11. Create Prints from Your iPhone/iPad Photos
In This Chapter
Create prints at home using an AirPrint compatible photo printer
Have prints created at a one-hour photo lab
Order prints online and have them shipped directly to you
Find apps that enable you to order prints directly from your iPhone/iPad
Being able to take awesome-looking photos using your iPhone or iPad enables you to easily capture memories virtually anywhere, without having to carry around a standalone digital camera and an assortment of photography accessories and equipment. After you’ve shot and edited your images, the next step is to share them.
There are many ways to share digital images, both online and in the real world. One set of options involves sharing your photos online—using a popular social networking service (like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter), an online-based photo sharing service (like Smugmug.com, Shutterfly.com, or Snapfish.com), via email, or using iCloud’s My Photo Stream and Shared Photo Stream features.
Options for sharing your photos online are covered in Chapter 12, “Share Your Digital Photos Online,” and Chapter 13, “Discover iCloud’s My Photo Stream and Shared Photo Stream.”
Long before there was the Internet, however, photographers created traditional paper-based prints, which can be showcased in picture frames, displayed in traditional photo albums, carried in a wallet, incorporated into a scrapbook, or stored in an old shoebox only to be taken out and viewed when you want to reminisce about past experiences.
Note
You can also incorporate the photos you take using your iPhone or iPad into professionally printed and bound photo books, or use them to create unique personalized products and gifts, which you’ll learn more about in Chapter 14, “Other Ways to Share Your Digital Photos.”
The focus of this chapter, however, is on the various methods you can use to create professional-quality prints on photo paper. Keep in mind that when it comes to creating these prints, you have a wide range of options in terms of how they’re created.
Prints from your images can be made in a wide range of popular sizes, such as 4" × 6", 5" × 7", 8" × 10", or wallet size, so that they’ll easy fit into frames or photo albums. In some cases, prints from your images can also be created in custom sizes or made into poster-size enlargements and printed on materials other than photo paper.
Beyond just choosing print sizes, as the photographer, you can often select the photo paper quality used to create the prints, as well as the photo paper’s finish—glossy, semi-glossy, matte, luster, or satin—which also impacts the appearance of your prints.
Create Prints from Home Using an AirPrint-Compatible Photo Printer
The whole DIY (do it yourself) trend continues to be popular, and when it comes to creating prints from the digital images stored in your iPhone or iPad, it’s possible to create professional-quality prints at home, from your office, or even while on the go, using an AirPrint-compatible photo printer. Just like a traditional ink-jet printer, a home photo printer can print in full color. Several things set photo printers apart from run-of-the-mill ink-jet printers, however. For example, photo printers use special inks that are designed to adhere to photo paper, display vivid colors, and not smudge or fade over time.
Note
Many printer manufacturers now offer all-in-one printer solutions, which allow the printer to be used to print any type of document on regular paper, as well as create prints using photo paper. These devices can also be used as a scanner, a copier, and in some cases a fax machine. However, to create the highest-quality prints, you should use a specialized photo printer that’s capable of creating prints at a high resolution.
As you’ll discover, photo printers typically have adjustable paper trays, allowing for different sizes of photo paper. This makes it easy to quickly create one or several prints at a time, in the size(s) you need, without having to measure and manually cut the photo paper. The more feature-packed photo printers contain two or more separate paper trays, each of which can be stocked with photo paper in a different size.
Meanwhile, one feature that’s built in to iOS 7 is called AirPrint. This feature enables your iPhone or iPad to wirelessly connect to a compatible printer for even easier printing of photo files.
Apple has teamed up with many well-known printer manufacturers, including Canon, Epson, Brother, and HP, to create AirPrint-compatible printers, including a handful of high-quality photo printers and all-in-one printers that are competitively priced, starting around $100.00.
Tip
For an up-to-date list of AirPrint-compatible printer manufacturers, as well as specific printer models, visit http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4356.
If your plan is to create prints from your digital photos directly from your iPhone or iPad using a photo printer, be sure to invest in an AirPrint-compatible photo printer. Otherwise, you’ll probably need to first transfer your images from your iOS mobile device to your Mac or PC, and then print the images from your computer.
Many photo printers that are not AirPrint-compatible, however, are Wi-Fi or Bluetooth compatible. In these cases, special printer-specific iPhone/iPad apps are sometimes available that enable you to print wirelessly, directly from your iOS mobile device. Before purchasing a printer with wireless functionality (that’s not AirPrint-compatible), be sure a printing app for that printer make and model is available from the App Store.
The drawback to using a wireless but non-AirPrint-compatible printer is that you can’t print directly from the Photos or iPhoto apps (or another third-party photography app). You must first import the image(s) into a special printing app, which adds an extra step to the printing process.
Tip
The benefit to using an AirPrint-compatible photo printer is that you can take, view, edit, and then print images directly from your iPhone or iPad, without having to first transfer them to another computer or online service. The AirPrint function can be used directly from the Photos or iPhoto app, for example, but is also supported by many other third-party photography apps that have a Print feature.
Choose an AirPrint-Compatible Photo Printer That Meets Your Needs
There are several things to consider when choosing an AirPrint-compatible photo printer, including your needs and budget. If you’ll be creating many prints on an ongoing basis, you’ll want to invest in a higher-speed, better-quality photo printer that has at least two adjustable paper trays. However, if you’re on a budget, and you plan to create prints only occasionally, a lower-end and less-expensive home photo printer or all-in-one ink-jet printer will work just fine.
As you’re shopping for a photo printer, in addition to AirPrint compatibility, some of the features you’ll want to look for include the following:
The printer’s print speed. This is typically measured by how long it takes to create a single 5" × 7" print.
The number of paper trays the printer has. More than one paper tray reduces the need to swap photo paper each time you want to create a different size print.
The photo paper sizes that can easily be used with the photo printer. Some are fully adjustable, and can accommodate 4" × 6" to 8.5" × 11" (or even larger) printer paper. Other specialized photo printers can only accommodate one size of photo paper, such as 4" × 6".
The number of colored ink cartridges that are required to operate the printer, and how much the replacement cartridges cost. Don’t be fooled by a low-cost printer that ultimately requires you to invest $50.00 or more each time the ink cartridges need to be replaced.
The average life of the ink cartridges. In other words, on average, how many 5" × 7" prints, for example, will you be able to create if you start with a set of new ink cartridges. For a full-size photo printer, you should be able to create between 100 and 200 full-color, 5" × 7" prints per set of ink cartridges. Some specialty photo printers have smaller ink cartridges that can create only 50 to 100 prints before you’ll need to purchase replacement ink cartridges.
Note
Many printer manufacturers sell their printers at very low prices but require you to purchase high-priced replacement ink cartridges on an ongoing basis to keep the printer functional. Typically, you’ll save money over time if the printer requires a black ink cartridge and just one multicolor ink cartridge. Some higher-end photo printers, however, require six or eight separate colored ink cartridges to be used at once, and each needs to be purchased separately.
The paper tray(s) in a photo printer are often adjustable, so you can insert 4" × 6" or 5" × 7" photo paper into it. To create 8" × 10" prints, for example, you’d use 8.5" × 11" photo paper, and then trim it accordingly.
Note
Special perforated photo paper is available that makes it easy to trim 8" × 10" prints from 8.5" × 11" photo paper, or create multiple wallet-size prints at once.
In addition to traditional full-size photo printers, there are a handful of specialized photo printers designed for use with iOS mobile devices that are battery powered, portable, and can be used exclusively for creating 4" × 6" size prints. The Smartphone Photo Cube Printer ($159.00), for example, is available from SharperImage.com and a wide range of other online retailers. This printer weighs about three pounds and can create 4" × 6" prints (or panoramic images measuring 4" × 10" or 4" × 16") in one to three minutes per print.
Similar to the Smartphone Photo Cube is the VuPoint Photo Cube (www.vupointsolutions.com/photo_cube_compact_photo_printer), which is sold online and through several consumer electronics and office supply superstores. VuPoint also offers a wireless version of its cube printer.
The Smartphone Photo Cube printer uses a special cartridge, which contains photo paper and ink for creating up to 36 4" × 6" prints ($24.99 each). The Smartphone Photo Cube printer connects to your iOS mobile device’s Lightning or 32-pin Dock Connector port. In other words, it’s not wireless.
Caution
Every year, the printer manufacturers release new printer models and discontinue older models. Although you can often save money initially by buying a discontinued printer model, you might ultimately have trouble locating and being able to purchase compatible ink cartridges for an outdated or obsolete printer. Due to ever-changing technology, the lifespan of a photo printer averages around three to four years before it becomes outdated.
Although an AirPrint-compatible photo printer works with any iPhone, iPad, or Mac computer, any non-AirPrint-compatible printer works with your desktop or notebook computer, either wirelessly or via a cable.
Note
If a photo printer is not AirPrint-compatible and does not have a special printing app available for it, you first must transfer your images from your iOS mobile device to the photo management software installed on your PC or Mac (such as iPhoto or Aperture), and then edit and print your images from your computer.
Send Images to an AirPrint Printer from Your iPhone or iPad
When using the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad to send an image to your AirPrint-compatible printer, be sure to set up the printer and make sure it’s turned on and has ink and photo paper installed. Then, from the Photos app, view the image from which you want to create a print, and tap the Share icon (see Figure 11-1).
FIGURE 11-1 To print an image from the Photos app, select the image, and then tap the Share icon. When viewing the Share menu, tap on the Print button.
Tip
You can also view an album, select multiple image thumbnails within that album, and then tap the Share icon to access the Print command. To do this, while viewing the camera roll or thumbnails from another album on the iPhone or iPad, tap on the Select option that’s displayed in the top-right corner of the screen. Then, one at a time, tap on the thumbnail for each image you want to select and ultimately print (see Figure 11-2). As each image is selected, a blue–and-white check mark appears in the bottom-right corner of the thumbnail.
FIGURE 11-2 When viewing the contents of an album, tap the Select option, and then choose one or more images that you want to print.
When all of the desired images are selected, tap on the Share icon. On the iPhone, it can be found in the bottom-left corner of the screen. On the iPad, it’s displayed in the top-left corner of the screen. Next, tap on the Print button. Choose the printer and number of copies per image you want to create, and then tap on the Print option.
Displayed at the bottom of the Share menu in the Photos app are two rows of command icons. On the iPhone, swipe your finger from right to left along the bottom row of icons to locate the Print icon. Tap on it.
From the Printer Options screen, shown in Figure 11-3, tap on the Printer field, and select the AirPrint-compatible photo printer you want to use. Next, tap on the + or - icon that’s displayed to the right of the Copy field to select how many copies of the print you want to create.
FIGURE 11-3 From the Printer options screen, select your AirPrint-compatible printer and how many copies of the print you want to create.
Assuming your iPhone (or iPad) can establish a wireless connection to the photo printer, the Print button becomes active near the bottom of the Printer Options screen. Tap on it to send the image from your iOS mobile device to the photo printer.
From the optional iPhoto app, tap on the Share icon, and then tap on the Print button from iPhoto’s expanded Share menu (see Figure 11-4). From the Print Menu screen, select one or more images to create prints from. Then, from the Printer Options screen, select your AirPrint-compatible photo printer and the number of copies you want to make. Tap on the Print option that becomes active to then send the image file(s) to the printer.
FIGURE 11-4 The optional iPhoto app has an expanded Share menu that also contains a Print button. It’s used to send an image to an AirPrint-compatible printer.
Similar functionality is also built in to some, but not all, third-party photography apps, some of which are described in Chapter 9, “Photography Apps That Expand Your Photo Editing and Enhancement Capabilities.”
Instead of creating prints using your own photo printer, from the Share menu in the optional iPhoto app, you can order prints from Apple’s own photo lab. To do this, tap on the Order Prints button, as opposed to the Print button.
One of the biggest problems consumers have with photo printers is that if the printer goes unused for long periods of time, the printer heads in the printer and/or the ink cartridges clog or dry up. When this happens, you typically need to run the printer’s various diagnostic tools one or more times. This often uses up a substantial amount of ink, as well as costly photo paper. To conserve photo paper, when running the printer’s diagnostics, use regular copy paper.
If you know you won’t be using the photo printer for weeks or months at a time, consider removing the printer’s ink cartridges and storing them at room temperature in plastic sandwich bags.
When your photo printer is operating correctly, the cost per print to create individual prints at home from your digital images is slightly higher than what you’d pay for the same prints to be created by a one-hour photo lab.
Depending on the printer make and model, the average cost is between $0.30 and $1.00 per print. The size of the prints being made, the cost of the replacement ink cartridges, and the price of the photo paper you purchase directly impact your average cost per print.
The benefits of using a home photo printer to create prints from images taken with or stored in your iPhone or iPad are that you can create prints in the comfort of your home, anytime you want, and choose the print sizes and quantities you want, without having to wait. You can also easily make edits or enhancements to a digital image and then quickly reprint it to achieve better results.
What You Should Know About Photo Paper
To create professional-quality prints, it is necessary to use specialized photo paper with a photo printer. Photo paper is available from consumer electronics stores, office supply superstores, and specialty photography stores, as well as from online merchants.
Photo paper that’s designed for consumers typically comes in packs of 25, 50, or 100 sheets and is available in precut 4" × 6", 5" × 7", and 8.5" × 11" sizes. Perforated 8.5" × 11" sheets for creating 8" × 10" and wallet-size prints in groups of four are also available and sold separately.
All photo paper is rated using an industry-standard, star-based rating system (between one and five stars), which determines its quality.
Tip
For large-format photo printers, such as the Epson Stylus R2000, photo paper is also available in larger sizes (enabling you to create poster-size prints), but larger-size photo paper often needs to be special ordered online. The Epson Stylus R2000 is an example of a photo printer that requires the use of the free Epson Connect Creative Print app to create prints directly from an iPhone or iPad.
Five-star photo paper is the highest-quality consumer-oriented photo paper available. It’s thicker, designed to hold and retain the photo printer’s ink better, and won’t smudge or fade. As a result, the prints you create showcase brighter and more vivid colors that should last for many years.
Caution
If the prints you create with a photo printer or using a photo lab are exposed over long periods to direct sunlight or extreme humidity, the colors often fade, bleed, or smudge over time.
Tip
Choose photo paper that’s ranked between three and five stars. To achieve the best results possible from your photo printer, use the highest-quality photo printer ink possible, along with five-star photo paper.
The final decision you need to make when it comes to photo paper is its finish. Three popular types of paper finishes are readily available, including glossy, semi-glossy, and matte. Higher-end photo paper also comes in a luster or satin finish, but this is typically more expensive and available only online or from photo specialty stores.
Glossy photo paper enables you to create prints that have a shiny, high-gloss, reflective finish. This is typically what’s used when you order prints from a one-hour photo lab.
Semi-gloss photo paper has some shine and reflective quality, but much less so than glossy photo paper.
Choose a matte finish if you want prints to have no shine or reflective quality whatsoever. Matte finish prints are best for inserting into a glass covered picture frame or a photo album that uses clear plastic film over each page.
Tip
Luster or satin finish photo paper allows prints to showcase a more formal appearance. It’s what’s often used by professional photographers when creating formal portraits or wedding albums.
Some companies that manufacture high-end photo paper (which can be ordered online or purchased from photo specialty stores) include Hahnemuhle Fine Art paper (www.hahnemuehle.com), Ilford (http://ilfordphoto.com), Harman Professional (www.harman-inkjet.com), and Red River Paper (www.redriverpaper.com).
Keep in mind that each printer manufacturer sells its own branded photo paper and recommends using only its own photo paper in its respective printers. This is not necessary! Any photo paper can be used in any nonspecialty photo printer, as long as the printer’s paper tray can accommodate the dimensions of that paper. Thus, you can use Epson photo paper in an HP photo printer, for example (or vice versa), or purchase less-expensive Staples or Office Max branded photo paper and use it in any nonspecialty photo printer from any manufacturer.
How to Save Money on Photo Printer Ink
The photo printer manufacturers make money from the sale of their printers but generate huge profits from the ongoing sale of replacement printer ink cartridges for those printers. Each printer manufacturer sells its own line of ink for its specific printer models. In most cases, each photo printer either uses a black ink cartridge and a multicolor ink cartridge, or up to eight different colored ink cartridges at once to create full-color prints.
To save money, you can shop online and often find generic (non-brand-name) ink cartridges that are compatible with your photo printer. However, unlike photo paper rated independently of the actual manufacturer, the quality of these cartridges might or might not be equal to or better than the brand-name cartridges, although they’ll typically be much cheaper.
The easiest way to find compatible, non-brand-name ink cartridges for your make and model photo printer is to go online to a price comparison website (such as Nextag.com) and, in the search field at the top of the screen, type the exact make and model of your photo printer, along with the words ink cartridges.
Tip
You can also shop online by visiting Amazon.com or eBay.com, and quickly search for multiple online vendors that offer compatible ink cartridges for your printer make and model. Keep in mind that ink cartridges are printer model specific, not just printer manufacturer specific. In other words, ink cartridges for an Epson Stylus Photo 1500W printer do not work with an Epson Stylus R2000 printer.
If you own the Epson Stylus Photo 1500W photo printer, for example, visit www.nextag.com and enter the search phrase Epson Stylus Photo 1500W ink cartridges into the search field. The search results reveal dozens of independent printer ink companies that sell compatible and discounted ink cartridges for this particular printer make and model.
Before buying compatible non-brand-name photo printer ink cartridges from an independent company, read the online reviews for both the ink cartridges themselves and the online merchant. Try to determine whether any of your fellow consumers have experienced problems with the ink or the merchant. Also, pay attention to the shipping charges added to your order. In some cases, companies promote low prices for the ink cartridges but charge an exorbitant shipping and handling fee.
Have Prints Created at a One-Hour Photo Lab
Many pharmacies (including Walgreens, Rite-Aid, and CVS), mass-market consumer retail stores (such as Costco, Wal-Mart, and Target), and photo specialty stores all offer one-hour photo processing. The trick, however, is transferring the images stored in your iOS mobile device to these photo labs so the digital images can be transformed into professional-quality prints.
To make this process as easy as possible, many of these one-hour photo labs have their own specialized apps that can be acquired for free from the App Store. Once you launch the app, simply select the image(s) you want to create prints from, choose your desired print size(s), and select how many copies of each print you want.
The app then connects to the Internet and uploads the selected image file(s) from your iPhone or iPad directly to the one-hour photo lab’s computer for processing. Within an hour or so, your prints will be ready for pickup at the retail location you select.
Tip
When using this type of app to order prints, be sure to select the correct pickup location, especially if the pharmacy or store has multiple locations in your area. The app typically uses your iPhone or iPad’s built-in GPS capabilities to determine your location and then helps you pinpoint and select the closest retail location.
This feature is particularly useful if you’re on vacation and want to create prints while you’re still away. Using one of these apps, you can find the closest Costco, for example, upload your digital images, and then by the time you drive to the store and do some shopping, your prints are ready for pickup (typically within an hour).
Keep in mind that some retailers that have a one-hour photo lab incorporate print-ordering capabilities into their existing proprietary apps, whereas others have standalone (separate) apps for this purpose.
Using a one-hour photo lab to create prints from the digital images taken with or stored on your iPhone or iPad has several advantages. For example, you don’t need to invest in a home photo printer or ensure you maintain an ample supply of photo paper and ink. You can also order the print sizes and quantities you want, and have truly professional-quality prints created and ready to pick up within an hour or so. Another advantage is the cost per print is often less than other options, like using a home photo printer.
Note
In some cases, instead of having a proprietary app, a one-hour photo processing service provides a special website that can be used to upload images. Keep in mind, most of these websites are not compatible with the iPhone or iPad, so it is often necessary to first transfer the image files to your primary computer before uploading them to the one-hour photo lab’s website.
Tip
The free Kicksend app enables you to select images that are stored in your iPhone or iPad and order standard size prints from the app developer’s own photo lab, which are then mailed to you within a few business days. The app also enables you to select the closest one-hour photo lab to your current location that’s in a participating Walgreen’s, CVS Pharmacy, Duane Reade, Target, or Wal-Mart store; order your prints in the quantities and sizes you want; and then pick them up at the selected location within an hour. The cost associated with print pickup varies based on which lab you select, but prices are extremely reasonable, often starting at $0.19 for a 4" × 6" print.
Although each of these retail chains has its own iPhone/iPad app for ordering prints, the Kicksend app enables you to choose which chain’s photo lab you want to use for any given order. After you’ve entered your credit card details just once, placing an order takes less than one minute. The app also enables images to be shared via email with others, with no file size limitations.
For more information about the Kicksend app, its latest features, and the most current line-up of one-hour photo labs operated by popular retailers that it’s compatible with, visit http://kicksend.com/apps.
If you’re the parent or grandparent of a newborn child, the free Offspring app enables you to use the cameras built in to your iPhone or iPad to create a digital baby book that chronicles your child’s early days, weeks, and months using text, photos, and video. What’s great about this app is that it keeps your baby pictures organized by “Moments,” so you can chronicle and share funny things your child does, important milestones, and other things you want to remember.
At anytime, the app enables you to share your baby photos and content with others electronically, or you can use the app to create themed photo books that are professionally printed and bound.
The Offspring app is an excellent tool for taking, organizing, sharing, and printing baby photos, plus keeping track of the date, time, and location where each photo was taken. Keywords and/or text-based captions can also be associated with each picture. Visit http://offspringapp.com for more information about this extremely innovative and well-designed app that was designed by parents for parents.
Use the Costco App to Order Prints from Your iPhone or iPad
To order prints to be created at any Costco location, from the App Store, download the free Costco app. When you launch the app, scroll through the main menu and select the Photo Center option (see Figure 11-5). Next, tap on the Order Prints button and give the app permission to access the photos stored on your iOS mobile device by tapping on the OK button.
FIGURE 11-5 From the Costco app’s main menu screen, select the Photo Center option to begin ordering prints directly from your iPhone or iPad.
From the Image Source screen, tap on the iPhone Photos option to select desired images that are stored on your iPhone or iPad. After selecting the images from their thumbnails, tap on the Order Prints button.
Each selected photo is then displayed as a thumbnail, along with an option to choose how many 4" × 6", 5" × 5", 5" × 7", or 8" × 10" prints you want to create from that image (see Figure 11-6). Tap on the button below each print size heading to increase the number of copies for that print size you want to order.
FIGURE 11-6 Choose the print size(s) and number of copies you want to create from each digital image.
Note
Using Costco’s app to order prints for pickup at a specific Costco location, prices for prints range from $0.13 each for a 4" × 6" print, to $1.49 each for an 8" × 10" print.
Displayed near the top-left corner of this screen is a Printing Style option. Tap on either the Glossy or Lustre (matte) option to choose the photo paper finish that will be used when creating your prints.
A running total for your print order is displayed in the bottom-left corner of the screen. When your order is ready to upload, make sure your iPhone or iPad has Internet access, and then tap on the Checkout button.
Note
If this is your first time using the Costco app to create prints, after tapping on the Checkout button, tap on the Create Account button. When prompted, enter your name, phone number, Costco member number, and email address, and then create a custom password. This needs to be done only once.
The Costco app uploads your images to Costco’s Photo Center computer, and your prints are created. A message appears giving you an approximate time they’ll be ready for pickup, and at the same time, an order number is created.
Once an order is placed, from the Costco app’s Photo Center menu screen, tap on the Order Status button to check on the status of your print order. You can also use the app to create an online backup of images, without immediately placing a print order. To use this feature, from the Photo Center menu screen, tap on the Upload option.
Note
Many of the apps from retailers like Walgreens, Wal-Mart, and Target work very much like Costco’s when it comes to ordering prints directly from your iPhone or iPad. Some of these apps, however, allow you to only select photos that are stored on your iOS mobile device, whereas others enable you to also select from your photos that are stored online, as part of your Facebook or Instagram account, for example.
Order Prints from an Online-Based Photo Lab
Instead of using a specialized app to upload your photos to a local one-hour photo lab, an ever-growing number of professional photo labs and photo processing services now offer specialized and proprietary apps that enable you to order prints directly from your iPhone or iPad but have the prints mailed to you within three to five business days (or less if you’re willing to pay for expedited shipping).
Using an online-based photo service has several advantages. For example, many of these services can also be used for free online photo sharing. Thus, you can create an online gallery, album, or slideshow to showcase and share your images with friends and family, and also order prints from selected images. Another benefit is that these photo services typically offer a greater selection of print sizes to choose from, as well as more photo paper finish options.
In addition, these photo services often enable you to create products or photo gifts that can be ordered directly from your iOS mobile device. For example, the Shutterfly app enables you to easily design and order iPhone cases, mugs, canvas prints, photo books, poster-size wall décor, photo greeting cards, holiday ornaments, mouse pads (see Figure 11-7), key chains, and other products that can showcase one or more of your favorite photos. This can be done directly from the app.
FIGURE 11-7 Using the Shutterfly app on the iPad, create a mouse pad that features your photo, and have it manufactured and then shipped to you (or any desired recipient).
Note
Using the iPad version of the Shutterfly app, it’s much easier to design and order photo products, although this can be done with the iPhone version of the app as well. Ordering prints from Shutterfly on the iPhone or iPad is a quick and easy process, especially after you set up a free account with the service.
Tip
One benefit to using a well-respected and established online photo service, such as Shutterfly, to order prints and photo products is the competitive pricing that’s offered and the company’s 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. If you don’t like how your prints or photo products turn out, you can request a full refund.
Plus, you can often create a free online account with one of these services, and also use it as a free, cloud-based online backup solution for your image collection.
From the App Store, you can find and download specialized apps from a variety of different online photo services that enable you to order prints directly from your iPhone or iPad. Some of these apps include FreePrints, Shutterfly, MotoPhoto, MailPix, and MPix Tap To Print (Miller’s Professional Imaging).
Tip
Apple’s own iPhoto app also enables you to order custom prints from Apple’s photo lab and have those prints mailed to you. See Chapter 7, “Expand Your Photo Editing Toolbox with iPhoto,” for more information about this feature.
After you install a proprietary app from an online photo processing service, the app walks you through the process of selecting which photos you want to create prints from, choosing the size prints you want, and choosing the quantity of each print. Then, once you set up a free online account, placing future orders takes just seconds because your shipping address and credit card details are already stored in the app.
Based on which online-based photo lab service you use, you’ll typically find that the quality of the prints you wind up with is superior to what’s possible using a one-hour photo lab for several reasons. First, online photo labs typically use higher-quality photo paper and inks. Plus, although one-hour photo labs are typically fully automated, the online labs often have trained professionals operating the equipment. These people can make manual adjustments, as needed, while your prints are being created, to ensure the highest-quality results possible from your digital images.
Tip
When choosing which photo lab to use, focus on the quality of the prints, the selection of printing options offered, pricing, shipping and handling fees, and average processing times. You can easily read online reviews of these various services while viewing an app’s description in the App Store.