A. Choose a photo

1. Click any album. This opens a group thumbnails of the photos in the album.
2. Pick multiple photos at this level by clicking on the checkbox under each thumbnail OR click on any picture to make that picture bigger. Clicking on the big picture takes you back again to the thumbnail view.
3. Please note if you are clicking on the checkbox under each thumbnail, you will need to do this page by page. Select all photos you want on one page and then click prints, select qty and add to cart. Then you will need to do this for the next page in the album and so on.

B. Choose the product you want

dotPhoto's products are under the Shop menu on the left side of virtually every page.

1. If you do not see a list of products, click on the word Shop on the left menu.
2. To order prints, click on the word Prints. To order other items, click on the word Posters or Books, etc. Not all products fit into this list: click on Browse store to view more products, then put your mouse over View all to see the entire list of dotPhoto products.
3. If you are ordering prints, select the size you want by entering the quantity. If you want more than the quantity in the form, you can change the quantity later in the cart to up to 999.
4. Some products like cards, calendars and posters require some design activity in the Gift Wizard. Typing the name of the product (Yearbook, luggage tag, poster, calendar, etc.) into dotPhoto's Help system will provide special information that may help with each item. For many items, what you see is what you will get, so, if you do not like what you see, do not place the order.

C. Finish adding items and go to your cart. Adjust quantities, sizes and other attributes.

1. You can add many photos and types of products to your cart. When you are ready, go to your cart by clicking on the word cart at the top of the page. You can leave the cart at any time to choose more products.
2. If you order multiple print sizes of the same photo, all sizes will appear under the same picture.
3. If you change anything in your cart, click on any Update Cart button to register the change on dotPhoto.
4. IMPORTANT CROPPING NOTE! Check the cropping on your prints by putting your mouse cursor over the question mark next to word crop that is to the right of each photo. Cropping can cut off part of a photo; uncropped photos will always provide the entire image, but may add white space on either side of the print. If you change the cropping on a photo, click on the Update Cart button. It is a geometric impossibility to put an entire narrow image on an entire, nearly square 8x10 print, or to put an entire square image on an entire oblong 4x6 print, so the correct cropping decision is very important. Fortunately, placing your mouse on dotPhoto's cropping mark will show you exactly how your prints will appear either cropped or uncropped.
5. DISCOUNTS AND FREE PRINTS If you have print credits in your account, they will be deducted from the order subtotal in the upper right of the cart. Print credits do not apply to photos purchased from someone else's account. If you have a coupon code, enter it in the box under the subtotal. Only one coupon code can be applied to each order.

D. Ship the order

1. Click on the Proceed to Checkout button in the upper right corner of the cart.
2. On the next page, fill out the address form and click on Ship order button if you want to ship the order to your home, office or to a friend.

E. Pay for your order

dotPhoto accepts all major credit cards. Click on the Continue button after you have entered your credit card. If your credit card is not approved, you will receive an email with a link to correct or update the information.

F. Review and approve your order

1. On the final cart page, review all aspects of your order. You can still change anything in your cart until you place your order. Once your order is placed, it goes immediately into production and cannot be changed.
2. Click the check box at the bottom next to "I have reviewed the details of my order."
3. Click on the Place order button.

Tracking your order

dotPhoto immediately provides an order number and also confirms your order by email. Members can track orders by clicking on MyAccount at the top of any page, and choosing Order History under Order Tracking. Guests can click on Order Tracking at the bottom of any page. Orders that are shipped through the post office do not have tracking numbers. Orders that are marked "Failed" may have problems with a credit card or with bad images; please check your email for notices about failed orders or email dotPhoto at support@dotphoto.com

If you ordered your shipment via regular mail it can take 3-14 business days for delivery from the time of shipment. Overnight and 2-day delivery times do not begin until the order ships. If you order something today and pay for overnight delivery you may be lucky and receive it tomorrow, but do not count on it.

Digital image resolution is always expressed as pixels across by pixels down, such as 640 x 480, meaning 640 pixels across by 480 pixels down. Use the following chart as a guide for determining the best resolution for various print sizes.

The digital camera is the most important factor in determining quality of digital images. The greater the number of pixels, the higher the quality of the digital image. Some low-cost cameras give a set number of pixels and shoot only one resolution. Higher cost cameras offer a pixel range, which enables you to select the best resolution for the size image you want.

Cropping is trimming an image to make it the proper print size.

Typically, digital images are not the same shape as standard print sizes.  This means the images must be cropped to fill the print paper. dotPhoto automatically crops images to fit the print sizes we offer.  This is a common practice in the photo-finishing industry. 

When you select images for printing, dotPhoto automatically turns on cropping.  On your finished prints, your image will fill the entire print area.  If your image does not match the shape of the paper size you have chosen, the image is expanded until all parts of the paper are covered with image.  To enlarge your image and keep the aspect ratio of the image, dotPhoto must enlarge the image equally both horizonally and vertically. This may mean that we cut off parts of your photo to fill the entire paper.

dotPhoto crops images according to what is called Top Center Cropping.  Because most faces appear toward the top of a photo, our cropping window captures the area half way between the top edge and the center of the photo.  This ensures that more photos include the faces.

You can choose to turn off cropping for your prints.  If you select no cropping when you order prints, the image will not be cropped.  However, if the image does not exactly conform to the standard aspect ratios of the selected print size, there will be white borders on two sides of the finished print.  The amount of white space depends on how different the image's aspect ratio is from the print size. Please note all sides may not have the same amount of white space.

You can (and should) preview cropping before you order prints.

To see how your cropped image will look in any print size (4x6, 5x7, etc.) before placing your order:

1. Select photos for printing.
2. Click View Cart to open the Cart/Review page. For each photo size selected, dotPhoto enables you to turn off/on cropping.
3. To see how your photo will look, click Crop adjacent to any print size. The image is displayed with the print area outlined in red. 
4. To see how your photo will look in another print size, select a print size from the Print Size drop-down menu.

To turn off/on photo cropping for individual prints:

1. Select photos for printing.
2. Click View Cart to open the Cart/Review page.
3. For each image, click the Crop checkbox adjacent to the photo size you want.  A check mark next to Crop means cropping is selected for that print size; an empty checkbox means cropping is turned off.

dotPhoto offers many tools for uploading photos to your dotPhoto account. Please mkake sure all images are jpeg files 8 MB or smaller

1. Log in to your dotPhoto account.
2. Click Add.
3. Click Photos.
4. Choose an upload method, select photos and upload them. Look below for further help about any dotPhoto upload methods.

Flash Uploader: Our easiest and most recommended uploader! The Flash uploader works with virtually all operating systems and browsers on all computers that can run Adobe Flash. Flash installation is required.

JAVA Multi-File (Advanced): For PC or Mac. Requires Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later running on Microsoft Windows, or Safari 2.0 or later running on Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later. Your security software must permit pop-ups and installation of an ActiveX application.

Email from your Camera Phone: Virtually any phone that is enabled for email and picture messaging can upload photos (and video) to your dotPhoto account.

File-by-File: Use our pure online tool to match photos with sound files loading ten at one time.

When you upload a photo to your dotPhoto account, the photo is translated into a thumbnail and a display image, and the original photo is stored for printing. The original photo is not accessible from the dotPhoto site except as a download. To download the original photo, use the Download tool.

1. Log in to your dotPhoto account.
2. Open the album containing the photos you want to download to your computer.
3. Check the box under the photo(s) you want to download.
4. Click Organize.
5. Click Download.
6. The photos you selected are displayed.
7. Click Download Photos and the selected photos are downloaded to your computer.

• The download tool requires the installation of Java, a popular computer language, on your computer, which you can download free here: java.com
• Overly aggressive Anti-Virus software downloading files is an attempt to take files from the Internet and put them on your computer. Of course, these are your own files that you want on your computer, but some Anti-Virus software may interfere with that process, so you may want to temporarily reduce or turn off your security. Don't forget to turn it back it on!
• Pop-up blockers may prevent the download window from opening. Turn off your pop-up blockers in your browser. If your browser is "gummed up," you may want to try a different browser for this function. For instance: Foxfire
• If you're using Windows Vista, change the settings in your browser noted below.
• Files will not download if they are corrupted. This may happen to one or two files, but, in our experience, not to tens of files. If you are having trouble with one file, but others will download, it is a file problem, not a download problem.
• Some computers have trouble downloading files because of their unique combination of operating system, security, Java version (or lack of java), pop-up blockers or other attributes external to dotPhoto. We are sorry, but, if the suggestions here do not allow you to download, we cannot offer further help. However, dotPhoto does provide a CD-purchase option to which you can load hundreds of photos from your site.

In your browser, click on Tools | Internet Options | the Security Tab | Trusted Sites Sites | the Sites button...

... click OFF the check box "Require server verification", and add www.dotphoto.com both as http:// and https://

Guests to an account cannot download photos because photos are the property of the account holder. However, guests can often buy a download of an image, but that option is not available if the photographer does not want to sell the download.

Downloading hint: Paid membership accounts can download an entire album at a time (up to 250 photos). Free accounts are limited to one page of one album at a time.

Many professional photographers use dotPhoto to post photos from the events that they cover. Please contact the photographer directly if you are having trouble finding the photos that you expected him to post.

If you can't find a photo that you had previously seen on dotPhoto it is possible that the photographer removed it from the site. Again, please contact the photographer directly to see if he can upload it again for you.

Consumers

The dotPhoto service is free to join and free for the first year. After the first year, the service is free for customers who order at least $45 a year. We will remind you within two months of your anniversary date that you can maintain your free status by meeting the annual purchase minimum. Otherwise, you can maintain the account for only $20 per year. Accounts with fewer than 50 photos are free.

Professionals

The dotPhoto Pro service is free to join and free for the first year. After the first year, the service is free for professionals who sell at least $400 a year. We will remind you within two months of your anniversary date that you can maintain your free status by meeting the annual sales minimum. Otherwise, a $20 annual maintenance fee will be deducted from your commissions or charged to your credit card. Accounts with fewer than 50 photos are free.

Abandoned accounts

dotPhoto will never erase your photos. Accounts that no one has visited for a year or that do not pay a maintenance fee are deemed abandoned, and saved in secondary storage. Photos can be retrieved from secondary storage for a fee depending on the length of time the photos were stored and the number and size of the photos.

Your account has been inactive for about 2 years. Our grace period,for upgrading to the Club Membership in order to retain the account, has ended last October 2009. Since you did not purchase a membership in the allotted time and we no longer have access to our old storage systems, your account has been deleted.

In order to inform you of your dotPhoto Account status we communicated to you as follows:

• In the month of September 2009 we sent you 3 warning e-mails.
• All notifications were sent to the e-mail address listed on your account (typically the e-mail address you entered when joining dotPhoto ).
• As part of the terms and conditions you agreed to when signing up, you are required to keep a valid email address on your account. We require this because it is the only way we can communicate with you about your account status.
• Also, in every email communication we send you, we outline how to insure emails from dotPhoto do not wind up in your Spam filter. We also have a viewable FAQ on our site outlining this.
• The 3 emails we sent you let know about the updated terms and conditions of dotPhoto. Because no purchase was made from your account in the last two years, a membership was required to maintain your account.

Your account was not upgraded by Sept. 30th 2009 as outlined in the emails or by the end of the extended grace period and your account is now inactive and non-recoverable.