Some Tips -- avoid the most common mistakes        

1. Avoid older PDF-creation software. PDF-creation software prior to about 2008 contained a serious bug. The files would rasterize (convert from PDF to a form usable by other software) fine when creating small files, but would drop characters and parts of characters when creating large files suitable for large prints.

2. If you've cropped your files, check the edges at 100% magnification. Sometimes if the cropping is not exactly what you think it is, there can be glitches at an edge which are more obvious in a large print.

3. When you take your pictures, think about noise. With even a medium-priced digital camera, you can take shots at high ISO settings in low light, with good depth of field, and fast shutter speeds and get fairly good looking results, provided you don't make a large print from the file. The noise that accompanies high ISO settings is only slightly visible in small prints. It's very visible in large prints, and can make an otherwise excellent print look awful. If you plan to make a large print, try to use the lowest ISO setting possible.
4. Don't try to solve the problem of your image not having enough megapixels by expanding the file size, unless you're using a program which actually looks at the image and intelligently adds detail in the interpolated pixels. Genuine Fractals does that, but most other programs add no detail in the interpolated pixels.

5. Don't depend on us to edit your files. Many photofinishers use automatic or manual adjustments to "spiff up" the prints. Our approach is to depend on you to make your files exactly what you want. If your file is vivid, we'll send you a vivid print. If your file is drab, we'll print drab, because we assume that that's what you want (and usually that is the case). We provide on-line tools to help you adjust color, if you wish to use those.

6. Don't put crop marks in your image. We'll ignore them, and they'll appear on your print. Cutting is determined by what you specify at the time you order, not by any marks within the file.

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