printing help needed please?

[ukglyn]

Hi
I tried to print a pic at jessops yesterday, but due to my cropping etc in PS, they was only able to print it in a really small version, I wanted it much bigger. It is obviously something I have done wrong when cropping but what? It also happened in the past where i sent a pic to jessops of a lighthouse & told i wanted 8X10 inches, this they did but it cut the top of the lighthouse off.
Probably something stupid I am doing but no idea what, can anyone help please?
Thanks in advance for any help recieved.
Glyn

[digirebelva]

What is the current size of the photo, that will give us some idea of the ratio you currently have..in PS you can crop to a size by the way

[ukglyn]

Hi Thanks for the reply,

The image I am using to try to get my head round it is:

Width 16.233 inches

Height 8.3 inches

I would like to get it printed at 8X10 inches approx, is this possible & how would I go about it.

Thanks again

[Gonzo13]

What I do when I am resizing pictures through PS is open the image size window, make sure the image resample box is not checked then I change the dimension to the the closest dimension that I can get and have both of the desired dimensions included. So the 8.3 inches would change to 8 inches. Then I open canvas size and crop it down to what the other desired dimension is. You are going to lose around 6 inches off of the width to get it to be an 8x10 though. The ratio for an 8x10 is 4:5, the ratio that you have is closer to 1:2. If you don't want to crop that much then I would think about printing it in a different size, like an 8x16 or 4x8.

[ukglyn]

sorry for being so thick, but I still dont get it, I altered the image size like said above Then altered the canvas size to the same measurments as the image size, but when saved it was exactly the same size as the original??????
Thanks for the help so far anyway, but this is starting to do my head in now!!

[digirebelva]

If you go to Nations Photo Lab - Professional Photo Printing & Digital Photofinishing Online
they can print your image at 8"x16" for less than $10 US

Otherwise you are not going to be able to print a 1:2 ratio image to a 4:5 ratio print size without a certain amount of cropping.

Ratio simply means the length and width of the image divided by the highest common denominator evenly..in your case 8"x16" would be 8..thus the 1:2 ratio
8"x10" is a 4:5 ration when you divide it by 2 (the highest common number that will go evenly into both)

Prints that also have a 1:2 ratio which is more of a pano ratio
5x10
10x20
12x24
You get the picture...you can print to those sizes without cropping or upsizing your image provided you follow the printers recommendation for min. dpi in the image

[ukglyn]

Ah I see now, my next problem is my camera takes 3.2 or 16.9 ratio, what would be the best to get the easiest print sizes?

I reckon 3:2 on the camera would print 6X4, 12X8, 24X16 etc.

Where as 16:9 would print 8X5 only pretty much.

Am I getting there or still miles away?

Thanks for your help this far.

[digirebelva]

Originally Posted by ukglyn

Ah I see now, my next problem is my camera takes 3.2 or 16.9 ratio, what would be the best to get the easiest print sizes?

I reckon 3:2 on the camera would print 6X4, 12X8, 24X16 etc.

Where as 16:9 would print 8X5 only pretty much.

Am I getting there or still miles away?

Thanks for your help this far.

No you are correct, most (but not all) digital cameras shoot at a 3:2 ratio, so yes 6x4, 6x9, 12x8 etc are the best print sizes for those cameras, you just have to keep in mind what size you are looking to print when you shoot knowing that if you want an 8x10 print size there is going to be some cropping going on and adjust your shooting accordingly

[karwash]

Not 100% sure if you're talking paper prints... For what it's worth, if I want an odd sized (cropped) picture printed, I just tell the shop (even the on-line web print shops) not to alter the ratio, but print "as-is", fitting only the longest side. Usually they'll pick a larger size paper, but that's OK. It will leave white on either side of the picture, which I just cut off manually. This obviously doesn't work for canvas prints. For paper my experience is that it's usually cheaper to get photos printed on default-ratio paper and cut it to size afterwards yourself.

Good luck!