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Mar. 14th, 2007 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI ordered more prints today. These will be from winkflash, the place that does the cards for grandma. I have an account there, so not having to keep a different password is nice. Also, they don't suck.
Let me count the ways...
1. They do not jack your photos without telling you. Every photo-jackage that occurs is clearly and visibly labled and you always have the option to choose differently so's to not have the jacking. Yay!
2. The jacking of the color profile is (a) explicit and (b) turn-ON-able. It is not on by default and you can selectively apply it to one, some, or all of your images without having your whole order totally hijacked by asstastic unstoppable kiosks that think they know better than you.
3. You have options for the size print you would like. You get real options, options you will probably be able to live with. Since 4x6 prints require some cropping (because digital cameras do not make pictures that fit the 4x6 ratio), they offer the 4x5.3 print which exactly fits the digital camera image and does not require you to crop jack shit.
4. If you select the 4x6 image, which requires cropping, you can then move around the crop lines on the image to crop them in ways you find acceptable instead of being stuck with their fucking AI trying to pick what it thinks is the important part of the picture. (The fucking AI is what happens at the kisok, in case that's not clear for anyone out there.) For people who have actually framed the picture by using the viewfinder or lcd screen of the camera, this is an invaluable feature. I don't generally have a bucket of room around "the subject" in my pictures. When I take a picture, the subject (which I can't crop because, yo, it's the fucking subject) pretty much fills up the picture. The space around the subject is space that I left there on purpose and I'd like to keep it balanced if at all possible. If I *have* to crop, I want to do it myself instead of trusting a computer to do it for me.
5. They're not terribly expensive. My order today was $4.35 for 28 4x5.3 glossy prints, shipping included. Price-per-image, therefore, is about $0.16. I can live with that for an actual image that hasn't had the color fucked with or been cropped without my consent. (They are currently running a special on shipping for 4x5.3 or 4x6 prints where shipping is $0.99 no matter how many prints you get.)
Neither Snapfish nor Shutterfly offer the digital-print-size. Your image will always be fucked with to fit the standard 4x6 print if you use them. For most people, the slight amount of cropping that takes place when you whack seven tenths of an inch off the top/bottom (landscape, not portrait) of a picture is not a huge problem. It is a problem for me because I worked to frame the pictures the way I did and I don't want them cropped. I want to print what I took, what I see on my computer screen. (Long-time readers are probably aware that I have control issues. They are manifesting, here.) Shutterfly pimps "VividPics" technology which looks a lot like the color-jacking that happened to me at the kiosk in Wal-Mart. (Good heavens, is it possible that people *want* that in their pictures?) "VividPics" technology is on by default but can be turned off in the section to enhance/fix images. Snapfish does not appear to auto-jack pictures by default, which makes them slightly less evil than Shutterfly.
In a week or so, when I get my winkflash pictures, I will post some side-by-sides, pictures-of-pictures, so that you can see what I am so angry about... or sit there and go, "Damn, not sure why she's pitching a bitch. The Wal-Mart ones look better!"
Today I also went to Altoona on a field trip with my cousin Heather. She kindly waited while I went in to the camera place and fondled the cameras. I didn't buy anything, but there was definite heavy petting going on. Some camera's father will probably be stopping by to ask me about my intentions regarding his daughter's virtue.
Let me count the ways...
1. They do not jack your photos without telling you. Every photo-jackage that occurs is clearly and visibly labled and you always have the option to choose differently so's to not have the jacking. Yay!
2. The jacking of the color profile is (a) explicit and (b) turn-ON-able. It is not on by default and you can selectively apply it to one, some, or all of your images without having your whole order totally hijacked by asstastic unstoppable kiosks that think they know better than you.
3. You have options for the size print you would like. You get real options, options you will probably be able to live with. Since 4x6 prints require some cropping (because digital cameras do not make pictures that fit the 4x6 ratio), they offer the 4x5.3 print which exactly fits the digital camera image and does not require you to crop jack shit.
4. If you select the 4x6 image, which requires cropping, you can then move around the crop lines on the image to crop them in ways you find acceptable instead of being stuck with their fucking AI trying to pick what it thinks is the important part of the picture. (The fucking AI is what happens at the kisok, in case that's not clear for anyone out there.) For people who have actually framed the picture by using the viewfinder or lcd screen of the camera, this is an invaluable feature. I don't generally have a bucket of room around "the subject" in my pictures. When I take a picture, the subject (which I can't crop because, yo, it's the fucking subject) pretty much fills up the picture. The space around the subject is space that I left there on purpose and I'd like to keep it balanced if at all possible. If I *have* to crop, I want to do it myself instead of trusting a computer to do it for me.
5. They're not terribly expensive. My order today was $4.35 for 28 4x5.3 glossy prints, shipping included. Price-per-image, therefore, is about $0.16. I can live with that for an actual image that hasn't had the color fucked with or been cropped without my consent. (They are currently running a special on shipping for 4x5.3 or 4x6 prints where shipping is $0.99 no matter how many prints you get.)
Neither Snapfish nor Shutterfly offer the digital-print-size. Your image will always be fucked with to fit the standard 4x6 print if you use them. For most people, the slight amount of cropping that takes place when you whack seven tenths of an inch off the top/bottom (landscape, not portrait) of a picture is not a huge problem. It is a problem for me because I worked to frame the pictures the way I did and I don't want them cropped. I want to print what I took, what I see on my computer screen. (Long-time readers are probably aware that I have control issues. They are manifesting, here.) Shutterfly pimps "VividPics" technology which looks a lot like the color-jacking that happened to me at the kiosk in Wal-Mart. (Good heavens, is it possible that people *want* that in their pictures?) "VividPics" technology is on by default but can be turned off in the section to enhance/fix images. Snapfish does not appear to auto-jack pictures by default, which makes them slightly less evil than Shutterfly.
In a week or so, when I get my winkflash pictures, I will post some side-by-sides, pictures-of-pictures, so that you can see what I am so angry about... or sit there and go, "Damn, not sure why she's pitching a bitch. The Wal-Mart ones look better!"
Today I also went to Altoona on a field trip with my cousin Heather. She kindly waited while I went in to the camera place and fondled the cameras. I didn't buy anything, but there was definite heavy petting going on. Some camera's father will probably be stopping by to ask me about my intentions regarding his daughter's virtue.
