Printing Question

[Kaye]

I took the below photo at the beach this past Friday. I take all my pics on Large/Fine format. When I printed the picture at Wal Mart (the only local place to print them) it looked okay for Wal Mart. But when I ordered it in a 8x10 some of their feet and sides are cut off or so close that you could not frame it. Any one know the deal on this? Wal Mart used to offer "True Digital Printing" but I don't see that on their web site anymore.
Thanks


The Photo was not pp at all. Just saved and sent to Wal Mart from the camera.



Camera: Nikon D90
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 62 mm
Focal Length: 61.7 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

File Size: 6.1 MB
File Type: JPEG
MIME Type: image/jpeg
Image Width: 4288
Image Height: 2848
Encoding Process: Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample: 8
Color Components: 3
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
X-Resolution: 300 dpi
Y-Resolution: 300 dpi
Software: Nikon Transfer 1.0 W
Date and Time (Modified): 2009:06:27 00:08:20
YCbCr Positioning: Centered
Exposure Program: Program AE

[digirebelva]

resize the image before you print it..base the printing on 300dpi which is the usual dpi requirement for that size, and size the image accordingly (i.e. 8x10 = 2400x3000 pixels)..multiply your printing size by the dpi requested...your image may not come out to exacetly that size..dont worry

[PiRXlv]

Your camera shots pictures with 2:3 aspect ratio, which is fine for 4x6 prints, but 8x10 has 4:5 ratio. So, to print your images in such ratio, they must either crop them or leave white borders.

[dcclark]

Argh, you do NOT need to get down to pixel-counting. What you need to do is crop the photo into the "correct" ratio (that is, 4:5) for an 8x10 print. The easiest way to do this in almost any graphics editor is to select either the rectangle selection tool, or the cropping tool (if you have one), and there will be an option to "constrain" the shape of the selection. Set it to 4x5 ratio (or 5x4 if you want it to be horizontal, not vertical), and select the part of the image that you want to crop.

This requires no knowledge of the pixel dimensions at all -- let the software do that for you!

[digirebelva]

Originally Posted by dcclark

Argh, you do NOT need to get down to pixel-counting. What you need to do is crop the photo into the "correct" ratio (that is, 4:5) for an 8x10 print. The easiest way to do this in almost any graphics editor is to select either the rectangle selection tool, or the cropping tool (if you have one), and there will be an option to "constrain" the shape of the selection. Set it to 4x5 ratio (or 5x4 if you want it to be horizontal, not vertical), and select the part of the image that you want to crop.

This requires no knowledge of the pixel dimensions at all -- let the software do that for you!

The only issue I have with that is that you must lose some of the image to fit the "correct ratio"...by downsizing based on pixels I lose hardly any part of the image..

If I have an image that is sized for 16x20 and use your method of cropping for an 8x10 how much of the image am I going to lose...using my way I lose practically nothing..

I did an image that was 8.5x11 and cropped for 4x6 using the method you favor...the amount of crop loss was unacceptable..

[dcclark]

I don't think you understand -- you aren't cropping to a SIZE (i.e. 4x6, 8x10, etc.) -- you're cropping to a RATIO (2:3, 4:5, etc.), that is, how long the short size is, compared to the long side.

Here's an example: let's say you start with a photo straight from your camera. That means it is in a 2:3 ratio, so it will print "correctly" at 4x6, 8x12, 16x24, etc. You can select a small central portion and crop it -- still keeping the 2:3 ratio -- and STILL print that small cropped part at 4x6, 8x12, 16x24, etc. The number of pixels does NOT determine the print size, just the relative number of pixels along the long side, compared to the short side.

Now let's take the same (uncropped) image. You can make a selection in a 4:5 ratio whose short side is the SAME length as the short side of the original image -- the result will be that you will only crop off a small part of the long edge of the image. The short edge will still be the same length because it's not the number of pixels, but rather how long the long edge is compared to the short edge. If you keep the short edge the same length, then the 4:5 crop will be slightly shorter (in the long direction) than the 2:3 crop. If you then printed the original, and cropped, image, you could get the 2:3 to print at 8x12, and the 4:5 to print at 8x10. You lose 2 inches out of 12.

What you are saying about "downsizing" and losing too much space sounds like you're cropping to a SIZE, not a ratio. Remember that images do not have any inherent print size -- you can squeeze the same image with the same pixels into many different print sizes (resulting in varying levels of quality, of course). The rulers and "print size" settings in Photoshop, Gimp, etc. are basically meaningless when it comes to actually printing.

[Gonzo13]

I resize my images all the time, I use the ratio like dcclark said. If I want to use an image as a wallpaper in windows I set it to an 5x4 ratio. I don't have to set it to 1280x1024 pixels, I can and it will work it's just easier not to. Most of the time the pictures end up being 3240x2592 and I set it to stretch. The computer and the paper don't care how many pixels there are across just if they can be evenly divided up across the sides. If I print an 8x10 just by setting the ratio then it leaves me with a dpi of 324. Yours will be different because you have a 12 mp camera and mine is a 10.

[digirebelva]

Originally Posted by dcclark

I don't think you understand -- you aren't cropping to a SIZE (i.e. 4x6, 8x10, etc.) -- you're cropping to a RATIO (2:3, 4:5, etc.), that is, how long the short size is, compared to the long side.

Youre right I didnt understand...I actually wrote two responses and deleted them before posting, (Rather to be thought a fool than to open the mouth (or post) and remove all doubt) And went and did some more research on the subject...happy to report that you can still learn something new everyday ..thats one of the reasons I am on here, apreciate the info correction