We're a month away from 2009. And you know what that means: We're almost eight years overdue for the events chronicled in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Oh, and you're only a month away from needing a new wall calendar. So why not create one from all those digital photos you've been taking all year? After all, there is no shortage of photo sharing sites that let you create a custom photo calendar.

Indeed, most photo printing and sharing sites have some sort of calendar creation feature. My favorites include Costco Photo Center, Kodak Gallery, Lulu, Shutterfly and, Snapfish.

Choose Your Pictures

Making a calendar is a snap. Before you dive into the calendar template on a photo sharing site, though, I suggest that you pick out the photos you want to use. Some calendar templates force you to use one picture per month, so you should have 12 or 13 unique images for a basic calendar. If you pick a more flexible template, you can create a collage of photos on some pages, so you might want to have several dozen photos ready to go. Copy them all to a single folder, perhaps on your desktop, so you don't have to scurry around looking for photos when you're in the middle of building your calendar. Collecting them in one spot is also a convenient way to make sure they look good together.

When I create a calendar (which I do every holiday season), I try to find photos from the past year that reflect the various seasons. Snowscapes and frozen lakes decorate winter months; sunflowers and puppy dogs appear in spring. I use back-to-school photos in the fall, and, of course, last year's holiday pictures in November and December.

In general, it's a good idea to edit your photos first--straighten crooked photos, crop them for maximum impact, and adjust colors and sharpness. I discussed some common tasks to fine-tune your photos in "Establish a Digital Photo Workflow," part one and part two. You can use your favorite photo editor, or just use the online editing tools at whatever site you choose to make the calendar.

Make Sure Your Photos Are Big Enough

It's a good idea to have as many pixels as possible. If you try to use tiny, 1-megapixel camera phone photos on a wall calendar, you won't like the results. Any digital camera capable of capturing 3 megapixels or more should give you great results, though. Since most calendars feature pictures that are around 8 by 10 inches, your photos should be at least 1600 by 2000 pixels. And there's no harm in uploading photos that are larger.

After your photos are organized, upload them to your favorite photo printing site and use the Web site's tools to lay out the calendar. If you have the option, customize the calendar with important dates (birthdays, anniversaries, and so on). Then print enough copies for everyone on your holiday shopping list.

Of course, a photo calendar is just one of many ways to turn your digital images into holiday presents. Check out "Make Your Own Digital Photo Gifts" and "A Neat Photo Gift for Someone Special" for other ideas.

Look at that--I just helped you work through your gift list, and we haven't even gotten to my annual Digital Focus Holiday Buying Guide (look for that next week).

Hot Pic of the Week

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Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format, at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before