Digital Photos: Upload, Print and Share

So you’ve got a digital camera filled with pictures that you have yet to get developed? Or perhaps your computer’s hard drive is cluttered with digital photos you have taken and you want to share them with friends, family or the entire world? There are some great ways to get your photos out of the camera and out into the world, especially over the Internet.

There are several different ways you can go about turning the pictures on your camera’s memory card into a real print. You could purchase and use an inkjet or specialized photo printer attached to your home computer, but this involves purchasing special photo paper and ink, and often yields less then stellar results. You can also take your camera into any place commonly associated with getting pictures developed such as drug stores and department stores like K-Mart or Wal-Mart. These places have become well equipped to read the photos off of any camera’s memory and turn them into prints, but this requires a special trip. Why waste gas when you can get better results by uploading the pictures to one of many available and easy to use Internet solutions?

Upload, Print, Share

There are several easy to use ways to get your photos printed on the Internet. Among the best sites of these sites are Snapfish.com (http://www.snapfish.com), Kodak Gallery.com (http://www.kodakgallery.com) and even Wal-Mart (http://www.walmart.com) offers an online photo solution. The prints are usually shipped directly to you through postal mail, very carefully packed and marked explicitly DO NOT BEND! If you do ever receive a batch of damaged photos, these services want to keep you as a repeat customer, so most sites will send reprints. In the case of Wal-Mart, they even offer the option to pick up your prints at a local store.

These services offer ways to edit and fix the pictures you upload. You can correct grandma’s red-eye from the flash or use a “filter” to make the picture look like a fresco painting. Most offer a color correction tool to bring out a certain shade. Even when you thought the picture looked good before, clicking the color correction option can make it look great!

You can get more then just glossy prints of your photos done on these sites. You can create party invitations, thank you cards, calendars and coffee mugs with your uploaded pictures.

Another aspect of digital photography is the ability to share your pictures very easily. Once you have uploaded your pictures, these sites give you the option to send an invitation via an e-mail to your friends and family to view the photos on-line. If they like the photos they can also order prints for themselves. This is a much better solution then simply e-mailing your pictures. Modern multi-megapixel cameras generate large files and if sent directly from the camera this way it can cause a huge headache for people still on dial-up Internet connections.

Photo Blogs
Another enjoyable way to get your digital pictures out there is a slightly different type of service called a Photo Blog. “Blog”, internet slang for Web-Log, is more of an online photo diary and usually not focused on purchasing prints. These services are a fun way to show off your pictures to friends and strangers and even make new friends.

Examples of these sites are Flickr (http://www.flickr.com), Zorpia.com (http://www.zorpia.com) andBuzznet.com (http://www.buzznet.com). 

Keep Clicking

The world of digital photos is an exciting way to share captured moments and beautiful vistas. You do not even need to have a digital camera to get into the action. Most traditional film development places also offer the option to get your pictures on a CD-Rom or online album. It’s wonderful to be able to take pictures out of the realm of dusty photo-albums or buried in a shoebox and get them where they should be, in front of people’s eyeballs!
 

Author: Jesse Torok