printing pics online overnight?

ok I have tried to print my pics at WM or A's at least 4x in the past 2 weeks and something has happened each time!

I have a crop on Saturday and I have to get these done!

I need your expertise has anyone ever printed them over the net where you pick them up at the store? If so, where and are there any details I need to watch or worry about? (like prints not being cropped the way I want them - how do I make sure I get what I want?

I have picked them up at Walgreen's through Snapfish and have never had any trouble. Of course--there's no way I can guarantee for future events!

You can print through Shutterfly and pick them up at Target. You can only do glossy prints this way however. Plus, when you open an account you get 50 free prints and then get lots of deals-I hardly ever pay for prints!

I ALL the time use Walgreen's. I go to their site and upload the pics I want, and then just go pick them up in an hour (usually at my lunch break from work). It is so convenient to me. I LOVE their photo service.

I did use WM's once, when I saw some pics a coworker printed out there- I'd never used their instant photo printers- cuz I do prefer Walgreen's upload and go pick them up in an hour service. But I was off work one day, went into WM, with my memory card AND my cell phone- they have ever port imaginable that you'd need- and picked pics off my memory card, plugged in my phone and got some pics off of it- added a nice white border around them, and printed them out. Took ten minutes for them to print.

-kory

Do you have a CostCo membership? I upload in the evening and can pick them up probably by lunchtime the next day. I love their quality and convenience.

And yes- you will need to watch how you edit/crop your photos! Make sure you crop them using the 'restraint' to correctly size them at the size you're going to print them! If you haven't cropped them and you're printing them as you took them- there'll be a little pop-up to remind you that you've included a photo that can be 'printed at true digital size,' instead of the regular/usual standard size print- so it does try to help you. One time tho (I swear it was the first time) I cropped like a madman, no constraints, just whatever I thought looked good, and when I picked them up- wow, what a surprise. SO- yes, use the 'constraints.' (I am saying 'constraints' not because I have detailed photo editing expertise, that's just what all of the easy/designed for a five year old kid photo editing programs I always say is the word for it- obviously, if you have mad Photoshop skills, you're light years ahead of me.)

Another thing I like about Walgreens- (when I order them in the morning and work and pick them up at my lunch hour) is how easy it is to add a strip of wallet sizes or anything else. And I love the prints of wallet sized photos- so fun.

-k

A word of caution - don't order a ton of prints from any place you haven't tried yet, just order a few. Kory obviously loves Walgreens, but my Walgreens does NOT do a good job. Quality varies by location.

YES- the quality DOES vary!!!

One Walgreens location I used, they came out all weird colored- and I SWEAR I DID NOT TRY ANY FANCY COLOR CORRECTION or anything. lol They just didn't look good.

The location that I do use they come out good- but they're only available in matte finish, there. Well, that's what their site says when I try to order, but sometimes they do come back glossy. So I don't know what's up.

The quality of the prints I got from the Intant Photo Printing kiosk in Wal-Mart were much better in quality, I feel- and I think I'll be just doing that from now on... they just looked beautiful, MAYBE it's because I am in so much love with the white border I added to them, maybe it's how great the photos look (lol) so yes, definitely try one out- and since you need these by Saturday, I would recommend going to a place with an instant printer first, and see if they come out good- and if so, do them all there- but if not, maybe try a Walgreen's/Costco/Whateve r or a Target- (I DIDN'T KNOW you could order thru Shutterfly and pick up at Target! I'ma hafta try them out, too! Thanks, Stick!)

-k

thanks Kory!

SO if I use the "smart crop tool" on the Walgreens site will my pics be what I chose them to be cropped at?

YES. If you do that- I think you just click the size you're doing (like 4X6) and the box will work like it does in the photo editors I use (I don't crop/edit photos ON the Walgreens site- I use another program) and it'll stay at a certain ratio- so that it crops correctly.

Again tho, like the Great and Powerful Stick said- make sure you don't just print them all at one go and end up with a pile o' pics that aren't pleasingly pretty. (haha, I am really crackin' myself UP tonite) Try out a couple first- if they're not what you like, try someone else!

-k

• designguyKORY Said:

I'm liking this. Use GPS for short

LOL

what program do you use Kory?

I used to use Picnik (may it rest in peace) but now that it's gone and I can't figure out how to do it in Google+ or wherever it's 'tools' are now residing, I've begun using PIcMonkey or some photo apps on my phone. I also love Pixlr for adding some cool frames to my photos.

-k

I do mine at WM all the time. You just have to go through and check the crop since cutting to 4x6 sometimes cuts off heads. Just go to the first pic and go into the edit and crop. It will show you What's going to print. Then you can move the box. Just save as replacement. Hit next and go thru them all. I think you can look at the crop at the end, but I can't remember the buttons off hand.

Through shutterfly you can also print to Walgreens or CVS as well as Target. It's 4 cents more per print to do it this way, but you don't have to pay for shipping.

I print at WM all the time through Snapfish. As others have said, you just gotta check the crop.

I love using Walgreens online and picking up in the store. If I don't like a picture they give me a refund for the picture. I love the true digital size prints but one time forgot that it had to be checked right before checkout so I got 4x6 instead. I just had them reprinted correctly and traded them for the order that was wrong.

I have had this issue where it crops it automatically and chops out part of the pic that I want. Now I preview each image to make sure it's cropped properly, and I pay attention to the pop-ups that say print in true digital. But I still look through them when I get to the store to make sure. They always reprint the ones that weren't cropped right (for free) and usually it's just a few so they print them for me right away. I print mine at Walmart using their uploader and then pick them up in an hour when I need them quickly.

*Side note: For most of my printing, I order them online from a professional site and have them mailed to me, if I have the time to wait. I once printed a huge stack of prints at CVS and, since I never got around to scrapping them, they were still in a stack about a year later. They were ALL darkened over time, including around the edges that should have been white. Lucky for me, I hadn't already put them in LOs and I took them back to CVS for a refund. Sometimes you find a good store where the photo employees actually know what they're doing, but a lot of those types of stores (Walgreens, Walmart, etc) have very high turnover and some employees who aren't trained very well or really don't care. I've had issues with a few sets of prints and have decided that I just don't feel comfortable just because I've gotten good prints before.

I print at Walgreen's. I've started using a different location because my usual one started using worse paper that made the colors look bad and streaky, but the other location still uses Fujifilm Crystal something photo paper.

Ok, now I am confused! --- at walgreens do you choose print true digital or not?? I DON'T choose true digital because I thought that cut the heads off??? My pictures don't always come out like I thought they would. I hate to keep on this topic but I am confused?????

I have been using Shutterfly. I love getting them in the mail and although Target is nearby I am not in that big of a hurry. It's just convenient. Shutterfly does have warnings but I use Windows Live Photo Gallery and Corel Paintshop Pro and I think I only have received one warning that the crop was funky. That's good tho' because I was able to delete it and re-upload a new image before it was printed.

I can print at home but the paper and ink is just about as expensive as Shutterfly, even with shipping and the quality is great.

Plus, I have been wanting a few matte finishes lately and I don't keep that paper.

• wilbur Said:

I don't know about walgreens, but on snapfish if you choose True Digital prints then you get what you see on your camera/computer--and the prints are 4x5.25", not 4x6...but no heads are cut off. I only order True Digitals anymore because then I don't have to deal with cropping all of my pictures (because I would want to control what gets cropped).

I print True Digital because it DOES NOT cut the heads off (and because it's the only way to get matte prints in-store).

I always take mine into Walgreens but there is a method to my madness. It takes 30-45 minutes usually and that is just enough time for my husbanda to take me to Taco Bell while we wait.

SO if I take them in I get a lunch with my husband at Taco Bell. If they were ready to pick up then we would go straight home and I would have to fix lunch.

So go to Walgreens and download there means lunch with husband at Taco Bell. I like that.

• aquabunny Said:

I print True Digital because it DOES NOT cut the heads off (and because it's the only way to get matte prints in-store).

I will try to remember this, thanks! CHOOSE TRUE!

• Henri Jean Said:

I think it may depend on what type camera you have and the settings you have it set on to get the true prints option. I don't get that option when printing photos that were taken on our DSLR or our point and shoot cameras. However when they are taken on my grandmother's point and shoot and I think my moms as well that option shows up when I go to print photos at Walgreens.

I always order my prints with Snapfish or either SAMS. I've never had a problem with either of these two companies. I also prefer for my prints to be printed in matte.

• ihacodb Said:

Yes, this is true. There is a camera setting to change this.



I use Walgreens too. Locations DO vary!

As said above, if you don't want to manually crop, choose true digital. The overall size is smaller, but you don't lose any of the image.

If you want 4x6 prints, use the crop tool to get the part of the image you want. If you don't, it will crop some off the top and bottom.


Here's a good visual. The entire image is true digital. The dotted lines are what you'd get on a 4x6 (if you didn't crop yourself).

• Bxr-Linda Said:

********!!! I wish I knew this last night - it would have saved me 4 hours of editing

I've picked mine up at Walgreens before and had no problem. I get mine printed in true digital that way there is no cropping of my photo where I don't want it. I hope this helps.

• ihacodb Said:

THIS!! My point and shoot produces a 4 x 5.3 image while my DSLR produces a 4 x 6 image. It all depends on the size of the sensor in the camera.

Kory, the occasional glossy order probably stems from a) that's the only paper they had in the machine or b) someone forgot to put the matte paper in the machine. When I managed my last photo lab I had to stock:

4 inch wide paper in both glossy and matte
6 inch wide paper in both glossy and matte
10 inch wide paper in both glossy and matte

but I only had 5 paper magazines to hold them (so I had to continually swap out the 10 inch papers in the darkbox

and my printer could only take two magazines at a time, so if I forgot to make sure the proper finish was in the machine, the order got printed wrong. Since big box or drug store photo labs are loss leaders designed to keep you in the store longer or have you come back more often, the rule of thumb is fix a wrong order after the customer complains rather than redoing the order.

I use Walgreens also. Never had any issues (yet).