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Edit pictures

When you get a closer look at your pictures, what sort of fixes and enhancements need to be made? Perhaps some were taken using a flash, and the subjects have a case of “red eye.” Maybe a few of them could use cropping to remove some distracting objects in the background. Others might benefit from a soft-focus effect, or you may wish to add a border to make your prints look more stylish.

Select the pictures you’d like to edit by clicking on a thumbnail until an orange box appears around it. To de-select, click the check mark in the upper-left of the thumbnail.

If you’d like to make enhancements to every picture in the album, select “all” at the top of the main work area. Select “none” to remove checks from every image.

Next, go to the “Edit” pulldown menu in the upper-left corner of the workspace and select one of the bottom four options. You’ll notice there are two arrows on the right side of the page. Click on these to scroll forwards and backwards through the series of selected pictures.

Crop picture
To crop, roll over the the boundary box in the center of the picture until the arrow icon appears. Click and hold on any of the edges or corners, then drag your mouse up, down, left or right to see what effect it has on the crop. Click-and-drag inside the boundary lines to adjust the center point of the cropped image. You can also change the crop shape using the options under the “Crop” tab on the left. Move from “EasyCrop” to “4x6”, “5x7”, “8x10” or the two orientations, to see the difference. Select the “Custom Crop Tool” link for Free Crop or Square Crop.

To see how your crop looks, click the “Print Preview” button below the large thumbnail. Remember, you can always choose the “Revert to original” link on the right side of the page to undo the changes.

Apply borders
You can add any of more than 500 borders to your pictures, including ones specifically created for baby, birthday and wedding images. Click “Apply borders” from the Edit pulldown menu. The tab on the left will default to “Simple” style. Choose from white, black line, black, shadow box and blur borders, or choose a different style from the tab pulldown menu.

With “Simple” style, you can adjust the width of the borders and trim your picture to make the border an even width. With other styles selected, use the buttons at the bottom of the tab to zoom in and out on your picture, and use the arrows to place the image the way you want it.

Click the “Return to Album” button in the upper-left to lock in your border. If you’d like to apply the border you’ve chosen on any picture to other selected pictures in your album, click “Apply this border to this set of pictures” on the right. Undo any border by selecting “Revert to original.”

Apply effects
To add effects to your pictures, click “Apply effect” from the Edit pulldown menu. Your picture will be displayed in the default “No Effect” mode. Add an effect by clicking one from the tab—Black & White, Color tone (similar to sepia-tone), Saturate (which deepens the colors) or Soft Focus. Both Saturate and Soft Focus feature a control bar at the bottom of the tab which adjusts the intensity of the selected effect.

NOTE: Shutterfly uses exclusive VIVIDPICS® technology to improve color and sharpness automatically. If you’ve used photo editing software such as Photoshop on your pictures before uploading them to Shutterfly, be sure to check the box that says “Don’t apply automatic corrections to picture.”

Fix red-eye
To fix red-eye on your pictures, click “Fix red-eye” from the Edit pulldown menu. Move your cursor over the picture until you’re directly over the eye. Click once and you’ll notice a preview thumbnail of the eye in the “Fix” tab. Click directly over the red-eye in the preview and the red-eye should disappear. Select the “Save Fix” button right below the preview thumbnail to save the fix, or select “Cancel Fix” to undo it.

Rotate pictures
Sometimes you’ll notice that the orientation of a picture isn’t the way you’d like it to appear. To rotate a picture, mouse over the Rotate pulldown menu in the upper-right, and choose “Rotate left” (counterclockwise), “Rotate right” (clockwise) or “Rotate 180” (to flip). The picture is rotated automatically.

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