How does Shutterfly help me? One person's experience:

Shutterfly is one more reason why I’m glad I went digital.

This spring, in time for my daughter, Sarah’s graduation from college, I finally took the plunge. I went digital. I saw how much fun Sarah was having with her digital camera. Plus, I really liked the idea of no more film and processing costs or wasting time on trips to the processing lab. It was Sarah who also told me about Shutterfly.

“Nobody goes to the one-hour photo labs anymore. Shutterfly is the bomb, Mom,” she emailed me. Then Sarah showed us the best of her 21st birthday bash photos with all her sorority sisters online. The whole family could all share these really cute snapshots online. And our family is spread out all around the globe. More than a lot of fun, it was just so great that we could all stay connected this way.


What is Shutterfly?

Shutterfly is a free way to share pictures online with family, friends, business associates ? anybody, anywhere, anytime . But, more than that, I also discovered that it’s actually less expensive to order great-looking digital prints from Shutterfly than it to print them on my own color inkjet printer.

Had I known about Shutterfly before I got my digital camera, I could have saved myself the extra $200 for the photo-quality printer that I really didn’t need. What I soon discovered, is that making decent photo-quality prints on my own is not as simple, or as foolproof, as the sales guy said. I was wasting lots of expensive inkjet photo paper and even more expensive ink cartridges just to crank out a decent enlargement. Plus, I wonder if they’ll last long enough for my grandkids to see.

I finally broke down and tried a few prints from Shutterfly. Actually, it was very affordable because Shutterfly has this fabulous deal where they give you your first 15 prints for free.


The whole online experience was so simple!

I just plugged my camera into my laptop using the USB port. Then, I went online to Shutterfly. Registering was fast and free. In a few minutes I uploaded the pictures I wanted to share and print. That’s actually one of the best things about the Shutterfly service. You just share or buy the photos that you want. No wasted prints and all the wasted money that goes with them. Shutterfly will mail them to anyone you want.

Shutterfly has the perfect finishing touches

Shutterfly has these really easy-to-use online tools that let me quickly add all sorts of finishing touches. I usually caption all the prints so I know what’s what in the image.

Cropping often takes a so-so shot and turns it into something beautiful. Shutterfly has a cropping tool makes it a snap.

If I’m giving the prints as gifts, I’ll add creative borders to them. Shutterfly has lots of different borders that I can add or remove with just a mouseclick.

Shutterfly also has these nifty creative effects that can turn a color print into black-and-white, soften the focus or create an antique sepia-toned look. I took a great shot of my folks at their 50th wedding anniversary party. Then, I softened the focus, sepia toned it, added a border and had Shutterfly make a big 16x20 enlargement which they even ship directly to my parents. They loved it!

By Carrie-Anne Schneider