Now that you are home and rested, it’s time to play with those thousands of photos you took of beautiful Greece! Here are a few options for you (the titles are links to the sites):A. WALGREENS – I created a photo sharing site on Walgreens just for our tour. Go to the Walgreens site , click on Photo at the top, and login at the top right with the username and password I sent you in an email. To upload photos you took for others to see (and share!), just click on “Upload Photos” in the upper left under Photo Home and click Agree to the Copyright Statement.
Name the album with your name, pick a date and write a description, then Select Photos. Now go to your trip album on your computer and hold the shift key to select multiple photos at one time. Each one will load into your Walgreens album.
You can order from Walgreens directly from your computer (I love this feature as I sit at home in my PJs and edit pictures, send them to my local Walgreens, and they are ready in an hour to pick up…and I can pay in the store! Way easier than sitting for hours in store.) And many times Walgreens offers 10 cent prints via email messages (I just get photos ready to print and let them sit in a folder on my computer until I see a deal and then they are ready to send at a minute’s notice).
I also like that sometimes Walgreens offers email deals for a free 8x10 or a free collage photo. No other purchase is necessary. I just send it through my computer at home and go pick it up…for FREE!
But you do not have to order photos from Walgreens that others upload to our site. To view any album, even if you do not upload any photos, simply login and click on any album to view photos. You can click on View Slideshow to see all the photos in an album, or just click on any one photo to view larger. If you want to choose a photo to add to your own album on your computer, simply click on the photo to make it larger, then right click on the photo and choose “Save Picture As…”, find the folder on your computer, and just make sure it saves as a .jpg. Then print as you please.
B. PICASA – I like using this free photo editing program from Google. I especially like it because it allows me to lighten those photos I took that are too dark (no flash allowed places) and actually see what was inside. It also will let you straighten a photo when you were a little crooked when you took it so all buildings don’t look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa! I also like that I can crop out unwanted items, too much sky, or zoom in to the main feature of a photo. When I get through editing, I appear to be a much better photographer than I really was!
Other features include adding sepia tones, making it black and white, and other color enhancing tools. I like that it will crop my pictures to exact print sizes…4x6, 5x7, 8x10 because a digital camera usually takes a more square photo, but that is not the size that is printed commercially or that fits into albums or frames. It lets you choose what you want cropped out of the picture rather than the photo printer. What it will not do…clear up your blurry photos. Sorry!
C. SMILEBOX – This free site is like an online scrapbook. You take your online photos and videos, add their designs and music and create slideshows, scrapbooks, greetings, photo albums, invitations, and collages. You can share your creations on Facebook, email, blogs, print at home or store, or burn to a DVD. It’s fun to play with and easy to use. I used it as our Christmas greeting on the blog last year and it would be perfect to share your favorite trip photos with friends and family.
D. PHOTO STORY 3 – This free download for creating a slideshow with your trip photos adds another new dimension…your voice! Easy to use, Photo Story 3 lets you add your photos, music (theirs or your own), and record your voice narrating each photo. This is a fantastic way to work in all those fun stories that a photo reminds you of. For complete details on how to use this tool, go to my library technology blog LUV2LEARN2.
E. TRIP WOW – This free slideshow creator from Trip Advisor adds another unique feature. In addition to putting music with your photos, you can also create an Indiana-Jones style animated map that shows our route on the trip!
You can download the slideshow you create on the site to your computer or burn it to a DVD. You can also share with family and friends via Facebook, email, or another web site.
Enjoy!
