! They are super cheap--$0.12 for each 4x6, $0.29 for each 5x7 and the nice thing about them is the flat shipping fee. Only $0.99 flat if you are only printing 4x6s! Last summer I had about 500 pics printed and it only cost around $60, shipping and all! The company is in Rhode Island, I believe, and they have always shipped out my pics within 24 hours of ordering. Since I live in the midwest, it takes a few days to get here, but not too long--6 days is the most I've waited from ordering to receiving. They also print on Fuji professional print paper, so you aren't getting some cheap flimsy print. I don't work for them, but I should because I brag about them all of the time!

Definitely try it out.

April

 

[Dina]

clarkcolor.com

I just joined smugmug though, so I may start ordering from there.