This was my second venture into the realm of digital photo services. I had actually just learned how to transfer photographs from my digital camera directly to my computer the week before and then tried Picaboo. I also had just learned to edit photos using Kodak EasyShare. EasyShare allows you to fix red eye, zoom, crop, balance colors and add some enhancements and some pretty nice special effects such as “spotlight” and “coloring page”. So with my new familiarity with editing options, I decided to see what Shutterfly could do for my pictures.
Prints
Shutterfly allows you to upload your photographs and edit them online. There is also a free software program available for download, though it took me a while to find it. I initially just chose “Enhance Pictures” from the top menu bar. Later while trying to determine if all my editing really had to be completed while online, I noticed the Free Software link at the bottom of the screen. In general I found that Shutterfly had more options than Picaboo, but with more options came more ways for me to get confused. In the hands of someone who had experience with the program, lots of great-personalized items could be created at Shutterfly. Shutterfly’s editing options were more limited than a full-scale photo editing program or even EasyShare, but adequate for my purposes. Plus, Shutterfly has attractive borders that can be added to your photograph. In addition to the borders immediately available, I was able to browse through many other borders to choose just the right look for each picture.
After trying out the Shutterfly prints options, I found that the interface was less intuitive than I might have wished. I had trouble determining at first whether I’d made a change, saved a change, etc. My final conclusion was that the changes are made, but you still can “revert” back to the original picture. So the pictures are saved, but then again, they aren’t. LOL! I actually saved the final edit for each picture to a new “album” so that I knew for certain the ones I wanted to print. I created a nice set of prints, taking advantage of the editing features to adjust for red eye, enlarge and re-position pictures and adding attractive borders and labels. Note- you may have to shift or re-zoom some pictures after the border is added to center them and avoid cutting off someone’s head. I also added captions to each photograph so that they were identified with something other than a generic title plus a number.
Adventure Books - Put your toddler's picture in an alphabet adventure, or alongside Sesame Street characters. Order yours today at Shutterfly.com.
There are several print formats to choose from at Shutterfly, including individual prints in various sizes, photo books, mugs, magnets and calendars, You can also create character books such as Sesame Street or Thomas the Tank Engine, or an ABC book featuring your own photographs. Or create a board book with your child’s picture inside. Shutterfly allows you to further customize your Photo Books by placing your own photo background on the front and back cover of your Photo Book and print the name of your book on its spine. The site offers lots of exciting ideas for gifts and preservation of memories.
Online Share
I ordered my Shutterfly prints early Christmas morning and received a confirmation that same morning indicating that my prints would ship sometime between December 30th and January 6th. I was a little surprised by the distant delivery date. However I received a notification on the 28th indicating that my photographs had shipped, two days earlier than expected. In the meantime, I was able to share my photographs with my parents and other relatives using Shutterfly's "Share" option.
Shutterfly offers several pre-payment savings plans. I selected the $29.99 pre-pay program. This entitles me to a 30% discount on all print purchases plus a bonus free photo book worth $29.99. So basically, if I order my photo book (must be redeemed within 60 days) or purchase $100 worth of prints, I’ve made my money back. At the discounted price, 4x6 prints will cost less than $.14 each. Plus, I will be getting the photo book, which I planned to purchase anyway. So it seemed like a safe bet for me. There are other plans that allow you to save by pre-paying for packages of different sized prints, or large amounts of prints. For instance you can pay $96 up front to purchase 800 4x8 prints over a 2-year period, which works out to $.12 a print. Some of the other photo service sites may offer prints at $.12 each without a pre-payment requirement. So it pays to compare both features and price before making a final decision.
As I mentioned in my Picaboo review, I am definitely a fan of digital pictures and will probably upgrade to a more powerful digital camera soon. I really don’t like having to take film to the store to be developed or remembering to return to pick it up. Plus, as a night owl, it’s far more convenient for me to order my prints online.
Shutterfly - Get 15 FREE prints to get started. Plus, enjoy free unlimited photo storage!
P.S. I received my prints today and am very pleased with the results. The borders are very cute and the matte finish works well. Over all I was happy with the final product.
