Frequently Asked Questions (Desktop Software ROES FAQs)

1. How long will my orders take and what mail service do you offer?
2. What is the difference between digital and conventional sizes?
3. What kind of format do you accept and what resolution should my images be?
4. What size prints can I order?
5. What kind of paper and equipment do you use?
6. Can I email the pictures that I wish to be printed?
7. Can you fix a print that is poorly taken?
8. What are photo enhancement, retouching and color matching?
9. Are transactions safe on the website?
10. How can I start placing my order?
11. Can I cancel my order after uploading is complete?
12. What is the maximum-sized print my camera can create?
13. Why is my picture cropped or contain white borders?
14. What monitor setting should I use?
15. Is that the more megapixels a camera has, the better the pictures (the megapixel myth)?
16. Do you ship internationally?
17. Do you charge an additional fee for international shipping?
18. Can I send pictures to PEphoto with my camera cell phone?
19. What are the soft cover photo books like?
20. How many photos do I need to make a photobook?
21. Can I place my photos order via Google Picasa or any other partners?
22. How many people can I share my online photo albums with?
23. How do I purchasing credit as a gift?
24. When I try to sign in, it says my email is used by someone, why?
25. Will my image ever be deleted by PEphoto/Lifepics?
26. Why my PEphoto order uploaded photo resolution is lower than my original?

1. How long will my orders take and what mail service do you offer?

It will take roughly 5-10 days for you to receive your order. We use United States Postal Service (USPS) to deliver the order to your doorsteps.

Please allow a few days for transit time. We offer UPS and FedEx shipment upon request, please contact us for prices. (see prices for shipping charge)

2. What is the difference between digital and conventional sizes?

Conventional sizes are the standard sizes that would have been printed from film. You should choose these sizes if you wish to place your pictures in the traditional frames or albums. Digital size prints have the same width-to-height ratio as most digital cameras (4x5.3"), which means that we would not have to crop down our image to avoid white borders.

3. What kind of format do you accept and what resolution should my images be?

We accept JPG, JPEG, GIF, TIF, TIFF and PNG file formats in sRGB or up color space with a recommended DPI of 300. Higher resolution images will result in higher quality print outs. We suggest the following resolutions for each print size. When naming your images, please avoid using special characters excluding hyphen (-) and underscore (_).

*Acp - Acceptable, *NR - Not Recommended

4. What size prints can I order?

Print sizes range from 3.5x5" to 50x165". We also offer passport size 2x2", wallet size 2.5x3.5", holiday/greeting/occasion cards in 4x6", 4x8", 5x7" and scrapbooks sizes in 8x8", 8x10", 10x10" 12x12", collages, magazine covers size 8x10" and creative borders sizes in 4x6" with envelopes, 5x7" and 8x10". (See Pricing)

5. What kind of paper and equipment do you use?

We use Kodak Edge paper in both lustre E surface and glossy F surface. For Endura or metallic paper. Please go to our Pro site. We print our enlargements on Kodak Professional Photo paper. We use the latest technology for digital photo printing and are partners with Imaging Solutions (FastPrint, FastsScan), Durst (Theta 76, Lambda), Poli, and Noritsu.

6. Can I email the pictures that I wish to be printed?

Yes, please contact us for details.

7. Can you fix a print that is poorly taken?

If you feel the pictures were taken poorly or might need some adjusting, we do offer order adjustments at an additional charge, depending on the degree of adjustments.(See photo enhancement for details). For touch ups, we charge according to the degree of touch up needed (how old or damaged the photo is). Starting with $35 per hour (1 hour minimum)

8. What are photo enhancement, retouching and color matching?

We provide manual photo enhancement and retouching at an additional cost. We have experienced technicians to adjust photo saturation, sharper, skin tone, spot, brightness, contrast, color balance, and intensity to improve the accuracy of your photo's quality.

In additions, we provide color profile matching service for professional photographers. For a picture that is embedded with color profile, we can tune our printer specifically for that particular color profile to obtain the best possible color print.

Extra charges apply for Photo Enhancement and Color profile matching. Please refer to our pricing section. If you would like this professional services added, please following the instructions below.
a. Upload and confirm your order through our PEphoto software.
b. Contact us immediately stating your order number and photo enhancement / color profile matching details.
c. We will contact you for pricing and payment information.

9. Are transactions safe on the website?

Orders placed through our free photo software are protected by VeriSign online-fraud-protection in order to protect our customers' privacy. Under no circumstances do we use customer information or images for any purpose other than printing.

10. How can I start placing my order?

We'll make it easy for you. Just go to Upload Photo & Place Order Now!

11. Can I cancel my order after uploading is complete?

Yes, but you MUST notify us via email or phone within one hour after the order is complete. We will be unable to issue a refund after that since your order will already be in process.

12. What is the maximum-sized print my camera can create?

If you are taking pictures at your cameras maximum setting, the following table will show you what the typical maximum photo pixels setting will be for your photos. Recommended print sizes are based on 254 ppi (pixels-per-inch) printer resolution.

* Lowering your resolution will not increase the maximum print size

13. Why is my picture cropped or contain white borders?

This is a standard practice in the photo finishing industry. This is due to differences between the shape of most digital images (4x5.3") and the shape of standard print sizes (like 4x6", 5x7", and 8x10").

The height and width of most digital images differ from the height and width of the print sizes we offer. Most digital cameras produce images that are slightly more square than a 4x6", so that they fit better on computer monitors. They are more rectangular than an 8x10" though. This makes it impossible to print the entire image without cropping it or padding it with a white border.

We have two options for you to choose from when the image size does not fit on the specific paper size. The image below will pop-up when you start our software. Please follow the instructions below.

Original image:

14. What kind of monitor and setting should I use?

Our site and software are designed for optimal use at screen resolution 1024x768 and best viewed in Internet Explorer 6.0, Firefox 2.0 and above on PC, or Safari 2.0.04 and above on Mac. AOL will work on most parts of the site, but there may be instances when AOL and Firefox does not work properly with the photo book engine.

15. Is that the more megapixels a camera has, the better the pictures (the megapixel myth)?

5 megapixels camera is good enough for most people, as Bill Gates once said "640K of RAM ought to be enough for anybody." [NY Times tech writer David Pogue, 2007]

16. Do you ship internationally?

Yes, however it is only available via FTP and postal mail orders.

17. Do you charge an additional fee for international shipping?

Yes, when you choose FedEx or UPS to deliver, Brokerage and Custom Duty Fees may apply.

18. Can I send pictures to PEphoto with my camera cell phone?

Yes log in to your account and create a Personal I.D. number (PIN) and add the email to your account by clicking My Account and Add Photos via Email. Click here for details.

Then send pictures to add@lifepics.com from your camera phone and your "PIN" in the Subject field. PEphoto will add those pictures directly to your account (album).

19. What are the soft cover photo books like?

The soft cover photo book is comprised of premium 12 point / 80# coated cover stock paper. We provide a transparent plastic cover for the photo book for protection and a black cardboard back to protect the photos. The soft cover photo books are conveniently sized for handling and taking with you from place to place, or as thoughtful gifts to love ones. If you prefer a heavier more substantial feeling for your photo book, the hard cover is a better alternative to the lighter, soft cover version.

20. How many photos do I need to make a photobook?

We recommended 20 images for a 20 pages photobook of 1 image per page layout; 39 images for a 20 pages photobook of 2 images per page or random layout; 58 images for a 20 pages photobook of 3 images per page layout. However, you can add as many photos to a page as physically possible. You may also choose a combination of photo and text pages and text-only pages.

21. Can I place my photos order via Google Picasa or any other partners?

Yes, if you use Picasa, you can print directly to us via our partner- Lifepics. You can download Picasa from Google at http://picasa.google.com. In additional, if you use Microsoft Windows Vista operation system, you can also print directly to us via the pre-installed program. Do not forget that you also can use your Verizon Wireless to upload your images to us.

22. How many people can I share my online photo albums with?

Please review this page for more information about sharing your pictures http://www.pephoto.com/free/free%20invite%20&%20share.php. Please keep in mind that if you have placed an order less than $10, you can share your albums with up to 20 people in 24 hours. If your accumulated orders are over $10, you can share with an unlimited number of people.

23. How do I purchasing credit as a gift?

If the recipient has an account with us, we need his or her username (email), dollar mount for credit and your credit card. Your credit card will be charged, and the recipient to whom the credit is being issued to will receive the specified amount of credit within an hour.

Please note: the recipient must have a PEphoto account.

You will receive an email confirmation from us shortly after we charge your credit card. You may request an email notification of the purchasing credits for the recipient.

24. When I try to sign in, it says my email is used by someone, why?

It is because you have registered with us or another Lifepics site before.

25. Will my image ever be deleted by PEphoto/Lifepics?

If your online account is inactive for a period of over 6 months, PEphoto and Lifepics may remove and discard any Content, including all information, communications, postings, albums, image files or any other content within the Service. Prior to the removal, PEphoto and/or Lifepics will attempt to contact you via e-mail to notify you of your account status and of the pending expiration of your images based on inactivity.

26. Why my PEphoto order uploaded photo resolution is lower than my original?

If you upload on a Mac, there was a possibility that you are not upload the full resolution image. Most new Mac computers have two different folders with the same image. One folder holds the thumbnail for quick and easy viewing on their computer, and the other folder holds the original, high resolution image. Please follow these instructions to upload the high resolution images: After you create an album in iPhoto, create an album that you want to upload > Login to your online account > Add Photos. You may be asked if you want to "Trust" a program from "LifePics" or "Aurigma" > Trust and wait for the uploader applet to load. Once the applet is loaded, navigate to the Originals folder. To get there go to Pictures > iPhoto Library > Originals. Then click on the year that the images were taken, and then find the album where your photos are located. Use the checkboxes to select what photos you want to upload > send and your pictures will be uploaded to our site.