1. What does this service do for me?
2. What kind of software do I need to access this Service?
3. Where can I find a Lab close to me offering this Service?
4. What kind of picture can I upload?
5. What should I do to prepare images?
6. What should I do to print frames in my pictures?
7. How to do the best when adding text, frames or other design?
8. What is a compression warning?

1. What does this service do for me?
How would you like to have Digital Images printed on traditional Photographic paper?

This is exactly what MOTOPHOTO PICTUREWIRE does for you ! Today, if you want to print your Digital Image, you must use an InkJet printer, a Dye Sublimation printer or a Colour Laser printer. MOTOPHOTO PICTUREWIRE provides you a better solution: through a simple and automatic e-process, MOTOPHOTO PICTUREWIRE links you directly to your favourite MotoPhoto store.

2. What kind of software do I need to access this Service?
On this WEB site, you will find an application called MOTOPHOTO PICTUREWIRE which you can download. Once you very easily install this roughly 1.4 MB file, you will be lead through an easy intuitive process (WIZARD technology) to firstly select and prepare the images you want printed, and secondly push a button and let your PC do the rest, i.e. connect to the MotoPhoto store of your choice and upload your images so this lab can print the images you have sent to it.

3. Where can I find a Lab close to me offering this Service?
When you first run the MOTOPHOTO PICTUREWIRE application, you will be asked to enter your name, address, e-mail, and so forth... The next step will be to select a MotoPhoto store. At this point, the MOTOPHOTO PICTUREWIRE software will connect to a server that carry the latest up-to-date list of participating MotoPhoto stores. When you have made your selection, the MOTOPHOTO PICTUREWIRE application will get on-line the information from the lab. This is the software equivalent of getting the latest mail-order lab envelope.

4. What kind of picture can I upload?
You can print any computer images as long as we read the file format. In the release you can download now, we support JPEG, TIFF, BMP and FLASHPIX.

What about other files formats? As the MOTOPHOTO PICTUREWIRE application needs to be as small as possible to enable quick Internet download, each additional format would make the application bigger. Therefore, we have decided to include only the most popular file formats. Please keep in mind that not every image out of your PC will come out nicely. There may be problems with resolution or other. The MOTOPHOTO PICTUREWIRE application will alert you with a warning each time it may detect a possible deficiency in your picture.

5. What should I do to prepare images?
We should point out that a traditional Photographic print has a resolution that is superior to all current computer color print technologies. Therefore, it is necessary that the image you upload should have a sufficient number of pixels and colors.

Number of pixels: this is generally called resolution. The first generation of Digital Cameras, that are not sold anymore, carry a resolution of 320 x 200. Photos taken with such Cameras are great for WEB usage and other PC illustrations, but they are not adequate for printing on real photographic paper.

In order to produce a satisfactory photographic print, your Electronic Photo should have at least a resolution of 600 x 400 in its original size. You should also remember that photographic films have a specific rectangle ratio of 24 x 36, which corresponds to a width of 3 for an height of 2. In the PC world, the rectangle ratio is different: 640 x 480. This comes from the fact that PC"s are mostly screen dependent, and today these screens have this other ratio. This produces a difficulty when printing a computer based image to traditional photographic paper. Therefore, the MOTOPHOTO PICTUREWIRE application enables you to crop to a 2 x 3 ratio. If you select "Crop", you will be able get a print without any borders.

We should also mention that a 600 x 400 image has just enough resolution to print a of a 4" x 6" photo. You will notice that the MOTOPHOTO PICTUREWIRE application will warn you if you try to send an image that does not have enough resolution, still you will be able to bypass the warning and upload such an image, but the result will be a poor quality print in most of the cases.

6. What should I do to print frames in my pictures?
With any Image Editing Software you may be interested in composing some of your pictures with frames. Various machines used by photofinishers print differently, and the printing of the exact perimeter of your picture will vary from one photofinisher to the other, some cutting into the total picture and some others not. Should you be interested in printing frames around your pictures, make sure you put some white borders around the frame to ensure that the frame is printed in its entirety. Then you can trim the framed pictures at your end.

7. How to do the best when adding text, frames or other design?
When you add text, or a frame or any other design to your pictures, an unpleasant result may occur. The colours you may have chosen are such that on the print, they may spill over, out of the boundaries of your text or design. The trick to avoid this is to make sure you select blended colours, as opposed to purest colours, such as a full red, a full blue or a full black. When selecting colours, do not choose the most extreme colour, such as the fullest red, or the fullest blue, but the one that is a tone under. Should you want to fix values for RGB or Hues, select value that are at least 15 below their maximum (i.e. 240 vs. 255).

8. What is a compression warning?
Some models of digital cameras allow for a choice of a level of Quality. This is an option that is sometimes labeled as Low, Medium or High Quality. This refers to the level of compression of the picture. The simple rule is, the higher the quality (i.e. the level of the factor of compression), better the prints will be. Since there are so many variables in reaching an optimal result, the best recommendation we have is to tell you: don't compress too much. One thing you should note is that once you have compressed, there is no coming back. You cannot 'decompress' and recover the original look of your picture. Also, the compression factor is independent, from the resolution of your picture. When you compress, you don't reduce resolution, but simply intentionally deteriorate the picture. In any case your software will warn you if compression is too high.