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I have a questions for veteran scrappers that use digital cameras. I have sooooo many pictures of my daughter that when I sit down to scrap, I spent way too much time trying to decide what size to print my pictures out.
Do you just print them out in a specific size all the time and then print a few special ones out size by size? What size do you print them? I'm going nuts!!! I get nothing done!!!
I generally print them off in the 3.5x5. I do this because they are still a decent size picture, but I do not have a lot of cropping to do. If I know that I only have a few pictures and still want to do a 2 page spread, then I will print the pics out in 4x6, but otherwise 3.5x5 is it.
Well, it depends on the pic! When I am scrapping with older photos, pre- digital era, obviously you have what you have and do what you can with them. But, with the newer digital pics, that's a whole different story!!
I find myself taking far more pics of a particular event and that gives me more choices! I download into my computer and I like to crop and adjust and play with the photos there. When I figure I have what I want I copy all the photos to a disc. Then I take the disc to a local photo kiosk and print em' out then and there. The Kiosk is like a mini computer and you load up the disc, tell it how many copies of each pic and voila, they print in minutes and are extremely inexpensive!!! I usually get my printed to a 4x6. No wear and tear on my printer or usage of my ink! It's GREAT!
Sometimes you can do the cropping and the adjustments right at the Kiosk. You can even make enlargements!!! Occasionally, I still crop the photos more depending on what happens when I finally start putting the page together.
There is plenty of photo software you can purchase that will let you do almost anything to a photo! Ask around at your local computer place.
Personally I like to upload my pictures to the computer go in and edit only the color and red eye and upload them to a processing center and have them print them...I do not like having to buy all the paper and ink that it takes to print them yourself and it is cheaper than going to walmart... I use clarkphoto.com and get the prepaid prints for $.13 or so each.
I like to crop them when I get them - just like I did before with my SLR. If It is a special picture that I want to have enlarged or to mail to someone I will crop it or edit it before uploading.
__________________
Shelley
The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.
I use Photoshop elements and edit all my photos at home and the take my disk to the kiosk at walmart and print. Love using Sepia tone pictures. I don't have archival quality ink & photopaper at home and I have seen my MIL pictures fading in about 2 yrs in albums. Since I typically spend two hours per page I want the pictures to last.
The way I chose to manage my digital photos is quite simple...
1. when I upload my photos from my camera (or digital media) I save it in two formats.. first I save it as an uncompressed .tiff and then later as a .jpeg... I can alway convert my .tiff to a .jpg/.jpeg at any time. The reason I do this is every time you make changes etc and resave a jpg you do a new compression of that file... each time you do a compression you may lose a bit of information... so, by saving it as an uncompressed .tiff I have the most complete form of that photo... the downside of doing this is the file size is huge!!!! so, I burn images to cd's and dvd's to back them up on a regular basis.
2. I generally chose to fine tune my photos... crop / reduce red eye / enhance / sharpen etc my pictures before I print them... 9 times out of 10 I will print my pictures at a local kiosk (walgreens / CVS / Costco / Sams's etc) or upload the to a site like ofoto (now Kodak gallery) or snapfish. I find if I shop around I can get high quality prints at great prices. When you upload your photos to a webservice or use a kiosk the should be in a .jpg format. I also find that some of these services use additional software that makes these prints higher quality than I can get at home.
3. If I am going to print at home... I have a HP printer so I use HP photo paper.... these inkjet printers are standarized so, that when you print in photo mode they are optimized to perform best on one type of photo paper (typically the one they market)... every photo paper is made slightly different so it accepts inls in slightly different manners.... so, by using the paper the manufacturer of the printer suggests you get the best results.
4. One drawback to printing photos at home is the cost... high quality paper and inks is quite expensive and you do burn through a lot of it in high resolution photo mode. Another drawback is... so of the papers designed for inkjet printers and a a type of backing that sometimes doesn't stick well when trying to adhere it in a scrapbook (not a problem with comercially printed items).
I love that I have switched to digital! I think if you are a planner, it is fabulous. I get the pics on my computer and then I got through and do an initial sort. I delete out of focus pictures, pictures that don't have a good focal point, etc. Then I got back and select out 4-10 pics per event that I think I will scrap. I edit these for color and edit out anything I don't want to see. Then, I sort them into a folder just for uploading.
Then I upload them to www.winkflash.com I really like the quality I get from them and I also agree with other posters that the quality and longevity of these prints is superior and also they can do it so much cheaper. Most home prints cost about 25 cents each. Winflash does 16 cents a print with a flat 99 cent shipping fee. Their customer service is excellent and they ship the next day. I like that I never have to leave my home to get my pictures printed.
I generally print all my pictures in 3x5, but I do 8 1/2 x 11 scrapbooks. If I did 12x12, I might go to 4x6. I usually get one picture per layout done in a larger size, either 4x6 or 5x7. I've even done one 8x10 that I intended to crop both sides and make a 4x10 picture out of. Enlargements at winkflash are also quite reasonable. They only chart 29 cents for a 5x7.
When I get the pics in the mail, I sort them into 1 page protector per potential layout. I slip a piece of paper into the sleeve with journaling ideas and potential title. This way, when I sit down to scrap, things are ready. Plus, if I don't end up scrapping that pic for 2 years, I will have a fresh journaling piece to work with.
Well, I hope this wasn't too much, but I guess I have gotten kind of passionate about scrapbooking and stamping in scrapbooks. Good Luck. It is a great hobby.
Happy Scrapping
__________________ Life is too short: eat chocolate and stamp up a storm. It will come out OK in the end.
... that sometimes doesn't stick well when trying to adhere it in a scrapbook ....
I have noticed that some of my pictures won't stay stuck with the mono-adhesive.
I do most of my printing at home. I seem to agonize over what size to print the pictures so I tend to backwards scrap. I see a layout that strikes me and I hunt through thousands of pics looking for something that will look good in that particular layout. Tonight I did my very first layout from scratch. DH was impressed! I'll scan later tomorrow. I have a show tomorrow afternoon and I'm pooped!
I love that I have switched to digital! I think if you are a planner, it is fabulous. I get the pics on my computer and then I got through and do an initial sort. I delete out of focus pictures, pictures that don't have a good focal point, etc. Then I got back and select out 4-10 pics per event that I think I will scrap. I edit these for color and edit out anything I don't want to see. Then, I sort them into a folder just for uploading.
When you edit your pics, do you have keeping them the print size in mind? Do you ever crop to odd sizes? I just did a couple 6x6 pages and the pics were 4x4. I didn't want to cut much of the pic out so I printed them that size.
Then I upload them to www.winkflash.com I really like the quality I get from them and I also agree with other posters that the quality and longevity of these prints is superior and also they can do it so much cheaper. Most home prints cost about 25 cents each. Winflash does 16 cents a print with a flat 99 cent shipping fee. Their customer service is excellent and they ship the next day. I like that I never have to leave my home to get my pictures printed.
Thanks so much for you information! I have tried a couple online printers but I definitely like the idea of flat fee shipping! I tend to be impatient with my scrapping plus, I do backwards layouts. [see previous post] so I want my pictures in minutes instead of days. Planning is something I should work on! I'll check out winkflash.
I generally print all my pictures in 3x5, but I do 8 1/2 x 11 scrapbooks. If I did 12x12, I might go to 4x6. I usually get one picture per layout done in a larger size, either 4x6 or 5x7. I've even done one 8x10 that I intended to crop both sides and make a 4x10 picture out of. Enlargements at winkflash are also quite reasonable. They only chart 29 cents for a 5x7.
When I get the pics in the mail, I sort them into 1 page protector per potential layout. I slip a piece of paper into the sleeve with journaling ideas and potential title. This way, when I sit down to scrap, things are ready. Plus, if I don't end up scrapping that pic for 2 years, I will have a fresh journaling piece to work with.
Well, I hope this wasn't too much, but I guess I have gotten kind of passionate about scrapbooking and stamping in scrapbooks. Good Luck. It is a great hobby.
No, it wasn't too much info! I really appreciate everyone that has given me some ideas on how to do this a little differently!
The way I chose to manage my digital photos is quite simple...
1. when I upload my photos from my camera (or digital media) I save it in two formats.. first I save it as an uncompressed .tiff and then later as a .jpeg... I can alway convert my .tiff to a .jpg/.jpeg at any time. The reason I do this is every time you make changes etc and resave a jpg you do a new compression of that file... each time you do a compression you may lose a bit of information... so, by saving it as an uncompressed .tiff I have the most complete form of that photo... the downside of doing this is the file size is huge!!!! so, I burn images to cd's and dvd's to back them up on a regular basis.
Mine upload as jpegs but I don't ever touch the original so I think I'm ok there.
2. I generally chose to fine tune my photos... crop / reduce red eye / enhance / sharpen etc my pictures before I print them... 9 times out of 10 I will print my pictures at a local kiosk (walgreens / CVS / Costco / Sams's etc) or upload the to a site like ofoto (now Kodak gallery) or snapfish. I find if I shop around I can get high quality prints at great prices. When you upload your photos to a webservice or use a kiosk the should be in a .jpg format. I also find that some of these services use additional software that makes these prints higher quality than I can get at home.
I'm so impatient, I print them at home, usually as I'm trying to decide what to do on the page! ;)
3. If I am going to print at home... I have a HP printer so I use HP photo paper.... these inkjet printers are standarized so, that when you print in photo mode they are optimized to perform best on one type of photo paper (typically the one they market)... every photo paper is made slightly different so it accepts inls in slightly different manners.... so, by using the paper the manufacturer of the printer suggests you get the best results.
4. One drawback to printing photos at home is the cost... high quality paper and inks is quite expensive and you do burn through a lot of it in high resolution photo mode. Another drawback is... so of the papers designed for inkjet printers and a a type of backing that sometimes doesn't stick well when trying to adhere it in a scrapbook (not a problem with comercially printed items). Is it really cheaper to have them printed? My toner cartidges are about $30 and paper is 20 for 100 sheets. I get it at Costco.
I hope that helps....
Thanks a lot for your ideas. It does help to see how other people do things!
I used Clark Photo for years for my SLR prints. I've just become too impatient to use the printing companies. I print them at home. Hey, maybe if I just sent them away, instead of haggling over what size, it might take less time!
Thanks!!!
Mo
Quote:
Originally Posted by photocropper
Personally I like to upload my pictures to the computer go in and edit only the color and red eye and upload them to a processing center and have them print them...I do not like having to buy all the paper and ink that it takes to print them yourself and it is cheaper than going to walmart... I use clarkphoto.com and get the prepaid prints for $.13 or so each.
I like to crop them when I get them - just like I did before with my SLR. If It is a special picture that I want to have enlarged or to mail to someone I will crop it or edit it before uploading.
I do have Photoshop and I'm getting pretty good at using it. I print most of my stuff at home. See other answers for my woes!~
I do take lots and lots and lots of pics since I went digital. My daughter is almost 4 and I have about 6000 pictures in her folder!!! I'll never scrap them all!!!
Thanks for the info!
Mo
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hager
Well, it depends on the pic! When I am scrapping with older photos, pre- digital era, obviously you have what you have and do what you can with them. But, with the newer digital pics, that's a whole different story!!
I find myself taking far more pics of a particular event and that gives me more choices! I download into my computer and I like to crop and adjust and play with the photos there. When I figure I have what I want I copy all the photos to a disc. Then I take the disc to a local photo kiosk and print em' out then and there. The Kiosk is like a mini computer and you load up the disc, tell it how many copies of each pic and voila, they print in minutes and are extremely inexpensive!!! I usually get my printed to a 4x6. No wear and tear on my printer or usage of my ink! It's GREAT!
Sometimes you can do the cropping and the adjustments right at the Kiosk. You can even make enlargements!!! Occasionally, I still crop the photos more depending on what happens when I finally start putting the page together.
There is plenty of photo software you can purchase that will let you do almost anything to a photo! Ask around at your local computer place.
I generally scrap 4x6 and then if I want a special picture to be a different size, I make it larger. If I do edit the picture at home or at the stores, I can save it to my camera card and then it's ready to print. If I want to change the pictures to black and white, I do that here and the ones I did for my dh's Valentine's book,I printed from home. Printing here, though is usually not what I choose to do just for cost reasons and I can get them cheaper at Ritz or Sam's Club.
Please everyone don't make the mistake I did. WE went to Disneyworld in Florida and I took all my photos on e-mail resolution by accident, so I can't take the cd in to have it printed up and the quality when you print them on a home printer is appalling. Ah well, live and learn.
Here are the "methods to my madness"...some of the things that I do in my "spare" time. (HA!)
1) I usually upload my photos from my camera once a month. Otherwise, I just burn *way* too much time downloading, sizing, color adjusting, uploading, and ordering. I just do it once. I have *plenty* of photos to keep me busy in the interim.
2) I *never* print my photos from my home printer because of the acids contained in most ink-jet inks. They are not color-fast so they fade more quickly than "real" photos. Also, between paper and ink prices, they can cost 3-7 times more than sending off to a service, depending upon your individual printer or your choice of printing service.
3) Not all photos are scrap-worthy. The nice thing about digital: I only print up those that are! The rest get committed to disk for future generations to throw away, because I am heinously appalled to think *I* should throw them away in any form - digital recyle bin or physical trash basket. I generally take the photos, so I can't discard them. One of my heirs may do so at his/her will.
4) When I am otherwise unencumbered with a project but am decompressing in front of the tube, I will frequently group my photos together for layouts. That way, when I do decide to sit down and scrap, I've already got my photos together. I also "reverse scrap" but it generally doesn't make too much difference: I do a great deal of work in b/w and sepia, and most frequently, my boys are wearing some incarnation of denim, grey, green, red, or mustard. (Did I mention that I am *freakishly* set in my ways?)
5) I don't scrap DH very much. It would be *such* a waste of a good layout to only turn it into dartboard fodder.
6) I like to work with 5x7 photos. More expensive, but it keeps the focus on the person.
7) I just *LOVE* doing the digital thing because I can crop it in Photoshop first. And the gal who recommended saving it as a .tif file is right - the photo file will degrade if it is repeatedly saved as a .jpg (don't know why, just know that it *does* happen.)
Cute photo of your daughter in your Avatar! ~ K
__________________ Hi...My Name is Kaylyn...I'm An Alphaholic.
[B]
I too like to have my photos printed in 5x7 size. So if I have to crop the photo down, I'm not left with a very small piece.
I also like to use www.snapfish.com. I've used them for about 5 years and have never had a complaint. You can upload photos or mail them your undeveloped film. When they develop your film, they send you an email to tell you it's done and the photos are posted online so that you can see them before you get the actual prints in the mail. You can invite others to view your albums and they can order prints if they want.
I have been using a digital camera for my pics for 5 years now (upgraded my camera last yr) I used to print all at home but now it is cheaper to print at the local stores (Jewel). I still print at home for specialty size which I love!
If I have several photos from the same event I sometimes will print them small in a series (2X3 or 1.5X2) and used them as borders on my page or film strip style. I used 81/2 X 11 paper and get many small pictures on it. It makes the pages fun to change the sizes. I sometimes cube them out using the SU square punch, too.
I have HP Photo Printing which came with my printer. It lets you even custom size your pictures to whatever size you want.
Do you have any of your layouts in your gallery? I'd love to see pics of what you've done. I like to see examples of using a lot of pics on one spread. I have so many to scrap that I don't know where to start!
If I have several photos from the same event I sometimes will print them small in a series (2X3 or 1.5X2) and used them as borders on my page or film strip style.
I do this, too! I think it is a *really* neat effect...I have one in my gallery where I did this - the main photo is a b/w 5x7 and the smaller photos are sepia 1.5x3s on tags. But I haven't "punched out" yet - will have to do that, too! I use www.clarkcolor.com because they're $0.13/print on 4x6s and $0.25 on 5x7s when I prepay and I'm cheap...
And I note that you live in IL and reference "Jewel"! So we *MUST* get together to *SCRAP* sometime because it's obvious that we already have lots in common!!! ~ K
__________________ Hi...My Name is Kaylyn...I'm An Alphaholic.
[B]
I put all of my pics on the computer and started using Microsoft Office Picture Manager. It allows you to pick any "typical" size picture to use and prints them accordingly on the pages. You can pick wallets, 3.5 x 5, 8 x 10, etc. I used to use other programs, but now that I have discovered this, I will use it all of the time. It is really easy to use...
12x12 scrapbookers and digital camera users
