Digital Photography + Picasa + Photobox = Schweet Prints

:happy Now that I have a new laptop, I can finally start organising the 1000’s of digital photos I have taken over the last few years.

First step was to download and install Picasa2. This is a great application that will organise all your photos in to timelines based on when the pictures were taken. It makes sense to keep all your photos in a well organised folder structure (but not necessary). I then spent hours labelling the pictures into groups based on who appears in the pictures, and also using the excellent built-in filters to improve colour balances and contrast on the pictures.

Then it’s possible to select a whole load of pictures (maybe using the label functionality), and with a single click upload the images to your photobox account (UK).

I did try photobox a couple of years ago since they seemed convenient and cheap, but was not satisfied with the results. However I thought I’ll try them again, and uploaded 160 images to be printed in 5×7. Uploading took about 30 mins (directly from within Picasa), then you select which images you want on the website and place your order. I did this at about 3pm on Wednesday, at a cost of £25 including shipping, and the photos arrived the next day by recorded delivery! I have to say that I’m very pleased with the quality now. It seems that photobox are using better quality paper and printing processes since I last used them, and it shows.

I’m certain I’ll be using this service again.