Photo calendars from your trip

[fti]

Occasionally I have had photo calendars made using photos I took on my trips. Often the quality is OK but not great. Once I even printed them myself using software I got for free (those were the best quality up until now).

 

This year I had several really nice photos from my Katmai, Denali and Haines (bald eagles) trips this year so I decided to make a few calendars for Christmas gifts.

 

Today I received them back from Shutterfly. They do very high quality work. The paper is a heavy cardboard, the photos are all surrounded by a crisp black outline, and there was room to add a title to each photo when I ordered them. Just excellent quality.

 

I did a search online and found a coupon code for free shipping on orders over $50. So for just over $50, you can get three calendars printed.

 

I would not hesitate to use this company again.

 

John

[qiangf2]

I used shutterfly some months ago and had a good experience with them as well. I printed a couple of 16x20's. They shipped the prints in a well protected photo shipper box. I like their overall flow from uploading to printing, almost painless. John, what's their coupon code? I might use it just in case. thanks!

[fti]

I used shutterfly some months ago and had a good experience with them as well. I printed a couple of 16x20's. They shipped the prints in a well protected photo shipper box. I like their overall flow from uploading to printing, almost painless. John, what's their coupon code? I might use it just in case. thanks!

 

I have never done just prints from shutterfly. I use Denver Digital Online which is a branch of The Slide Printer (www.theslideprinter.com). Then click on Denver Digital Online. They are excellent and also ship enlargements in very well protected shipper boxes. And free shipping on orders over $15.

 

I didn't keep the discount code but I just saw another one for 20% off orders over $40 - 32AF-11DR.

 

John

[GMoney]

John - This is a helpful post so thank you. Apple is pushing their photo services too right now, but I think they may be priced higher; I'll have to check.

 

I just never know what pictures are good enough to enlarge without distorting them. Time to do some research, I guess..:)

[fti]

John - This is a helpful post so thank you. Apple is pushing their photo services too right now, but I think they may be priced higher; I'll have to check.

 

I just never know what pictures are good enough to enlarge without distorting them. Time to do some research, I guess..:)

 

I know exactly what you mean. One reason I really like Slide Printer is that if you call them and tell them the size of your original file they will be honest with you about how large you should go. Also, I know more than one pro who uses this company (well, used it when they emphasized slides and prints from slides - I haven't talked with them since). That is how I first heard about it. They do excellent work. But as I said with the calendar and how qiangf2 confirmed, Shutterfly does quality work too.

 

John

[NancyIL]

John - how long is the turnaround time for the calendars? I downloaded my Alaska pics to Shutterfly.

[fti]

John - how long is the turnaround time for the calendars? I downloaded my Alaska pics to Shutterfly.

 

I don't recall exactly but maybe 2 weeks max? I know they were returned sooner than they said on the web. They came by UPS ground. I was VERY impressed with the calendars. And if you use the following link, you will get 1000 bonus Delta miles.

 

www.shutterfly.com/delta1000

 

Note - you must first have a Delta Skymiles account before using the above link.

 

John

[NancyIL]

I don't recall exactly but maybe 2 weeks max? I know they were returned sooner than they said on the web. They came by UPS ground. I was VERY impressed with the calendars. And if you use the following link, you will get 1000 bonus Delta miles.

 

www.shutterfly.com/delta1000

 

Note - you must first have a Delta Skymiles account before using the above link.

 

John

 

Thanks for the link, John, but I don't want Delta miles! Now if they were offering American Airlines miles - that would be different! ::D

[qiangf2]

I don't recall exactly but maybe 2 weeks max? I know they were returned sooner than they said on the web. They came by UPS ground. I was VERY impressed with the calendars. And if you use the following link, you will get 1000 bonus Delta miles.

 

www.shutterfly.com/delta1000

 

Note - you must first have a Delta Skymiles account before using the above link.

 

John

 

I didn't print calendar. But it took less than 10 days to get my shipment (I didn't choose any expedited delivery to save money). My experience is that they are faster than what I had expected.

[fti]

Thanks for the link, John, but I don't want Delta miles! Now if they were offering American Airlines miles - that would be different! ::D

 

Well then credit them to my account :D

[agabbymama]

I'm not real computer literate, so have difficulty trying to do things like this. I went to the websites you guys all talked about, but found it to daunting a task.

 

I ended up going to walmart website, to their photo section. It was really easy to make up the calendar. They have two selections, one that is cheaper and one that the pages are coated for longer life for a little more. I paid $75 for three calendars, so didn't get quite as good a deal as fti, but I'm so pleased with the results. They came Fed Ex within a week from the time I ordered them and they look fantastic. I'm so proud of myself for being able to do them and have them turn out so great.

 

Thanks for posting this thread and giving me the idea for some xmas gifts.

[GMoney]

I'm not real computer literate, so have difficulty trying to do things like this. I went to the websites you guys all talked about, but found it to daunting a task.

 

I agree that some of the third party sites / software are not intuitive. Fortunately, I have a Mac, and the calendar, greeting card and other format features are built right into my iPhoto software. It took me 30 minutes to assemble my calendar and zip it off to Apple for printing. The hard copies are set to arrive on 12/11; I hope it looks good.

 

My Mac is the best thing I've ever purchased. I get so much out of my pictures so easily. And with Apple TV, I can look at them all the time on my 40" flat screen tv.

 

Okay, the Apple ad is over... :)

[fti]

I'm not real computer literate, so have difficulty trying to do things like this. I went to the websites you guys all talked about, but found it to daunting a task.

 

I ended up going to walmart website, to their photo section. It was really easy to make up the calendar. They have two selections, one that is cheaper and one that the pages are coated for longer life for a little more. I paid $75 for three calendars, so didn't get quite as good a deal as fti, but I'm so pleased with the results. They came Fed Ex within a week from the time I ordered them and they look fantastic. I'm so proud of myself for being able to do them and have them turn out so great.

 

Thanks for posting this thread and giving me the idea for some xmas gifts.

 

I know what you mean - it can be daunting sometimes. Fortunately I was able to use the shutterfly site fairly easily. One really nice feature of their calendars is that you can add captions. So I could say where each photo was taken (which city or national park for example). And I like the black border on each photo and the heavy cardboard they use. Much better than the ones I have gotten at Office Max.

 

Funny that you said you ended up at walmart's site - I used their site last year and gave up for the same reason you gave up on shutterfly! I found it just too cumbersome.

 

John

[agabbymama]

I know what you mean - it can be daunting sometimes. Fortunately I was able to use the shutterfly site fairly easily. One really nice feature of their calendars is that you can add captions. So I could say where each photo was taken (which city or national park for example). And I like the black border on each photo and the heavy cardboard they use. Much better than the ones I have gotten at Office Max.

 

Funny that you said you ended up at walmart's site - I used their site last year and gave up for the same reason you gave up on shutterfly! I found it just too cumbersome.

 

John

 

John,

 

Funny that we have the same problem with the sites, just in reverse. What was easy for me was cumbersome for you, and what was easy for you, I had problems with.

 

I don't recall if the photos have a black border, but they are on heavy cardstock and then laminated for endurance. I liked that I could put up to 3 photos on a page, and I was also able to put captions, so whatever the photos were of, is on the calendar page. They turned out awesome. Only one mistake, and that was my fault. I had put a moose, caribou and bear from Denali, but then the system advised against the moose photo as the resolution wasn't right, so I removed it and put another shot of the caribou, but I didn't change the caption. And of course my husband said "I don't see the moose, where is it?" And you are very limited in the length of the caption, but it was fun to create and then see the finished product.

 

And as I stated earlier, I never would have thought to even do this if this thread hadn't been started. I learned something new, and that I can do things on the computer, even learning at the age of 61 can be fun.

[GMoney]

 

And as I stated earlier, I never would have thought to even do this if this thread hadn't been started. I learned something new, and that I can do things on the computer, even learning at the age of 61 can be fun.

 

Congrats - good for you! :)

[fti]

John,

 

Funny that we have the same problem with the sites, just in reverse. What was easy for me was cumbersome for you, and what was easy for you, I had problems with.

 

I don't recall if the photos have a black border, but they are on heavy cardstock and then laminated for endurance. I liked that I could put up to 3 photos on a page, and I was also able to put captions, so whatever the photos were of, is on the calendar page. They turned out awesome. Only one mistake, and that was my fault. I had put a moose, caribou and bear from Denali, but then the system advised against the moose photo as the resolution wasn't right, so I removed it and put another shot of the caribou, but I didn't change the caption. And of course my husband said "I don't see the moose, where is it?" And you are very limited in the length of the caption, but it was fun to create and then see the finished product.

 

And as I stated earlier, I never would have thought to even do this if this thread hadn't been started. I learned something new, and that I can do things on the computer, even learning at the age of 61 can be fun.

 

That sounds great. And I like the idea of the laminating - Shutterfly didn't do that!

 

John

[TenerifeSharon]

Any of you that use Vistaprint for free or cheap business cards, don't overlook the fact that they also do spiral bound desk calendars as well as larger wall calendars. This is the second year I've used them for our vacation photo calendars and they are excellent. Once you've ordered from them once, your spam box will be filled with their offers (one free or similar). I had two made this year (decent assortment of borders, background pages etc.) for a total of about $22.00 (€15 including postage). They do look great.

Also had our Xmas cards done with a picture of us at Misty Fjords (Island Wings with Michelle) -- I sure enjoy looking at that photo:D

[GMoney]

I received my calendars from Apple today and they came out great. The stock is of excellent quality and the picture quality exceeded my expectations. I will definitely use them again.

[fti]

I have used Vistaprint for free/cheap business cards. Thanks for the tip.

 

Does anyone know a company that does good work on note cards? I would like to have some note cards made with one or more of my photos on the front. I have seen similar ones at arts fairs and crafty type stores in Alaska. But why buy others' when I can use my own photos? I haven't even started checking and maybe even my local printer can do something.

 

John

[photodoodle]

Does anyone know a company that does good work on note cards? I would like to have some note cards made with one or more of my photos on the front. I have seen similar ones at arts fairs and crafty type stores in Alaska. But why buy others' when I can use my own photos? I haven't even started checking and maybe even my local printer can do something.

 

John

My photo website provider, Exposure Manager does notecards. However, I pay to post my photos there. If you want, I can upload one or more of your photos to my site and you can order from it. I can set the price to cost.

 

I expect, however, that you can find a simpler, more direct way to get notecards made. Let me know if you need help, though.

[qiangf2]

I have used Vistaprint for free/cheap business cards. Thanks for the tip.

 

Does anyone know a company that does good work on note cards? I would like to have some note cards made with one or more of my photos on the front. I have seen similar ones at arts fairs and crafty type stores in Alaska. But why buy others' when I can use my own photos? I haven't even started checking and maybe even my local printer can do something.

 

John

 

Have you tried Costco or Sam's Club?