You’ve done it, you’ve taken the PERFECT picture with your digital camera. Or maybe it wasn’t the perfect picture, but after some work in PhotoShop, it’s now the perfect picture. Now what?

Well, you can print it out, and there are several articles out there that will tell you what are good photo printers. But that’s rather boring. You also can use it as wallpaper or for a screensaver, you can put it on a web page somewhere, you can upload it to various services. But everybody does that. How about something…unique?

I’ve been framed

How about putting it in a picture frame on your desk? I’ve got the Sony CyberFrame. It uses a memory stick (meaning you’ll need an adapter for a memory stick unless you’ve got a Sony PC with a memory stick slot). On the memory stick can be photos (j-peg format) or even short movies (MPEG-1, with sound if desired but I always keep it tuned down).

You can have the frame show one picture until you choose the next, or you can choose a “slideshow” mode where it switches between pictures automatically.

It’s actually a very simple device, and it works. It’s not cheap ($899), but if you do a lot of digital photography and want to show off at the office, even the most clueless will know how to look at the picture. This product has been discontinued.

Ceiva Internet Frame

Ceiva has a different approach to an picture frame. Instead of inserting some sort of memory card into the device or directly hooking it up to your computer, it has a phone connection. Every night, it phones home and downloads any pictures that you have uploaded to the company’s server.

There are disadvantages to this—you have a continuing cost for the service ($3 per month if you're in a location they have a local phone number or $9 per month if you're not), and the frame does need to be connected to the phone with an outside phone line (difficult to put in most offices). But, it means you can update a frame just from your computer, no matter where it is. Anywhere in the U.S. So, if you’ve got parents who aren’t computer whizzes, you can give them one of these, and then you can upload pictures from your house on the east coast of the country and it shows up in their frame automatically on their house on the west coast.

VideoChip Wallet

VideoChip is selling a portable wallet for digital pictures for $349. 4.75" x 3.75", models available that use CompactFlash or SmartMedia. Apparently these are just starting to ship.

Of course, if you have a PDA with a color screen (like the Palm IIIc and PocketPC widgets from Casio and Compaq), you can download pictures to it and use it as a wallet

T-shirts, Hats, and Cookies

If you’re looking for that individual look in your T-shirts, what would be better than to wear your own artwork?

Hanes (yup, the T-shirt people) make a T-shirt maker for $49. You need an ink-jet printer to use it and some special paper that Hayes will sell you (how nice of them). The software will print the image backwards on this paper, which you can use as an iron-on T-shirt. It’s not limited to T-shirts, you also can put them on canvas tote bags or other types of cloth you can iron. You will need to be careful about washing your new creations, though.

If your concept of ironing is taking a multi-vitamin fortified with minerals, there are services that will put your image on various items. And it’s not just shirts, they also can put them on hats, mugs, and lots more.

NOTE: The follow websites are no longer in operation. Look for the revision of this page for current alternatives.

Picture The Possibilities also will put your picture on a collectors plate or Christmas ornament.

Pix.com will put your picture on cookies for you. Yes, someone has created a sort of ink-jet printer that puts out frosting, and these people will put your pictures on cookies. (Good-tasting cookies too). They’ll also make frosting that you can put on a cake.

Zing.com will make bookmarks and coasters for you.

1-2-3 Art will make a paint-by-numbers kit out of your digital photograph. (The web site doesn't mention digital phone calls, but I checked with them and they'll take accept those too. Got a young kid looking for a unique birthday present? Do you think a paint-by-numbers set of himself would make an impression?

I’ve barely scratched the surface here. Puzzles, decks of playing cards, you name it and someone probably will put your picture on it. There's a lot of duplication through the various sites, so look wide.

Conclusion

Digital photography is cool. Lots of great cameras, and the prices are dropping while the quality goes up. Even traditional photos can be scanned. Once in the computer, you can touch them up to remove minor flaws (or to have some fun he he he). And when you are done, the opportunity to share them with the world is unlimited. Go for it!

Donald Brown

Ceiva Internet connected Picture Frame $249
VideoChip Wallet $349
Hanes T-shirt maker $49