I have mentioned memory card readers before, but this is one I specifically carry around for loading my images to OTHER people’s computers! That’s right… when we visit family and friends and there are lots of pictures being taken, someone always says, “OH! Let me have a copy of that!”

This is also a great alternative to using your camera cord! If you have lost your camera cord, this would be a very inexpensive alternative to getting a new cord… at least initially… I suspect these can burn out pretty quickly.

Here are some memory card readers on Amazon.com. Some of them are less than a dollar. I got mine at my local WalMart for $9. Hmmm… I feel cheated!

BEFORE YOU BUY: Be sure that the reader fits YOUR SIZE memory card. If you aren’t sure of what kind of memory card you have, take it out of the camera and look at the writing. They all have the type of card printed directly on them. If it has rubbed off, look up your camera online and see what kind of memory card it reads.

It doesn’t have to be this way, though! Check out Photojojo’s Ultimate Guide to Taking Portraits at Night for tips and advice!   (Then edit your pics and share them with friends and family online!)

Photobucket.com and retailer Target have teamed up for an easy and quick way to get prints from your digital camera!   If you have a photobucket.com account, just log in and go to your album.  In the menu in the gray area at the top, rest your cursor on “Buy Prints” and in the menu that pops up, select “Print at Target.”  (There is a bullseye logo in the menu like the one shown here.)

In the next page, select the photos from your album that you would like to print.  It is only 20¢ (twenty cents) for a 4×6 print.

Witchy says:  If you have reduced the size of your pictures for emailing or posting on the internet, they are not “print quality” images.  You will need to upload a full sized, high pixel version to photobucket.com for nice prints.  If you don’t remember if it was reduced or not, DON’T WORRY! The TARGET checkout screen will tell you if your picture resolution is too small with a little exclamation point next to it.   If you rest your cursor on the symbol, the message, “Insufficient resolution for high quality print of this size” will pop up.

If you don’t have your own photoprinter, this is the quickest and cheapest way I have found to get prints from your digital pictures.  If you give it a try, please let is know in the comments!

• Print them yourself
• Order them in a photo store/photo department or online

Do you want to learn how?

Printing pictures yourself.

You’ve probably already tried printing out pictures from your computer printer. Even with photopaper, it isn’t quite the same as “developed” pictures from the olden days. I have to say, some of the newer printers do photos quite well and if you are sharing photos with a lot of people or doing “instant prints” at a party, they can do an acceptable job. However, if you want the beautiful, clear photos for your album or to frame, you could really use a photo printer.

I have a PictureMate by Epsom and am very happy with it. It prints 4×6 photos of high quality. Just like the ones I get from the drugstore from my film camera. I also have an HP PhotosSmart 8250 which I am also reasonably happy with, and it can print 8 x 10 very nicely. As you can see, both of these are older models. They print photos MUCH better than my regular computer printer.

To get photos to print, I can hook them up to my computer and print from there, or even hook my camera directly to the printer. However, I find it easier to insert the memory card of my camera directly into the printer and print from there. The PictureMate is very portable, so it is easy to carry with me to family gatherings. (How many times have you taken pictures at events and someone says, “I want a copy of that!”?)

Another way to print pictures yourself is to go to your local drugstore or discount store with your camera/usb cord or memory card! Many places which do film developing now have photoprinters available for customers to use. You insert your memory card or hook-up your camera and select the pictures you want to print. My drugstore also has a scanner available so that you can make print copies of your non-digital snapshots, too!

The upside of printing yourself is that you have the pictures IMMEDIATELY for sharing and adding to your scrapbook or album.

The downside of these printers and going to the drugstore is the cost per photo print. I figured out one time that my PictureMate’s photos come out to about 25¢ per print and it was 29¢ per print at my local drugstore.

Witchy Tip: I still say it’s worth it to have your own printer. I love the convenience of printing my own photos. It has been great for children’s parties, family gatherings and my hobby of scrapbooking. I like having a photo ready immediately when I am ready to do something with it.

Ordering prints online.

A cheaper way to get prints of your pictures is to order them from a site online (or perhaps your local photo or camera shop). You upload your pictures from your computer to a photosite and you can order prints and other specialty items (mousepads, t-shirts, mugs, etc.) with your pictures on them!

Here are some sites to get you started:

• KodakGallery.com: Kodak is a trusted name in cameras and film, and they have moved quickly to keep up with the digital age. Their site offers photo editing, sharing and printing services.
• Snapfish.com: Snapfish is a service of Hewlitt-Packard and if you have an HP camera, computer or printer, you are probably already aware of them! Their services are swift and the photos come back looking great. I know many people who swear by snapfish!
• Shutterfly.com: Shutterfly is another big name service which you can use to print your pictures. I have friends who use shutterfly and are very happy with them.
• Photobucket.com: This is my personal favorite since I host my photos and videos on this site already. That makes it the most convenient for me. (UPDATE:  You can now get prints in an hour from photobucket.com by having them printed at your local Target store!  CLICK HERE for details!)

If none of these sites appeal to you, you can also check with your local drugstore, discount store or photo supply store! Many of these places are now offering online photo hosting and digital sharing services. Prices vary for each service, as does the shipping charge.

The upside of using an online photo printing service is the cost! It is much cheaper per print to order your photos online. You also have the option of making fun items with your photos and creating online photo galleries to share.

The downside of using an online photo is that it takes a while to get your prints to you. To me, if you don’t mind waiting, you might as well be using a film camera!

Witchy Thinks: Ideally, you should have both: An account with an online service (it is free to sign up for these services) as well as a good photoprinter. The best of both worlds! It certainly works for me, and I bet it will for you too.

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If you try out Adobe Photoshop Express, or any online photo editing site, please let us know in the comments below.

If your camera has a memory card that was in the camera when you were taking the pictures, that is where your images are stored. Look closely at the front of your computer (or around the sides if you are on a laptop). You may have special slots just for reading memory cards (if your computer was purchased in the last couple of years). Here’s what mine look like:

If you do not have slots for reading memory cards, you can purchase a memory card reader! (You can get them from your local computer or electronics stores, or even discount stores nowadays. I would get one anyway if your camera uses memory cards, just for convenience.) You just hook up the memory card reader to your computer via the USB port and insert your memory card.

The memory card acts just like a CD or floppy disk. If the camera wizard program doesn’t pop up to help you transfer your pictures to your hard drive, just click your start button, go to “My Computer” and click on the available drives. One of them will have the files with your pictures. (My memory stick contains folders, one of which is named “DCIM”… my pictures are in there, so you may have to do some extra clicking to see them.)

Getting a new cord is the next solution. You do not always need to order one from your camera manufacturer, unless they have some really weird shape. In fact Amazon.com has several cords which may work. Take your camera to your local computer or electronics store and tell the clerk that you need a USB cable to fit this camera. You and the clerk will find the opening on your camera where the cord goes and find a cord that will fit.

Witchy Tip: Do not think that you will look dumb bringing your camera into the store. This is the ideal way to make sure the cord fits.

If your camera should require a plug directly from the manufacturer, and your local computer or electronics store doesn’t have it in stock, ask if the store can order it for you. To eliminate the middle man, you can look up the manufacturer online and order a card from their website, or get their customer service number for additional help.

Did you find this article useful? Please let me know in the comments and consider subscribing to WitchyTech!

Probably the biggest secret to living in the modern age is that it’s all about automation… making things simple. This is hard for the non-technical person to understand. “How can it be simple? I just look at it and my eyes glaze over!” This is because you are trying to figure out HOW it works. Don’t waste your mental energy! It’s like being unable to learn to drive because you want to understand how an internal combustion engine works. Who cares how it works? All you need to know is how to drive.. what button to push to get the machine to do what you want. It is the same for computer programs and the internet.

If you wish, you can go buy a photo editing program and try to learn how to use it, or try to figure out the one that came with your camera. However, for most of us non-technical types, this is an exercise in confusion and frustration. Let me tell you about the easy way:

The easy way is to find an online service to handle the technical part of photo manipulation, while all you do is push buttons! I can personally recommend the following:

Photobucket.com: Is an excellent online host for your photos. You can store your pictures in albums, make slideshows, and share your photos in forums and on webpages! This is a very versatile service and it’s FREE! You can make your album private, but still share individual pictures from the album! You do have to create an account to use their services, though. (Video tutorial on creating a photobucket.com account is coming soon! But it is pretty self-explanatory if you want to go ahead and give it a try.) After you have created your account and logged in click on “My Album” and prepare to upload your photos:

• On the right, the default option is “images from my PC” so click the “browse” button.
• Find the image you wish to upload and click on it.
• Add a descriptive title if you wish

(Note: You can upload more than one photo at a time, but the more photos you add, the longer it will take. Photos are big files!)

• Click the “UPLOAD” button and wait until copies of the pictures are uploaded to photobucket.
• Scroll down and see the picture in your album. Click the “edit” link above the picture.
• Select “resize”
• Select “message board” ..and click “okay” for the “are you sure” message. This is also an okay size for emailing. If it is still too big, you can click “resize” again and select “Website, Email” to reduce it further. You can only make it smaller, NOT bigger, so be sure before you reduce it further. If you do get it too small, click on “delete” and above the picture. Go back to “View Album” or “My Album” and upload a copy of the original again and resize again.

Remember, you are uploading a COPY of your original so play with it all you want. If you goof up, just delete it and upload the original again to start over.
Another way to play with it is to copy the “direct link” (in the box below the picture where you view your album) and upload the file to Picnik.com (see below) where there are even more options.

Picnik.com: This takes a photo directly from your computer (or select online photo hosts, like Photobucket.com, flikr.com, facebook.com and webshots.com) and lets you manipulate it, add captions, add effects, etc. You just push the buttons to make it do what you want. YAY! No registration is required, so you can use it right “out of the box” as the saying goes these days. If you want to go ahead and give it a try, try resizing a photo to a comfortable 600px width:

• Go to Picnik.com and click the “Get Started Now!” button
• Click the “Upload Photo” button. A window will pop up showing you the files on your computer. Find the picture you want. Click it. Then press the ‘open” button.
• Upload your photo (this may take a minute.. remember this is a big file!),
• click the “edit” tab if you are not already in the edit window (the tab you are in will be white)
• click the “resize” button at the top,
• Change the first value (the width) to “600″ and make sure the “keep proportions” is checked.
• Then click the “Save and Share” tab at the very top.
• Important: RENAME THE FILE! (I usually just add “sml” to the file name). If you don’t, your original, print-sized picture will be overwritten.
• Click “Save Photo” at the bottom.

The new smaller picture is now in the same file on your computer as the original. Easy peasy. You can then upload this new version of the picture back to photobucket or flickr, or if you have really explored around, you can email it directly back to your photobucket or flickr album (that’s more advanced than we are addressing in this article, but once you are comfortable with your photo sites, it will be easy to learn).

If you have a yahoo account already, you might wish to use flickr.com instead of Photobucket.com as you can create an account with your yahoo! ID. This is a wildly popular photo sharing service around the internet. They have a very good reputation. They are more for *sharing* than editing directly.  But both services have joined with Picnik.com, o you can get the most out of both manipulating and sharing your photos. I have not used flickr’s services personally but lots of folks swear by it.

Keep watching Witchy Tech!! Coming soon, we’ll discuss the various ways of sharing your photos online, including emailing and posting on a forum or webpage!

If you have questions about resizing photos, please post them in the comments below or on our forum! If you there is something specific you wish Witchy to talk about, definitely let us know that in the forum, too!

Unfortunately, you probably got emails (or phone calls) back saying that the pictures were great, but they were bigger than the whole computer screen! Or that they sure took a long time to download… or worse, that they crashed someone’s email and they had to call their internet provider to clear it out (this can happen on dial up connections).

So what happened? The pictures looked perfectly fine on your computer, didn’t they? You zoomed out to make them a comfortable size before sending, right? Read on to find out about one of the nuances of digital photography:

Here’s the problem: The digital camera takes pictures for printing. That means that they must be very detailed so the picture can be sharp. A spot of color or part of the picture is called a pixel. The more pixels you can get into the picture, the more detailed/sharp the picture appears. (If you zoom into a picture really close, the lines become jagged. The little boxes are the individual pixels.) The camera puts as much detail into the image as it can. The more detail, the bigger the computer file needed to contain it. The bigger the file, the longer it takes to send and download… and a lot of images could exceed the file size limit set by internet providers or some virus software.

Okay, that explains the slow loading/crashing of the images in someone’s email, but what about the size of the pictures on their computer screens?

These pictures look so huge on people’s computer screens because of the way the computer screens display images. The computer displays a specific number of pixels in the viewing area. This is called the screen resolution. (If you are curious to see what your screen resolution is, right click on a blank area of your desktop. In the menu that pops, select “properties.” Then at the top, click on a tab marked “settings” and look in the left column. If you are interested, mine says “1280 by 1024″ so I have a lot of pixels per inch on my screen.)

Example: Let’s say I want to send my mom a picture I took with my digital camera. I have uploaded the picture to my computer. Right clicking on the picture on my computer and selecting “properties” (or depending on what version of Windows you have, you might see the details of the picture in the left column of your pictures folder) you can see some basic information about your picture file. Straight from my camera, my picture’s dimensions are 2592 by 1944 pixels and the size of the computer file is 2.17 MB (megabytes).
Say my mom’s screen resolution is 800 by 600 pixels. Not only will her computer spend time downloading over 2 megabytes of digital information for one picture, she will only see the first 800 of the 2592 pixels across and the first 600 of the 1944 pixels down of your image. And probably not even that much, since some of those 800 viewing pixels the monitor allows will be used up by the email window! The rest of the picture is still there, but she will have to scroll around with her mouse to see it. Here is a digital photograph as it comes from my camera. (If you have a recent version of your browser, it may reduce the picture so you can see it on your screen. Click the picture so you can see it at 100%.)

Wait a minute! You previewed the picture on your screen and it looked fine! Or maybe you even opened up your picture in the photo editing program that came with your camera and zoomed out so you could see the whole picture and saved it. It was the right size when it left your computer, right? WRONG! Here’s why:

Probably the best way to explain this is in a non-digital way: your picture file is like a 4 x 6 inch snapshot. The windows preview/zoom feature is like a magnifying glass. You move the magnifying glass in and out over the snapshot and the snapshot appears to get bigger or smaller. But it is not ACTUALLY bigger… it is still a 4 x 6 inch snapshot you’re viewing. If you want to mail this snapshot to someone, you stick it in an envelope and mail the actual snapshot at the actual size.. not your view of the snapshot at apparent size shown in the magnifying glass.

Look at some of the pictures you have on your computer. Right click one and select “preview” from the menu that pops up. In the picture preview window on your computer, you can hold down the “ctrl” key while pressing the “a” key (ctrl + a) to see the actual size of your image (or rest your cursor on the buttons at the bottom… one of them will say “actual size”).

If you are saavy enough to use your photoediting software, open the picture in your editing program. To see the ACTUAL size of the picture, click on “view” or “zoom” at the top and select “actual size” or “100%” or the equivalent.

So in order to comfortably mail images for viewing on a computer screen, the actual size of the image should be reduced. Keep watching Witchy Tech! I am going to show you an easy and free way to fix your images for emailing and sharing online. Your family and friends are going to be so impressed with YOU!

TAKE TONS AND TONS of pictures. Professional photographers take about a two hundred pictures and only pick 5 to sell. With digital photography, you don’t have those processing fees to worry about and only have to print the ones you want to keep. The more pictures you take, the more likely you’ll capture the perfect moment… a/k/a “The Money Shot”!

Do you have any digital camera/photography tips to share?

(Thanks to this article from Dumb Little Man–Tips for Life for the heads-up on this video.)

Now that you have a digital camera, you are pretty proud of your new gadget. You’ve been taking pictures with it and enjoy not having to worry about getting your film processed. But how do you get the picture from your camera to the computer? There are 3 ways to do this:

• Using the cord or base that came with your camera
• Inserting the memory stick or memory card directly into a specialized slot in your computer
• Getting the pictures printed at a drugstore and scanning the printed pictures into the computer.

I’m going to tell you how to use the cord that came with your camera.

The Cord.

A cord similar to the above picture comes with most digital cameras. If you bought your digital camera used and it came without a cord, or if you misplaced your cord, you can probably get another one at your local camera store, or order it online from your camera’s manufacturer (go to “google.com” and type the manufacturer’s name in the box).

The smaller end will vary in looks depending on your camera, but the larger end… the “USB” plug will be the same as the one shown here. Look at the plugs. Do you see that symbol that looks like a cactus on a ball? (click the picture for a closeup) That tells you that this cord works using the USB port (outlet) on your computer.

If your camera comes with a base for connecting to the computer, the base probably has a cord like this, too. It will connect your camera base to your computer the same way. You can still use this tutorial, if you understand that when I refer to the “camera”, I mean your camera when it is attached to your base.

The Computer.

Your computer will have “USB ports” in it somewhere. These are narrow slots that fit the larger USB plug. The one on the left is a USB port in my laptop, so it sits horizontally. In the right picture, you see two USB ports on the front of my computer. One of the ports has a USB device plugged in already. The other is free. Look at the symbols near the ports. See the cactus-on-ball symbol? (click pics for close up)

Some older computers do not have USB ports on the front. You will have to go to the back of your computer and find one. They are the narrow rectangle slots. It may be hard to see, but stamped into the metal near the correct openings is same cactus symbol.

Making the Connection

Turn your computer on. (Some people might print out these directions for reference, so I want to make sure they have everything just right.)

Plug the big end of the cord into the appropriate slot in the computer. These cords can only go in one way. If you meet resistance, DO NOT FORCE IT. Flip the cord over and insert the other way. It should be a bit snug, though.

Plug the opposite end of the cord into the camera. There should be only one place on the camera where this cord fits. Both of my cameras have their USB outlets hidden behind a little thumbnail flap. One has the little cactus symbol stamped on the outside of the flap. The other just has “USB” stamped above the outlet. This plug can only go in one way as well.

Your computer and your camera are now connected to each other.

Making the Transfer

Now we’re going to transfer the pictures from the camera to the computer.

1. Turn on your camera. Some cameras may receive power as soon as they are connected or placed in their base
2. Select “Copy Pictures…” from the menu. A menu like the one below should pop up. Mine says “Sony Memory Stick” in the upper left because I still have my memory stick in my camera. Your may say something else, but whatever it says, it will be followed by a letter in parenthesis. Select “Copy Pictures to a folder on my computer using Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard.

   

3. The Wizard Opens, click NEXT. Here is the first page of the Wizard program.

   

4. Choose which pictures you wish to transfer. You can be selective about which pictures to transfer over by making sure they have a checkmark next to them. I usually want to move everything to my computer and decide later what I want to keep.
   Advanced: If you have a picture that is turned on its side so that it fits the long way (“portrait”), you can correct it here, too, or you can wait until it is on your computer. To rotate the picture at this point, do the following: Click “Clear All” in the lower left corner, then click the picture that needs rotating. Using the little triangle symbols in the lower left corner, select which way you want to turn your picture. It will take a moment to rotate the picture, so don’t panic during the delay. When it is finished, rotate another in the same way or click “Select All” to select all the pictures in the camera again.)

   See the picture below for the Choose Pictures to Copy menu.

   

5. Picture Name and Destination. On this menu (pictured below), you can name the batch of pictures. I usually name them by event or subject: “ballet recital” or “picnic2007″ or some such. In this case, I am naming this batch of pictures “Gladys” so I typed that in the top box. I want to put these pictures into the “My Pictures” folder. If the file you want is not showing in the 2nd box, click the “Browse” button to find it. I want to delete these pictures from my camera, too, so I have checked the “Delete pictures from my device after copying” box. Click “NEXT” when finished.
   • (Advanced: You can create a new folder for the pictures by clicking “Browse”, clicking the place where you want your new folder (when in doubt, I put it on the Desktop so I can find it easily) so that it is highlighted in gray, click the “Make New Folder” button, where your cursor lands, name your new folder, click Okay.)

   

6. The Copying Begins Automatically.

   

7. Deleting is automatic, too. After the pictures are copied from your camera to your computer, and if you checked the “Delete pictures…” box in Step 5 above, the program will delete the pictures from your camera.
8. Other Options. When step 7 is finished, a window entitled “Other Options” pops up. Select “Nothing, I’m finished working with these pictures” and hit next. (The other two options assume you have online accounts for these services, or presume to make accounts FOR you. Witchy Tech will cover getting prints and web-sharing your photos in a later tutorial.)

   

9. Finish the Wizard. Click the “Finish” button.

   

10. Turn off your camera and disconnect from computer. At this point, it is a good idea to turn off your camera so you don’t run the batteries down. You can also disconnect your camera and your USB cord. (Tip: If your USB port is in the back of your computer, it’s okay to leave the cord in for convenience. There are also USB extension cords available from your computer store.)
11. Your Pictures are on your computer. When you hit the Finish button in Step 9, the wizard program automatically closes itself and opens up the your picture file. WARNING: All the pictures you just transferred over are selected, so DON’T HIT DELETE! Just click on one to select that one.

Congratulations!

You have just transferred your digital pictures to your camera. Now what do you do?

Keep watching Witchy Tech for lessons on sharing, editing, web publishing, and printing your photos.

Did you find this tutorial useful? Was something unclear? Please let me know by posting a comment.