Photo Finish

How do you picture your pictures?

If your cherished family memories are sitting on a memory stick or your hard drive, they need to get out and be seen, shared and enjoyed, not stuck in the dark. Here are a few tips on how to make that transition happen.

Top Priority
Just like going to the dentist or changing the batteries in your smoke detector, set aside some time each season to get your shots in order. A quarterly appointment will help prevent this project from getting too overwhelming (remember when you thought you could organize all those images on your mat leave?). 

Savvy Online Services
Luckily there are lots of great services like Snapfish or Kodak Gallery that offer bulk uploading (and bulk printing discounts) if you are a bit behind. Then you can send one simple email and share your photos with friends and family all over the globe.

We like to sort the photos on the computer first. Most sites offer an “Order All” button, so only uploading your fave pics will make placing your online order fast and foolproof. We also suggest you name the pictures you truly love so that it will be easier to find them later on. (Sometimes an online thumbnail of the picture will look like too many others in the series.)

Now that you’ve got your photos out of your camera, the opportunities to display and showcase your pictures seem almost endless (including creating posters!). Here’s our guide to getting the most out of your photos.

Big Display
If you have a wall just begging for a gallery, a photo display is a great way to show off your favourite family members. But it’s scary thinking about drilling holes in the wall if you are not confident with what the end result will look like.

Put all of those fears aside and visit The Perfect Picture Wall. This clever system ($349 US) lets you pick ten coordinated picture frames and then sends you a paper template and all the necessary hardware to hang them on your wall perfectly. Templates for hanging pictures on a regular wall or for a display up a staircase are both available.

Multipurpose Pro
If you need a less elaborate way to put your memories on display, we’ve fallen in love with the Sony DPP-F700 digital picture frame and printer. This small whiz solves two problems at the same time. Just slide the memory card out of your camera and into the slot and this sleek picture frame will display all of your photos in a crisp slideshow. Flip down the back unit and you’ll also be able to print out any of the photos on display with the touch of a button.

The frame ($269.99) also lets users edit images before making prints. Editing options include enlarging, reducing, cropping, date stamping, adding borders or omitting, and adjusting brightness, contrast, hue, and sharpness.

Book It
Photo prints are great, but you need to find a home for them (yet another project). While photo books are available as a gift option on all photo storing websites, their books don’t come close to the quality you can get at Photobook Canada. Each book is printed using commercial-grade printing equipment on archival quality acid-free paper imported from the Italian paper manufacturer Fedrigoni in order to last a lifetime. Just download their software and upload your photos to their site. Books range in cost from $40 to $115 and delivered to your door in about two weeks.

Email Showcase
If you want a more creative way to share your memories with everyone, our hands-down favourite is Smilebox.

Now you can make those pictures picture-perfect.