Stupid Question about sending pics for print in certain sizes

[picasso]

I want to send my pictures to Mpix for print but, they are in the crop that I want etc... How can I send them and keep the same cropping for say an 8x10 photo? Mpix wants to crop everything I send them. Is there a company that can print whatever size pic I send at whatever print size I request without cropping? Maybe its just the way I work with my pics that I am doing wrong. I know on my old Canon printer used to be able to resize to anything I wanted and the software took care of it. Thanks for your input.

Paul

[bbailey]

Do you mean you don't want the crop to change, so you want borders on images that don't fit the same aspect ratio? MPIX should only want to crop images that are a different aspect ratio that the print you want. For example if you crop an image in Photoshop for an 8x10 and try to order a 4x6 (a wider aspect ratio) a crop will be needed to avoid having the image print with borders.

I don't know what MPIX does for images that don't fit and you don't want cropped. I've always uploaded images processed in the aspect ratio for the prints I wanted.

[picasso]

An example is I took a picture of a young boy up close to really get in close to the face. I did not crop the shot at all because its the way I want it. Full frame straight out of the camera. I want to print and 8x10 of it at Mpix but, the crop they try and force me to make cuts into the picture and makes it look funny. I know there has to be a company that can print this as is in the format I want. I doing something wrong or not understanding something? I have a Canon IPF5000 and I have used Qimage to do this. It will resize the picture to what ever picture size I want to print. I was thinking Mpix or someone else could do this as well.

Paul

[bburton]

Your camera takes photos at a certain aspect ratio (lengthwise pixels versus height pixels). Common ratios are 4X3, 3X2. Neither of these matches an 8" x 10" final picture (4x5 ratio).

So, you must crop your original shot to a 4x5 ratio before printing to an 8"x10" or you will have a distorted looking photo, ie., out of proportion. Leave extra room around the subject when taking the shot to account for the inevitable crop.

Hope this helps.

[Debbi]

What everyone else said. I use Mpix exclusively for my printing. In PP, I crop to the size I want and send that file for printing. With your D50, you will have leave some head room to crop to an 8x10. It is frustrating. Coming from the film world, I still want to crop everything in camera but then I'm missing parts after printing. For this particular picture you are referring to, you would need to print an 8x12 to not lose parts of the pic.

[HotHolly]

Originally Posted by Debbi

For this particular picture you are referring to, you would need to print an 8x12 to not lose parts of the pic.

Thats a good idea to save that shot. Some people with your aspect ratio do not print 8x10s - only 8x12s.

We always leave room for cropping. You can loose almost 2 inches off the image printing 8x10s. So its not the printer - its part of life for the photographer. Fun stuff, huh?

[picasso]

Hmmm yes, fun stuff. Thanks for the input everyone. I guess maybe the software I have used for my other printers at home somehow scales the picture up or down with software interpolation. 8x12 it is and remembering to save room for cropping.

Paul