HAVING spiffed up your precious snapshots to perfection, it is time to show them off.
Print them, post them online or turn them into a slideshow for viewing on TV.
Photo prints
Decide the print size and crop the photos based on the relevant aspect ratio. For optimal quality, use an image resolution of 300ppi (pixels per inch).
For personal use, 150ppi is good enough. Multiply the physical dimension in inches by the image resolution to get the number of pixels to use for the image.
For example, a 4R print is 4 x 6 inches. Multiply by 300ppi and your image should, therefore, be 1,200 x 1,800 pixels. All my 4R prints are at 300ppi. This way, they are good enough if I want to print up to A4 size.
A word of caution: A small margin of up to 3 per cent around your photos is left out when the studio prints your photos. The cropped margin could be bigger on one side compared to the other.
If your photo has a decorative frame or border, it will turn out uneven. Choose a studio that can crop the photo evenly all round. I find it easier to show the studio a sketch.
The same problem arises when printing on a desktop printer. Do a few test prints to determine the right settings for even borders.
Use digital editing software to group a few photos together on a single 4R shot for a touch of dynamism. Grouping works well to show an action sequence, or a variation of effects, such as different colour tints or filters.
Coffee-table photobooks
This is as an alternative to a traditional DIY scrapbook or album. You can use free pre-designed templates from the Web to design your photobook.
These templates come with pre-designed pages for you to position your own photos. For greater control, I tend to design the layout of the photobook myself using Photoshop.
After designing the pages, just use the desktop printer to churn out the images onto the photobook kits that the printer vendors like Epson sell for about $30 to $50 each.
Or, order a photobook online.
Both printer vendors and photobook sites provide free software to help you lay out your photos easily. Just choose a theme, drop in your photos and add text.
The difference is that you print out the photobooks bought from printer vendors.
Online photobook sites, on the other hand, will print, bind and send the completed album to you in the mail. Prices start from $20, depending on size, number of pages and finish, say leather or soft cover.
www.apple.com/sg/ilife/iphoto/ printproducts.html (for Mac users only).
Share on the Web
For more immediate sharing, get the photos up on the Internet at the sites mentioned below. Just send them an e-mail message with the URL provided.
You can make slick slideshows at these sites and control who is allowed to view your photographs. You and your pals can even order prints online as well as other memorabilia from mugs to mouse pads.
You can also display selected snapshots on your blog, MySpace or Facebook. For onscreen viewing, an image resolution of 72ppi or 96ppi would be good enough.
Here are some sites:
www.flickr.com
picasaweb.google.com
www1.snapfish.com.sg
Make TV slideshow
For easy viewing without a computer, make a slideshow that can be played by a standard VCD/DVD player on the TV. With software like Nero, just follow step-by-step instructions to burn a collection of photographs into a simple slideshow on a VCD/DVD.
Or, use free software such as Photostage to author an MPEG slideshow complete with transition effects, captions, narration and background music. The MPEG slideshow can then be easily burned on VCD/DVD using any disc-burning software.
So, everyone from tot to granny can chortle away at their holiday antics in the comfort of the living room instead of hunched over a PC.
Here is one site you can go to:
www.nchsoftware.com/slideshow
John Tan is a freelance writer.
This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life on 15 October 2008.
