laughable question #1!

[jemmy]

HI guys, here goes my ridiculously laughable first question - when cropping a photo, say if on photoshop i cropped pic into a square to get rid of wasted space, then is the finished printed result going to be a square, or do the processing labs 'stretch; it back to a say 4x6??? Sorry for my 'daftness' today and every other day!!:blushing: xxxx

 

[markc]

If the lab does it right, they will print it so that the the side of the square matches the short side of the rectangular paper and the rest will be white, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. When it was more common to print 6x6 medium format film, printing square wasn't and issue and not and odd request at the better shops.

 

[shaddy]

HI guys, here goes my ridiculously laughable first question - when cropping a photo, say if on photoshop i cropped pic into a square to get rid of wasted space, then is the finished printed result going to be a square, or do the processing labs 'stretch; it back to a say 4x6??? Sorry for my 'daftness' today and every other day!!:blushing: xxxx

The labs will crop it to get the 4x6 ratio, probably lopping off your image. They will center it and crop evenly off both side (or top/bottom). You're best off to choose ahead of time what picture size you will be going to, then crop accordingly. If you math it out, 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 are all different ratios and will need to be cropped accordingly.

It depends on your software, I use Paint Shop Pro. I can set a crop box to 8x10 (or 10x8 for landscape). Then I have a "Maintain Ratio" box I can check, then when I stretch my crop box, it will always be an 8x10 ratio (actual print size may be 16x20, 4x5, or anywhere between, but it's the ratio that's important, the lab will scale it).

If I was unclear, let me know, I have a little tutorial type thing with samples on a different computer, if you think you want it.

Shaddy

 

[whardman]

The best option is to crop the image than resize the canvas to 4x6 with white space on the edges to eliminate any doubt. This will prevent the photo from being cropped lopping of the wanted part of the photo. They won't stretch the image but they may crop it.

 

[Wigwam Jones]

It is also worthwhile to mention that when you begin to move past the basics of getting a decent photograph, and you think there is a strong chance you will be printing photographs fairly frequently, you need to start thinking about cropping/compositing in the camera.

That means that if you shoot 35mm or some other rectangular format, you give some thought to how you plan to print - 35mm fits 4x6 exactly without cropping - but if you print 8x10, you will need to seriously crop. If you used the whole frame to compose, it may mean giving up something that makes the photo not as nice or even useless - forcing you to print a size you don't want to get the composition you do want.

Cropping in the computer always means throwing away information - there is often something to be gained by trying not to have to do that so much.

 

[LWW]

^^^^ Absolutely correct. The more of anything that can be done in camera the better the final result.

LWW

 

[fotogenik]

8X12 is a valid size as well and allows you to use the full frame of 4x6 for a larger photo.

 

[Iron Flatline]

Finally, if you think you're going to do a lot of printing of your creative work, think about buying a printer. You'll have a lot of control, and you can still bulk-print holiday or party shots.