Comparing online photo-printing services

Reviews say most online photo printing services offer similar features, including drag-and-drop uploads, limited editing tools, photo gift options and sharing features. The following variables are good things to consider when selecting a digital photo printing service:

  • Cost: Although nearly all digital photo printing services beat the price of printing photos at home, there is still a wide price variance among services. Check out available features and keep in mind that in this industry, quality and high price are not always associated with one another. Low-price leaders such as Snapfish often have the best quality in reviews.
  • Online photo storage: Snapfish, Shutterfly and some others offer free unlimited photo storage. Kodak Gallery and others allow you to store an unlimited number of photos but also expect you to buy digital photo prints regularly. If you don't buy any prints in a year, the site will start deleting your photos. SmugMug charges an annual fee for unlimited photo storage, but reviews say the price is well worth it.
  • Photo manipulation and editing: Some sites offer only minimal photo-editing features, requiring users to make any major manipulations prior to uploading photos. For those who want the ability to edit photos after upload, sites that offer extensive photo editing software are the best choice. Many sites now offer red-eye correction features, color and contrast manipulation options as well as cropping and rotating tools.
  • Photo gift options: Ranging from simple albums and photo books to personalized storybooks and calendars to aprons, pillowcases and candy tins, nearly all sites offer a variety of photo gift options. Users who are looking specifically for photo gifts should consider sites like Shutterfly, Snapfish and Walmart, all of which offer over 100 photo gift options, from simple to unique.

Also bear in mind that you share responsibility for the quality of your images. One reviewer uploaded deliberately bad photos (red-eye, poorly centered, etc.) and none of the online digital picture printing services corrected the problems. As a rule of thumb, you shouldn't expect to receive anything better than what you submit. Some sites, such as AdoramaPix.com, have professional technicians review photos before processing, although reviewers say it made no difference in the quality of the images they received. Many people say they are surprised when their digital photo prints turn out with poor color or contrast and don't look as good as they expected. Although it may simply be a bad batch of prints, the problem often originates with the pictures that are uploaded.

To prevent photo color surprises, experts emphasize the need to monitor calibration. Monitor calibration means adjusting your monitor display to match the color output of your printer or a photo printing service. For professionals, monitor calibration also includes controlling the lighting near your computer and even adjusting the wall color behind the monitor, although most people don't need to go quite this far.

To calibrate your monitor to an online service, take your first set of photos from the service and hold up a sample photo next to the identical image on your monitor. Adjust the monitor color to match the printed output as closely as possible. This way, when you preview future images on your monitor, you can freely play with color and contrast through photo-editing software, confident that the printed output will closely match what you see on the screen.

Burt Helm of BusinessWeek doesn't like any of the editing tools offered by online photo printing services. "Even the basic photo-editing software that comes with most digital cameras will do a better job than the editing tools on these sites," he writes. If you need to do some cropping or color correction, you'll generally get better results if you tweak before uploading pictures to a photo service. See our report on photo-editing software for our top picks.

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