Grandparently Grandparents and Grandchildren 
Photo sharing for grandparents and grandchildren
Our first review in the series of photo sharing options for grandparents is Shutterfly one of the oldest, most popular and most trusted photo sharing sites. It’s known for its high quality and usability. One of the great things about it is that you get unlimited storage for absolutely free. Shutterfly can do this because it makes its money from prints and customizable gifts that users order through the site.
Editing – 7/10
Shutterfly’s editing features are very good and very easy to use. There are 20 editing tools that include cropping, centering, rotating, removing red-eye, and adjusting colors and sharpness. There are over 500 borders to choose from, many with themes such as weddings or babies, as well as effects. You can also write your own personal message as a caption. All of this is done with simple drop-down menus and icons.
Shutterfly doesn’t offer the wide array of editing features some other photo sharing sites offer. If you really want to customize and touch-up your images, you might want to use another one. But its 20 tools are completely sufficient for simply cleaning up photos and making minor improvements.
Features – 10/10
Shutterfly has a number of features to help you organize and find your photos, including keywords, tagging, albums, and more. But what makes it unique in the feature department is how it helps you design products. If you want to make a calendar, slideshow or photo album, Shutterfly is perfect.
Shutterfly offers more templates and borders for pictures than any other photo sharing site. Although you can use it just for storing and sharing, it was originally designed for creating real, offline photo albums. The albums it makes are sturdy and high-quality.
As you design your book or product, it offers previews every step along the way. If it detects something wrong with a photo or with your layout, it will automatically bring this to your attention. This is really great if it’s your first time making a calendar or other product using a photo sharing site like this.
For designing projects, there are many options for each project. If you’re making a calendar, for example, you can choose which month to start on, which holidays to include (including birthdays, anniversaries, etc.), and other things. You can even include images for certain days rather than only months.
When you order prints with Shutterfly, you can choose for them to send them to you or you can pick them up at Walgreens or Target.
Ease of Use – 10/10
Shutterfly is very easy to use with plenty of drop-down menus and icons. There are clear buttons for every function and if you’re not sure what a button does, just hover over it and it’ll tell you. A beginner to desktop photo editing or photo projects will have no problem using this service. It only takes a few steps to create a photo album.
The site has plenty of FAQs and tutorials available. There is also help available by phone or email, although it’s not 24-hour.
When working on a project, like a photo album or calendar, there are different skill levels you can choose. The beginning level is more basic but easier to make if it’s your first time. The Custom level is more advanced.
Sharing – 10/10
You can quickly and easily share photos from Shutterfly via email or post them on Facebook. However, they don’t have print-quality resolution. With a Shutterfly Share Site, you can share with selected individuals and the photos you download are high resolution.
Share Sites are personal websites users create based around a certain theme, such as family, events, celebrations, and so on. Share Sites can be made public or private, and you can share other content on them besides photos such as videos, calendars, polls and forums. These sites can be used as a hub for your family.
Mobile apps allow you to automatically upload the photos you take on your mobile device to Shutterfly, as well as download from the site. A project can also be exported as a PDF file.
Privacy – 10/10
Shutterfly gives you total privacy control. As mentioned before, photos can be shared via email or on private Share Sites. Share Sites are password protected and you can decide who has access to the images there.
Shutterfly Summary
Pros:
- Free unlimited storage
- Easy to use
- Great for making projects like photo albums or goods
- Share Sites offer a convenient hub for your family
Cons:
- You need an account to view and download photos
- Shutterfly’s prints and projects are slightly higher than some other photo sharing sites, but they’re high quality is guaranteed and they offer many options (the basic service is free).
Shutterfly is great for just storing and sharing pics, and has many editing features. It’s most highly recommended for folks who want to not only download photos, but make actual prints and photo albums. The site’s photo albums are excellent and easy to make with just a few clicks. It’s much easier than assembling a photo album yourself the old-fashioned way.
Official Site: Shutterfly.com
