Cropping & Photo Sizes

[claudvic]

Hello

I seem to always get mixed up wit the way cropping and printing works.

1. Can I take a photo straight out of the camera and print it at a photo lab to any choice I like : 4x6, 5x7, 8x10 and so on.

2.Should I crop the picture to the right proportions before printing?

3. Do I loose quality after cropping?

For an example:

If I have a picture that I have shot at 10mp and cropped it for a 4x6 print it is ok.
If I crop the same picture for a very large print would the quality still be ok?

What is the best way to work with my photos before printing?
Should I edit the photo before or after cropping or resizing?

I hope all can understand what I am trying to say and hope to find
some help from all you here.

[Doug Pardee]

Originally Posted by claudvic

Can I take a photo straight out of the camera and print it at a photo lab to any choice I like : 4x6, 5x7, 8x10 and so on.

Yes, the lab will automatically do the cropping for you. They'll usually just take a crop based on the center of the photo, which works for most pictures but doesn't for some.

Should I crop the picture to the right proportions before printing?

If you're particular about how the crop is done, yes. Also if the automatic center-based crop is going to remove something important.

Keep in mind that modern prints are almost always "borderless". That means that the picture is printed all the way to, and beyond, the edge of the paper. You'll lose a bit of the image on all four sides. It's not possible to predict exactly how much you'll lose—that depends on just how the paper aligns under the projected image when it's printed.

Do I loose quality after cropping?

Not that you'd notice. There's nothing to be done about it, anyway.

Should I edit the photo before or after cropping or resizing?

Cropping and resizing are usually done for specific types of delivery: cropping for printing, resizing for emailing or posting on the Web. Do these operations on a copy of your already edited photo. The same goes for final sharpening which also depends on the type of delivery. Leave your master copy of the edited picture alone.

If you're cropping for content—you want to permanently remove some of the image—you can do that fairly early in the editing process. But that's different from cropping to match a particular paper.

[sybren]

Perhaps this clarifies things: you only crop for print to get the correct aspect ratio. So if your photo is 3:2 (as most DSLRs produce) and you want it to be square, you need to crop off a part of your photo. It has nothing to do with the physical size: you can print the same photo on 4x6 cm or 80x120 meters for that matter.

You don't use quality by cropping for print, as you crop off what you don't want to be printed anyway - you could just as well print a 3:2 photo on a 15x10cm paper and then use scissors to crop it to 10x10cm.

[claudvic]

Thanks for your replies.

What I am trying to say is if I want to print a photo as a 10x8 should I crop the photo to that exact size( for example with picnik online editing) before I go to print the photo at the shop?

Thanks again

[sybren]

Nope, you just have to make sure the aspect ratio is okay.

[claudvic]

sorry for asking again but I am new in this.
is there another way to check that the picture out of the camera is the correct ratio

Thanks again

[Austin_HXC]

It should say the aspect ratio in the camera manual.
Aspect ratio is the width divided by height (w/ h).
For printing a 4x6 it would be a 2:3 ratio (simplified). Same as a dSLR. But for an 8x10, the aspect ratio is 4:5 so you'd have to crop.