ThReE WaYs tO PriNt DiGiTal PhoToS

A great picture is even better when you can share it with others. And despite all the fancy things you can do with digital images, printing is still one of the top ways to share photos. You have three main options for printing: A home printer, a store kiosk (a do-it-yourself machine in a drugstore or department store), or through an online photo service.

Print at home

Printing at home is cheap and long-lasting if you use the right printer, ink, and paper. A 4×6 print will typically cost between 25 and 50 cents, depending on the printer and the ink. Of course that doesn’t include the cost of the printer or user error. Be sure to read printer reviews to get an idea of how often you’ll need to replace the ink cartridge.

Print at a store kiosk

Store kiosks are convenient, and they let you do a lot of basic editing right on the spot (cropping, adjusting brightness, removing red-eye, etc). If you shop around, you can find stores that let you create 4×6 prints for well under 50 cents each. These do-it-yourself machines are a good alternative if you’re not in the mood for the care and feeding of your own photo printer.

Online printing services

Online print services such as Webshots, Shutterfly, SnapFish, Kodak EasyShare Gallery, and many others are often the least expensive and can give great-looking prints. However, like the good old days, you’ll have to wait to see the results. But that’s fine when you’re printing a large number of images—for instance, all your vacation photos.

Do your image editing at home on your computer first, then bring a CD of your edited files to the kiosk. That way, you don’t have to sit in a store making edits while others might be waiting. You just pop in your CD and fire away!

SiX GrEaT PhoTo TiPs

1. Naming photo files: In general, when you use numbers you can automatically sort the files in order, where dates written out won’t sort.
2. Photographing moving people: Try following them with the camera so you actually move the camera with them. Take the shot as you move and keep moving until it’s all done. That way you should get the person nicely sharp and the background nicely blurred.
   


3. Be wary of deleting images in the camera. Something that looks like it’s a terrible shot in the camera, when opened may have some artistic merit. If you’re interested in the artistic possibilities, I’d wait and cull on the larger computer screen where you can more accurately assess what sort of shot you have.
4. View pictures, don’t save: Every time you save a file as a JPEG format image, you permanently lose some quality. Just opening and viewing it doesn’t do that, but saving will compromise quality.
5. Best size for e-mailing photos: For e-mailing, I suggest 800 x 600 is the best maximum size. For printing, you need a lot more image. I like to resize the image to a resolution of 300 dpi and then adjust the size in inches to the final print size. Your photo software will have a tool for resizing images.
6. Photo backups: When you downsize a photo you’re going to permanently lose that data so consider using CDs or DVDs to back up your photos. When you do that, make a couple of copies to CD or DVD just in case a disk fails. Also, buy good quality disks from a reputable manufacturer.

AdObE TaCklEs RiSkY HoleS in AcRoBaT, ReAder

update Adobe Systems has issued updates to fix security flaws in its Reader and Acrobat software that could allow an attacker to remotely commandeer a computer.

The vulnerabilities affect Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat Standard, Professional and Elements versions 7.0.8 and earlier, as well as Adobe Acrobat 3D, Adobe said in its advisory. Secunia rated the Reader flaw as "highly critical."

The version 7.0.9 updates issued Tuesday are designed to address holes that could allow outsiders to gain access to hard-disk drives via a malicious link that targets PDF files on vulnerable computers.

The attackers could then take the compromised system and read and delete files, execute programs and forward information from the computer.

Adobe recommends that Reader users upgrade to Reader 8, the most recent major version, to fix the problem. Those whose computer systems are not compatible, or who do not want to move to version 8 can install Tuesday's 7.0.9 version instead.

That means people will have to do a full installation of a software version to protect their computers. Typically, companies will provide a patch to fix security holes--a less time-consuming process--but Adobe has not done that in this case.

The 7.0.9 update is slightly larger than a patch, an Adobe representative said. The company was already working on the update when it added the security features, so Adobe was able to get out a full installation faster than it would for just a patch, the representative added.

Technorati Profile

AdObE PoRtAblE DoCuMenT FoRmAt

Invented by Adobe Systems and perfected over 15 years, Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) lets you capture and view robust information—from any application, on any computer system—and share it with anyone around the world. Individuals, businesses, and government agencies everywhere trust and rely on Adobe® PDF to communicate their ideas and vision.

Open format—De facto standard for more secure, dependable electronic information exchange—recognized by industries and governments around the world. Compliant with industry standards including PDF/A, PDF/X, and PDF/E.

As of January, 2007, Adobe is working with an ISO Technical Committee to submit PDF 1.7 to ISO for approval as a formal, open standard, named ISO 32000. ISO 32000 will be maintained and further developed by this technical committee with the objective of protecting the integrity and longevity of PDF. This will provide a formal, open standard for the billion+ PDF files in existence today.

Multiplatform — Viewable and printable on any platform — Macintosh, Microsoft® Windows®, UNIX®, and many mobile platforms.

Extensible — More than 1,800 vendors worldwide offer PDF-based solutions including creation, plug-in, consulting, training, and support tools.

Trusted and reliable — More than 200 million PDF documents on the web today serve as evidence of the number of organizations that rely on Adobe PDF to capture information.

Maintain information integrity — Adobe PDF files look exactly like original documents and preserve source file information — text, drawings, 3D, full-color graphics, photos, and even business logic — regardless of the application used to create them.

Keep information secure — Digitally sign or password-protect Adobe PDF documents created with Adobe Acrobat® 8 or Adobe LiveCycle™ software.

Searchable — Leverage full-text search features to locate words, bookmarks, and data fields in documents.

Accessible — Adobe PDF documents work with assistive technology to help make information accessible to people with disabilities.

Help with Opening PDF Files

Some of the resources on Education Place are PDF (Portable Document Format) which offer higher-quality printouts rather than standard HTML pages. To open these files, you will need Adobe Reader software on Macintosh OS 8/9 or Windows systems. Additionally, you can open PDF files with Preview on Macintosh OS X. If you do not have Adobe Reader already installed on your computer, you can download the installer and instructions free from the Adobe Web site.
Get Adobe Reader

* Using Adobe Reader with Internet Explorer or Netscape on Windows
* Using Adobe Reader 6.0 with Internet Explorer or Netscape on Macintosh OS X
* Using Preview with Safari on Macintosh OS X
* Using Adobe Reader 5. X with Internet Explorer on Macintosh OS 8 or OS 9

Using Adobe Reader with Internet Explorer or Netscape on Windows

* Intel or Pentium process
* Windows 98 SE, ME, NT 4.0 SP6, 2000 SP2, XP Professional or Home Edition
* 32MB RAM (64 recommended)
* 60MB of hard-disk space
* Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6.X or Netscape 7.1

To download and install Adobe Reader, click the “Get Adobe Reader” button and follow the instructions on the Adobe Reader’s download site. To learn more about configuring Internet Explorer to display PDF files with Adobe Reader, please refer to Adobe Reader Support.

If you are using older versions of both Adobe Reader and Internet Explorer on Windows and you have experienced some difficulty displaying PDF files in your browser, please refer to Microsoft Support Site or get help from Adobe Reader Support.
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Using Adobe Reader 6.0 with Internet Explorer and Netscape on Macintosh OS X

* PowerPC G3 process or higher
* Mac OS X (version 10.2.2 to 10.3.5)
* 128MB RAM
* Internet Explorer 5.2.3 or Netscape 7.1

Click the “Get Adobe Reader” button to download Reader. A Reader disc image will be downloaded to your hard drive. The disc image contains an Adobe Reader 6.0 folder. Copy or drag the Adobe Reader 6.0 folder to your hard drive. Then locate a PDF document and select Get Info in the File menu. In the Info window, click the tab: Open with. Use the dropdown menu to select Adobe Reader 6.0. Also click on: Change All… to allow Adobe Reader to open all PDF documents.

Please refer to Adobe Reader’s support site for more information on Adobe Reader Support.
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Using Preview with Safari on Macintosh OS X

* PowerPC G3 process or higher
* Mac OS X (version 10.3)
* 128MB RAM
* Safari 1.2

Preview is an application on OS X that allows you to view PDF files. Preview comes with OS X so you don not need to download it. When you click a PDF file, it will be downloaded to your computer and Preview will launch automatically and display the PDF file. If a PDF does not display in Preview, you can locate a PDF document and select Get Info in the File menu. In the Info window, click on tab: Open with. Use the drop-down menu to select Preview. Also click on: Change All… to allow Preview to open all PDF documents.
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Using Adobe Reader 5. X with Internet Explorer on Macintosh OS 8 or OS 9

* PowerPC process or higher
* Mac OS 8.6, 9.1 or OS X (version 10.2)
* 64MB RAM (128MB for OS X)
* Internet Explorer 5.1

To download Adobe Reader, click the “Get Adobe Reader” button and follow the instructions on the Adobe Reader’s download site to download and install Adobe Reader 5 on your Macintosh.
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Additional information about Adobe Reader, technical support, and installers for other platforms are available from Adobe.com.

Access.adobe.com also provides a set of free tools to help visually disabled users read documents in Adobe PDF format.