While we wait for Adobe’s Photoshop Express you can get your feet wet with Faux Labs’ web based photo editor and manager. It’s called Splashup!

Splashup is in beta currently and already showing promise. It’s got an interface reminiscent of early Photoshop all within your web browser. They even let you organize, manage and share your photo on Flickr, Picasa and Facebook.

Of course neither of these products will replace the real deal but are meant to bring photo editing to the masses.

Tip: Always work on a copy, and not the original version of your favorite photos!

What web based applications do you use?

MSN Hotmail and Windows Live e-mail users can send full-sized photos. Click Attach, and then click Files on the menu. If you click “attach” “photos” your pictures will be reduced in size so they are at most 600 pixels wide or tall, and can be more easily viewed online, but will not print the best they can.

AOL limits the size of e-mail you can send or receive to 16 megabytes (MB). This includes the message text, headers and the attachment combined. If the photos you are trying to send exceed a total of 16 MB, you will need to send the photos one at a time or in smaller groups of two or three.

There are two ways to send photos via e-mail using AOL. Attach File, or Insert Pictures.

Either method is fine, however if you choose Insert Pictures, please choose the Full quality option in the mail picture quality options window. You may refer to the links above for screen captures and more detailed help provided by America Online.

How do I send a high resolution photo from Picasa? (Using full resolution)

You can send a photo in its full resolution using Picasa. You must set Picasa’s email options to send the photo in its original size, and you can only send one photo at a time.

1. Open Picasa.
2. Click “Tools” > “Options” > “Email.”
3. Under “When sending single pictures, resize to:”, select the “Original Size” option.
4. Click “OK.”

Once this option is selected, any single photo you send will be the complete photo file. At the present time it is not possible to send multiple photos in their original sizes.

Always send the largest, unedited version of your photo that is available. You may note special requests to convert to sepia or black and white in the text area of the order form.

Please note that many e-mail servers have a size limit. If you would like to send multiple photos at once, we suggest you stuffit or zip them and use a free file sending service like YouSendIt.

For Hotmail and MSN e-mail users, to send full-sized pictures with a new message, click Attach, and then click Files on the menu. If you click “attach” “photos” your pictures will be reduced in size so they are at most 600 pixels wide or tall, and can be more easily viewed online.

Ritz Camera has posted a pretty in-depth article on photographing Christmas lights and low light scenes in general. It gets pretty technical but is also good for the novice photographer.

Read more about it here…

It’s the Christmas season. Whether you’re taking pictures for your Christmas cards or just capturing little moments of life, this information can help you get the best quality photos from your camera.

Your digital camera builds pictures out of tiny blocks of color known as pixels (short for picture element).

What is pixel count and why is it important?

The term image resolution refers to the number of pixels in a digital photo. Image resolution is sometimes stated in terms of pixel dimensions — the number of pixels tall by the number of pixels wide. Other times, resolution is expressed as the total number of pixels.

For example, one camera maker may describe a camera as offering a top resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels, and another manufacturer may characterize the same resolution as 2 megapixels. Both approaches are valid; they’re just different ways of saying the same thing. To determine megapixels (millions of pixels), multiply the image’s dimensions in pixels. For instance, a 1600 x 1200 pixel image has 1,920,000 (1600 x 1200) pixels. Because 1 million pixels equal 1 megapixel, the image would have approximately 2 megapixels.

Trust the color experts at Scrapless Press. With over 20 years experience in photo manipulation / editing and color enhancement, your photo is sure to print the best it possibly can. We carefully analyze and enhance your photo to its full potential and use a professional photo lab for real photo prints that won’t fade and are sure to be a treasured keepsake for years to come.

Effective Resolution

Effective resolution is simply the final resolution of any picture at the actual scale that it is placed within the document. If you place a 72 PPI image at 100% its effective reolution is 72 PPI. If you place it at 50% (half size) the effective resolution doubles and the result is 144 PPI. If you place it at 25% the effective resolution is quarupled and is then 288%. You can determine the effective resolution of an image by dividing the actual image resolution by the scale.

Whichever terminology you use, more pixels means larger picture files because the camera must generate a specific amount of data to describe each pixel. Aside from file size, however, pixel count has a different impact depending on whether you print the photo or display it on-screen. We suggest always capturing photos at the highest resolution your camera will allow. You can always eliminate excess pixels, but you can’t add them after the fact to gain improved print quality.

For print photos, an adequate pixel supply is crucial to good picture quality. A print from a high-resolution image rivals anything you can produce from a film camera. But a print from a low-resolution image looks soft or fuzzy. Curved and diagonal lines have a jagged, stair-stepped appearance, and fine details and subtle color transitions are lost — all a result of not having enough pixels.

Scrapless Press uses a professional photo lab to print genuine photographs for superior quality prints that won’t fade. We image at 300 pixels per inch (ppi). When possible, we suggest sending photos with at least 1200 x 1800 pixels. When in doubt, always send the largest, un-cropped, original photo. We can crop per your instructions as well as convert your photos to black and white or sepia.

Okay it’s the holiday season. Time to start thinking about gifts, decorations and of course…. Photo Christmas cards.

In the digital age, photo Christmas cards come in all shapes and sizes, and varying degrees of quality. Don’t let all the time you put into your holiday portrait go to waste by having your photo cards printed at the grocery or drug store or by someone offering ink-jet printing. You might save some money, but your card won’t stand out on your recipient’s mantel or wall of other Christmas cards and the portrait you spent so much time and effort on may not be reproduced properly.

Scrapless Press creates unique and affordable photo cards. We make the process of selecting the right design and ordering your cards a breeze. You’ll find our website easy to navigate, our order form a snap to complete and our customer service second to none. Your satisfaction is guaranteed!

It’s as easy as 1, 2 3.

1) Place your order on our website.
2) View and approve your proof in our secure, password protected proofing gallery.
3) Receive your finished cards in the mail.

Trust the color experts at Scrapless Press.

With over 20 years experience in photo manipulation / editing and color enhancement, your photo is sure to print the best it possibly can. We carefully analyze and enhance your photo to its full potential and use a professional photo lab for real photo prints that won’t fade and are sure to be a treasured keepsake for years to come.