Cropping while post-processing wedding shots for delivery to client... help please!

[ChrisOquist]

I recently shot a friend's wedding and am really happy with most of the results. I need to finish editing all of these and give her a CD with the files on them so she can have them and print them. I'm in the process of doing some editing/processing on them and this includes cropping. My Rebel XT gives files that are 48x32 at 72 dpi (which gives 8x12s at 288 dpi, probably close to 300dpi for a high-quality print).

So I guess I have two questions:

1. Does it matter if I resize the images that I am not cropping? Meaning, is it the same when a client takes the files to get them printed if the image is at 48x32 at 72dpi than 8x12 at 288dpi, or should I resize all of these to 8x12?

2. The photos that I am cropping, should I just crop these at whatever sizes will yield a dpi close to 300. If I want a tighter crop, maybe make the size 4x6 instead? And in the case that some are cropped tighter, should I give the client a list of all the images with the maximum sizes she can print each image at?

What do you guys do?

Thanks!

 

[STICKMAN]

Looking forward to hearing some responses on this one as I just ran into ths issues this week.....

 

[Nein-reis]

You answered your own question in your first post, If they try to print the image 48X32 it will be at 72dpi however if hey print at 8X12 it will be 288. It does not matter how you give it to them, just how they print it. Just make sure you do not give the 4X6 crops at 72dpi, they will be worthless.

If you leave the photos in a native size then you do not have to crop them. Giving the customer the photos in the original size they will have more sizes available to them. I just would not actually tell them to print a 30X40 at 72dpi.

I don't run into this problem, where as I dont give out CD's to my customers. I crop the photos as needed when they order a print. Most people print 8X10's because that is what they know, they will more than likely not print a 8X12. The problem with this is they will have to crop the photo again for 8X10, 5X7, etc... And the crop can greatly change the composition and entire feel of a photo. Can you trust your client or the local walmart to know how to crop the photo correctly? I don't think so.

 

[Garbz]

1. The PPI doesn't matter. The printer scaling will ultimately decide on the resolution. When the client selects 8x10 or 6x4 the PPI are scaled accordingly.

2. What is the maximum size you can print an image? I have a panorama on my wall more than 1m wide and it's no where near 300PPI, yet when I look at it the quality is exceptional.

300PPI is the standard for viewing a photo at normal arms length. When you start printing larger than 8x10 you'll also start stepping back to appreciate the photo in which case the resolution can drop without anyone noticing.

 

[ChrisOquist]

Thanks guys - you answered my questions perfectly.

I ended up not doing any crops so tight that it would degrade the image significantly if left at 8x12, and didn't size any images smaller than this, based on the advice that customers want more options. In some cases, I did some slight cropping for the sake of the composition, but never let the DPI fall below the 260-270 range.

I also let my friend know that the photo's sizes were 8x12s and not 8x10s, and gave her some advice on finding a printer. I'll put some samples up soon!

 

[Big Mike]

PPI is a number for how big the images looks on a screen. Screen pixels don't necessarily equate to dots on paper, so really...the PPI does not matter. The important number is the actual size of the image in pixels.

It would be pretty easy to run a batch action on all the images and set them all to the same resolution settings. This is probably best so that you don't confuse the client with different files etc.

I also let my friend know that the photo's sizes were 8x12s and not 8x10s,

The popular print sizes are different ratios...4x6, 5x7, 8x10 etc. But those are the sizes that people like and the sizes of frames that are easily available. So to print at a different ratio, there will need to be some cropping. Just let the client know this and leave room in the image to allow for it.

 

[settons]

What resolution should the file be changed to? What is the benefit of changing the size/resolution?

 

[Big Mike]

It's hard to know what to set them to...it really depends on what they will be used for...and since the files are being given/sold, we don't know exactly what they will be used for.

It shouldn't really matter what the PPI is set to, as mentioned above, but to avoid confusion, I'd probably set it to 300.

 

[ksmattfish]

Just send her to a competent photo lab, and they'll take care of all it.