David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual

Ordering Prints Online

Even if you don't have a high-quality color printer, traditional prints of your digital photos are only a few clicks away—if you're willing to spend a little money, that is.

Thanks to deals with the popular online photo-printing companies, Apple and Google let you order prints directly from within iPhoto and Picasa. After you select the size and quantity of the pictures you want printed, one click is all it takes to have your computer transmit your photos to these online shops and bill your credit card for the order. The rates range from 9 cents for a single 4 x 6 print to about $23 for a jumbo 20 x 30 poster. Within a couple of days, you'll find, in your mailbox, finished photos printed on high-quality glossy photographic paper.

Tip

If you plan to order prints, first crop your photos to the proper proportions (4 x 6, for example) as described in Chapter 10. If you send them uncropped, you're leaving it up to the printing company to make the photos fit. (More than one photo fan has opened the envelope to find loved ones missing the tops of their skulls.) You can always restore the photos to their original uncropped versions using the Revert to Original/Undo All Edits command described on Undo,.

Here's how the print-buying process works. First, select the photos you want to print (Selecting Photos.) Now, to get the order form under way:

• iPhoto. Choose Share → Order Prints. Now the Mac goes online to check in with the Kodak processing center. (If you don't already ...