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Q: How do I use Shutterfly’s online cropping tool?

A: Shutterfly offers two cropping options to help you get the best prints from your images: EasyCrop and Custom Crop.

Our EasyCrop system is designed to help you avoid undesired cropping. Unlike traditional cropping methods that subtract from your selected print area, EasyCrop allows you to select an area that will be printed no matter what print size you choose. Customers also have the option of cropping their images to a specific print size. By selecting this cropping option, your selected print size will be printed fully - without a border or padding.

To begin using our EasyCrop tool, click the green ‘View & enhance’ button and navigate to a picture. (You can also navigate to the picture when you are in other parts of your account, such as ‘Share online’ and ‘Order prints’.) Then click the green crop tab on the right.

Once on our cropping page, you will see your selected image with EasyCrop automatically applied. The selected print area will be printed no matter what print size you select. To see how your image will be printed, click on ‘Print Preview’ and then click on the desired print size. Click on the ‘Return to Crop’ link to return to the cropping page.

To adjust the crop area, click on a corner of the image and drag it to the desired size. To move the crop area, click in the middle of the image and drag it to the desired location.

To crop your image to a specific print size, first select the print size you would like. Once the you have selected the print size, you can then adjust the cropping for the image and preview how it will be printed.

Custom Crop allows you to crop your image to any size or shape. Your selection will be printed in its entirety with a simple white border added as padding. You can change the padding style by clicking on our ‘Borders’ tab and selecting one of our Simple borders. Since the Custom Crop option uses simple borders to pad the image, you will default back to the EasyCrop if you apply one of our decorative borders to your picture or select the ‘Trim my picture to make my border an even width’ option.

Please note: excessive cropping will reduce image quality.

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Q: Why are pictures cropped?

A: The shape of your image (also known as the aspect ratio, or the ratio of width to height) is not always the same as the print size you want. Therefore, to make your image fit the paper size, some trimming has to occur. For example, images from a digital camera are more square than a 4??6 print, so some of the ‘height’ of the picture must be trimmed when the image is printed.

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Q: What is ‘EasyCrop’?

A: Shutterfly’s breakthrough EasyCrop technology makes it simple to get the results you want. Our EasyCrop system ensures your selected print area will be printed on any print size you choose. Unlike traditional cropping methods that subtract from your selected print area, EasyCrop automatically adds more of your image to fit the size chosen.

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Q: What is ‘Custom Crop’?

A: Custom Crop allows you to crop your image to any shape you desire. Your selected area will be printed in its entirety, with a simple white border added to pad the image. All images with Custom Cropping will be printed with padding. You can change the padding style by going to our ‘Borders’ section and choosing one of the simple borders offered there. Please note that excessive cropping will reduce image quality.

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Q: Can I crop my image to a specific print size?

A: Yes, Shutterfly does offer this cropping option. This will allow customers to crop their image to a desired print size and have the image printed without a border or padding.

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Q: How do I know what my print will look like?

A: Click ‘Print Preview’ to see how your image will print. Be sure to check each print size you plan to order, as cropping will vary for each size.

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Q: Can I crop the same picture differently for each print size?

A: If you are using EasyCrop, the selected area will be printed on all print sizes we offer. However you can choose different cropping if you wish. Select the cropping you desire for the image and add it to your cart. Once you have added that image you can go back to your album, re-crop the image and add the new version to your cart.

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Q: How do I change the size of the selected area?

A: To change the selected area, click on the corner of the image and drag it to the preferred image size. Please note that excessive cropping will reduce the quality of the image.

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Q: How do I move the selected crop area?

A: To move the selected area, click in the center of the selected area and drag it to the desired location.

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Q: Why am I getting a border on my images?

A: There are two situations where borders will be automatically added to your prints. Our system adds a simple white border to your image when you choose Custom Crop or when the shape of your image will result in an image loss of 20% or more if printed without borders. For example, square and panoramic images are always padded with simple white borders to avoid excessive cropping.

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Q: I selected Custom Crop with even borders, and it changed my crop area. Why?

A: When you select even borders, we automatically change your crop option to EasyCrop. Our Custom Crop option uses borders as padding to ensure your selected print area is printed in its entirety. Some automatic cropping is necessary in order to have even borders, so the Custom Crop option can no longer apply.

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Q: Can I select decorative borders instead of simple borders when using Custom Crop?

A: Our Custom Crop option uses simple borders as padding to ensure your selected print area is printed in its entirety. Our decorative borders require some automatic cropping, so they are only compatible with our EasyCrop option.

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