Never easier.

I wrote a year ago how easy it is to create gift photo calendars using Lightroom and a tailored plugin with the estimable Shutterfly online service. That linked plugin remains as effective in LR4.2 as it was in LR3.x.

So the other day I decided on a theme for this year’s gift calendar. Using keywords in LR to find the images I wanted, I put all like-themed pictures into an LR collection and then narrowed that down to 13 favorites – one for each month plus one for the cover. Invoking the plugin in File->Export I dropped the RAW files, converted to 5meg originals on export, into Shutterfly and some fifteen minutes later a dozen or so calendars were ordered for direct shipping to their lucky (?) recipients.

This year’s single theme idea came about when it dawned on me just how many snaps of the Transamerica building – 40 years old this year! – I had taken over the years in all light and weather conditions.

The 2012 calendar, featuring the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco.

The city has architect William Pereira much to thank for.

Calendars make great gifts – time to make yours!