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[OM] PhotoBook question

Subject: [OM] PhotoBook question
From: "Jon Mitchell" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:54:42 -0000
Hi Everyone,
 
I know this, or similar subject, has been raised in the past so I hope
you don't mind me re-asking.
 
I am trying to put together a Photo Book.  Nothing fancy, nothing too
special.  Basically, it seemed like a good idea and easier than getting
my digital shots printed, buying an album, sticking them in, etc..
 
So first port of call was Photobox.co.uk - as that's where I get prints
done and they seem good.  They do a "PhotoBook" option and it seems OK.
So I go to the website and try to design/build a Photobook from the
images I have uploaded.  Major problem is that it is VERY limited on
page layout.  Image sizes are I think 6"x4.5" (not 6"x4" anyway), or
square.  So all the shots I have that are 6"x4" are getting cropped by
the program they use.  I want to tell them to not crop, but just give it
a transparent border, if you see what I mean.  Can I do this ?  Can I
****.  And when I want 3x Portrait shots in a line on a page, there
isn't an option for this.  Sure, I can have 3x square shots, with a
whole load of empty page underneath and above - I just can't have 3x
portrait shots.  And as for any other combination portrait / landscape /
square shots - forget it.
 
So, next stop - switch to my other computer, a mac (yes, for all those
who argue which is better I have both 'cos I just can't decide :-P ).
iPhoto should do it, or so I thought.  iPhoto has a few nice features -
and it does the first bit I want which is to allow me to fit the full
picture in without cropping it (even if I have cropped the image to some
weird non-standard size).  However, iPhoto seems even more limited than
PhotoBox with page layouts.  And only one style has black pages - and it
is EXTREMELY limited in layout.  So I gave it a go anyway, and it is
more promising than Photobox - but Apple seems to have taken a leaf out
of MicroSoft's book here - it keeps thinking it knows better than I do
what I want it to do.  Drag a particular shape or size of photo into one
of the boxes and it re-arranges the whole page.  Even more frustrating
is that although it seems capable of re-arranging the entire page layout
randomly, according to it's "I know best" mentality, there is no way for
me to move the photos around and create my own layout design.
 
FFS, it can't be this hard.  I know what I want, where I want it.  All I
want to do is click and drag.  We put a man on the f***ing moon nearly
40 years ago (apparently - I wasn't there !), so I really can't see how
this is beyond the wit of man.
 
Anyone got any alternative suggestions ?  Where to go ?  Websites ?  I
am using iPhoto 5 - is this much improved on later versions ?  I don't
have enough time in my life to deal with this cr*p - I just want a
computer program that does what I want without me spending hours
fighting the damn thing.
 
All help gratefully received, before I go more insane.
 
Thanks,
 
Jon
 


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