Question portrait printing

[mact]

Hi hope i am in the proper forum as i would like some insight into shooting portraits.

My problem is shooting a portrait with 3 people in the frame all looks good in the viewfinder and on the computer.But when i send the shot for processing printing i am losing the shoulders of the people located at the left and right of the frame. This happens with 8x10 so i thought try printing at 10x12 or 11x14 but the shots turn out the same.
Could someone please supply some insight into this occurance?

Thank you

T.Mac

[oldwolf]

Originally Posted by mact

Hi hope i am in the proper forum as i would like some insight into shooting portraits.

My problem is shooting a portrait with 3 people in the frame all looks good in the viewfinder and on the computer.But when i send the shot for processing printing i am losing the shoulders of the people located at the left and right of the frame. This happens with 8x10 so i thought try printing at 10x12 or 11x14 but the shots turn out the same.
Could someone please supply some insight into this occurance?

Thank you

T.Mac

Your camera is probably taking pictures in a 4x6 format. If you crop a 4x6 to an 8x10 then you'll lose the sides because they are different aspect ratios. 4x6 is a 2:3 aspect ratio and 8x10 is a 4:5 aspect ratio. You just need to step further away from the subject and account for any post processing cropping. You'll have to think of how you'd want to crop the picture before you take the picture so you don't cut off people afterwards.

[t blanchard]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

Your camera is probably taking pictures in a 4x6 format. If you crop a 4x6 to an 8x10 then you'll lose the sides because they are different aspect ratios. 4x6 is a 2:3 aspect ratio and 8x10 is a 4:5 aspect ratio. You just need to step further away from the subject and account for any post processing cropping. You'll have to think of how you'd want to crop the picture before you take the picture so you don't cut off people afterwards.

Definitely - you'll need to add space on the sides or top/bottom depending upon if you are shooting in portrait or landscape mode. Keep in mind that the aspect ratio of 4x6 would enlarge to an 8x12, so when you crop to an 8x10 you are loosing 2 inches!

Most reputable printing places will let you decide on the crop, so make sure you are deciding on the crop when you submit your photos online or at the processing store.

You can also print 8x12s - a size that I love!! But then you are looking at custom framing. I've found a few 8x12 frames, but they are difficult to find!

[lputman]

You can also size/crop your photo before uploading so it will print exactly as sent.