HELP! Print size problems

[jordankreationz]

Ok i know i should know how to do this. I printed up some 4x6 proofs for a client to look at. Then when I go to Mpix to print wallets from there the sizes are all wrong. I have printed wallets from there before without any difficulty but I'm trying to remember if it was with this camera or with my old Minolta Dimage 7i. Anyway, I've sold all these prints and now looks like I will have to redo them somehow in order to print wallets. Anyone know how I can fix this? I'm numerically challenged to say the least. Is this aspect ratio different somehow? Even the 8x10s don't seem like they will be right.

Please help...

dj

[Clint_Smith]

what do you mean not right?

8x10 and 4x6s are totally different animals.

if 8x10 is what the majority of your sales will be you might wanna proof with 4x5

[jordankreationz]

8x10 is not what the majority of my sales will be. actually it's a toss up between all the sizes from 4x6, 8x10, 5x7 and wallets. if you as a photographer go out with a camera such as mine (Canon EOS 300D) and take pictures and bring them back to your computer lab to fix up for print, what size settings do you use to crop them out so they will print right from the various sizes? please don't be mean to me when you answer just because i'm not as smart as you. i am just trying to learn. i never had this problem with my old camera and the ratio was a bit different, this being more like a 35mm than the old Minolta.

thanks for any advice you can offer.

dj

[LoungeLizard]

It's a 2:3 aspect ratio...for every one two pixels (inches, feet, whatever) in the short dimension, there are three in the long dimension. This means that photos printed at 4x6, 8x12, etc., will be "full frame". Anything else will have to be cropped - either by you as you want it or by the lab however THEY want to.

So, if you are printing a 4x6, you can leave it as is - or if you crop, make sure it has the 2:3 ratio. If you're printing a 5x7, you'll have to crop it.

I'm not up on the math (Lord knows I try to forget all that stuff), but remember the 2 on the short, 3 on the long. For an 8x10, it'd be a 4:5 ratio (so a 16x20 would be in the same aspect ratio - so would a 4x5, a 2x2.5 - your wallet size!)

[jordankreationz]

Thank you for your help. I'm going to try to figure out all the math when I get home tonight. Proportional cropping in Photoshop 7 is my quest for the day. Anyway, I appreciate the prompt response and the help. The people in this forum are just awesome.

Hopefully someday I'll learn. :oops:

DJ

[Clint_Smith]

Originally Posted by jordankreationz

8x10 is not what the majority of my sales will be. actually it's a toss up between all the sizes from 4x6, 8x10, 5x7 and wallets. if you as a photographer go out with a camera such as mine (Canon EOS 300D) and take pictures and bring them back to your computer lab to fix up for print, what size settings do you use to crop them out so they will print right from the various sizes? please don't be mean to me when you answer just because i'm not as smart as you. i am just trying to learn. i never had this problem with my old camera and the ratio was a bit different, this being more like a 35mm than the old Minolta.

thanks for any advice you can offer.

dj

to simplify my workflow I have abandoned print sizes that are out of sync with 4x5, 8x10....ect ect all except 5x7.

I hate shooting this way, but I have to shoot with the crop in mind so I throw away quite a bit in the view finder. Plus I shoot RAW only and during processing in Capture 1 I crop all images to the 8x10 aspect ...

this has really made my life a lot easier when it comes to getting the "well it was in the proof" comments from clients

[jheiliger]

Hey DJ,

This bit me so hard when I first started that it wasn't funny...

All you have to do is leave some cropping room above and below the subject when you shoot.

This is such a problem that you can actually purchase new view screens for most cameras that will show you where an 8x10 will crop when you look through the viewfinder.

They show you an 8x10 because it is the most common print size that cuts the most off the image. It and an 11x14 are very close (obviously...).

Hope that helps,

Joe

[jordankreationz]

Wow I definitely need one of those viewfinders. I'm going to have to work all weekend redoing the photos I guess for the various sizes that they want. Oh well....live and learn. Nice to know I'm not the only one who has been through this.

DJ :? :oops: :roll:

[Clint_Smith]

do a search for BrightScreens.

there are some knock offs, but if you got to the ShutterBug website, there was a story about the real ones so I would do a search there first, becuase the good ones are made by a rather obsure company..I know it sounds wierd but it is true