Printing digital pics

[badger]

Recently I sent some digital pictures to be printed. They came back all distorted and I'm wondering what went wrong. What format should I be sending them in?

[marko]

Hmmm. You probably need to send them as Jpegs and you need to remember that pictures that look good on the web, often look bad when printed - if the filesize is too small.

For a 4x6 inch standard picture you'll probably want that file to be about 1.5 megs or more.

This means that for your photos that you want to print, take them at the HIGHEST resolution that your camera will allow. Then if you use a graphics program to work on them, save the file at the highest Jpeg quality that your image program will allow.

Hope that helps.

marko

[Rick C]

Originally Posted by badger

Recently I sent some digital pictures to be printed. They came back all distorted and I'm wondering what went wrong. What format should I be sending them in?

If you have a Shoppers Drug Mart near you that has a photo suite you can experiment a little there with only a few of your pictures directly off your camera card . . . . and its instant gratification, the pictures are available immediately.

So, if there is a problem, you can see right away with a cost that's generally pennies without ordering a full set. Their machines also have some interesting options for creating cards from your photos.

Strangely, I don't print a lot of pictures, preferring to store them on the 'puter (properly backed up of course). BUT I do have my own larger Canon printer and generally I find the quality better than the stores if I am throwing out 8X10's for my own amusement or 4X6's for the relatives.

Rick C
www.goldentales.ca

[badger]

Marko, thanks, but I need more explainin'. My camera is set at the highest resolution - 1800 X 1200 pixels. I might add that the camera is at least 5 years old, a Kodak DX3600. The editing program I've been using is Picture It! but I also have Paint and Microsoft Photo Editor.
If I set the format at 4X6, do I set the pixels at the highest level (1200)? Is that what you mean by 'highest quality'?
Can't find the megs...

Thanks Ric. My printer is pretty useless.
Oh how embarrassing, I didn't even know I had a picture card, just discovered it this minute...
It says CompactFlash - 64 mb. D'you think it's too old to be used in those machines? (No Shopper's Drug here, but I have seen them in other places)
This little card is so cool.

[Rick C]

Originally Posted by badger

Thanks Ric. My printer is pretty useless.
Oh how embarrassing, I didn't even know I had a picture card, just discovered it this minute...
It says CompactFlash - 64 mb. D'you think it's too old to be used in those machines? (No Shopper's Drug here, but I have seen them in other places)
This little card is so cool.

I think you would find most commercial machines available to the public would likely take pretty much any medium you have . . . . . shouldn't be a problem.

I've found Shoppers had the fastest machines available in my area . . . . Wal-Mart locally here tends to be dreadfully slow, unless they've upgraded lately.

I don't use these places much anymore as I can print at home but I think if you're aware these machines/computers/photo centres are available to you, then you'll suddenly see them in department stores and drug stores where you might not have noticed them before. You'll find one somewhere and eventually find one that you like to use.

Rick C
www.goldentales.ca

[want4rain]

to ask.... what do you mean by distorted? it was grainy? twisted? stretched?

those things would tell us a great deal. if you could tell us HOW they were distorted!!

-ashley

[badger]

Stretched would be the best description. Some of the pictures were OK but others were distorted to where it didn't really look like the same cat, which makes me think that it's my tweaking that gets me into trouble.
So I found one of those machines nearby (PhotoLab?) and according to the person who works there, it takes every kind of card.
Thanks everyone.
(I can't believe I never saw that card )

[Mushka]

Originally Posted by badger

Stretched would be the best description. Some of the pictures were OK but others were distorted to where it didn't really look like the same cat, which makes me think that it's my tweaking that gets me into trouble.
So I found one of those machines nearby (PhotoLab?) and according to the person who works there, it takes every kind of card.
Thanks everyone.
(I can't believe I never saw that card )

A lot of the stores can help you out now. I know there's a few Uniprix's, Jean Coutu's etc that have the machines to do it yourself. The walmart isn't too bad if you have the time.

[PetFriendly]

Ahh, but now that you've found the card, you can get another one to have more capacity.
Try sending a few without doing anything to them. I;ve sent them online to the PhotoLab, but found it just as easy to go there directly, put the card in the machine and print from there. Yes, it means going back to pick them up, but you don't need to worry about the cyberspace gremlins chewing up the files in transit.
If you have a CD burner, copy the files as is to a CD and bring that in if you want to print lots, or if there is red eye or something you want to remove first.