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| Connectis - E-life |
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| Picture this Photography moves online By Liz Bassett Published: September 26 2000 10:02GMT | Last Updated: September 26 2000 15:27GMT |
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 The honeymoon is over and the wedding photographs have arrived. The bride and groom now face the problem of showing them to their guests, who have long since departed to the four corners of the planet, and fielding request after request for individual pictures. What could be easier than to load the entire collection into a web-based electronic photo album. A wide range of internet photographic services has been developed to provide photographers, from the snap-happy to the professional, with the advantages of digital pictures without having to relinquish their traditional cameras. The UK-based internet photography service Fotango develops 35mm or APS films free of charge, placing the digital photographs in a password-protected album on their site. Fotango returns the film and there is no obligation to purchase prints. You can also use a scanner to make digital copies of existing photographs. The majority of online photograph albums accept popular formats such as JPEG, Tiff or Bitmap. And don't forget Kodak's picture CD-Rom, picture disks and internet service - all optional extras when having 35mm or APS films developed. Loading digital pictures into an online album is simple. Users need to register with a site such as Picbull, Wistiti or ViaCarla, and are then given a personal area. Once you have created your album, you will be able to transfer your digital pictures to the site using your browser. You may add and delete pictures, title them and change their order. You can keep the album private, share it with a select few, or display it to the rest of the world. These sites give users a generous amount of space on their server free of charge in the hope that you, your family or friends will purchase prints online. It's no surprise that this is made as simple as possible. There is no need to know about pixels or resolution; the site will tell you if your picture will not produce a quality print. Your favourite picture may not be your most accomplished effort. So why not try using software to improve it and re-post it in your album? You could also send your edited digital picture to a photo-finishing service for reprinting. German site PixelNet's free pixel2picture processing and transfer software incorporates editing tools so you can sharpen the quality of a digital picture, retouch it, add special effects and send it for reprinting all in the same session. Prints can also be ordered over the internet from photographic laboratories who use FotoWire network server technology. These include French retail chain Photo Service and several Pan-European operators such as Agfa, Colormailer and Fotolabo. Pictures are selected and paid for by credit card. Order confirmations are e-mailed, and the pictures arrive in the post in a couple of days. Email Liz Bassett on liz.bassett@ft.com bookmarks - europe-wide Photographic services Film Processing united kingdom Photographic services Film Processing france Photographic services Film Processing germany Photographic services Film Processing spain Photographic services Film Processing |
