Brand new here. Quick question about a recent photo I took (resize, crop question)

[TheBison27]

Hello guys, I apologize in advance for the newbie question,and thanks again for your time.

I am not that knowledgeable or skilled when it comes to knowing what it takes to take a good picture. I don't take enough shots or use my camera enough to be honest, so this is why I screwed up recently when taking a picture.

I also don't have a good camera by any means. It is a 100 dollar point and shoot (Nikon Cool pix). So recently I took a picture at Dodger Stadium of Matt Kemp signing my baseball. As he approached me, I handed him my baseball and I didn't really have time to try and figure out in that moment what would be the best way to take the picture. So I instinctively just took the picture without tilting my camera 90 degrees to get a portrait shot. In some ways, I am glad I took the shot from the wide view because it got some of the distinctive and recognizable features from Dodger Stadium. On the other hand, I wanted to crop out the fan in the shot.

So I went back and cropped out the left side a bit. However, when I ordered 8x10 prints online recently, my print came out cropped from the top. Is there any way of printing this to an 8x10 so it looks identical to my photo I have on the bottom? Also, if I went ahead and printed it exactly like the original shows (top photo), would a professional framer be able to crop out the fan on the side and frame it so it looks like the picture I have on the bottom? Thanks again in advance for your advice, and sorry for the long post

 

[Malone]

The bottom photo isn't proportioned to fit an 8x10, so that's probably why it didn't print exactly as shown.

If I were going to have this photo framed, I would also do some PP beforehand. Such as removing the hands to the left side and perhaps adjusting the color of the sky.

 

[480sparky67 67]

Crop it in portrait orientation.

 

[oldmacman]

Crop in a 4x5 aspect ratio. Your crop is almost square. THis is what you could include in a 4x5 crop:

 

[TheBison27]

ok great! Thanks guys! I was going to try and remove the hands as well. The reason I wanted the 8x10 size is because I was actually going to an autograph show soon that is featuring Kemp, and I was hoping to have him sign it on an 8x10 size. Oldmacman, I do like the way that crop came out. Is it possible to have that ratio print out into an 8x10? Again, sorry for the questions. I am new to all of this

 

[oldmacman]

Yeah, 4x5 ratio would scale to 8x10 perfectly (factor of 2).

 

[TheBison27]

Yeah, 4x5 ratio would scale to 8x10 perfectly (factor of 2).

ok thank you sir! I don't know much about the 4x5 ratio but I know I should learn, so I am going to look up as much info as possible. The only photo program I have as Gimp, so I don't even know if I can fix it with that- but I will do my best. I will also try and fix the sky color as was suggested above. Thank you again everyone!

 

[oldmacman]

Yeah, 4x5 ratio would scale to 8x10 perfectly (factor of 2).

ok thank you sir! I don't know much about the 4x5 ratio but I know I should learn, so I am going to look up as much info as possible. The only photo program I have as Gimp, so I don't even know if I can fix it with that- but I will do my best. I will also try and fix the sky color as was suggested above. Thank you again everyone!

Standard 35mm is 2:3 ratio which is why most people get 4x6 prints. Most dSLRs have sensors that provide a 2:3 ratio pic which is why 8x12 is actually the full sized blow up of your image (factor of 4). For some reason 8x10 hangs around because of the 4x5 format cameras that some pros still use. 8x10 is close enough to 8x12 that most people shoot a little fat so they can crop to an 8x10 if they want that size. It still mystifies me that 8x12 window frames are hard to come by in stock sizes.

 

[TheBison27]

Yeah, 4x5 ratio would scale to 8x10 perfectly (factor of 2).

one last question oldmacman. How do I go about re-scaling my image to create a 4x5 ratio? I went into Gimp and actually just cropped it to look pretty close to the first example you showed me. I then went to mpix where I uploaded the newly cropped image. As I checked the print preview to see what an 8x10 would look like printed, the entire image ALMOST showed this time around (as far as what the actual final print job would look like when done). The only problem is a very small part of the hands on the bottom were cut off. Again, all I did was crop it in a photo program to make it look similar to your picture. Did I do something wrong....should I have re-scaled it differently? Thanks for your time once again

 

[480sparky67 67]

When you crop in GIMP, the ratio is shown along the bottom left. Both the pixels chosen as well as the ratio. So just choose a ratio that comes out to (0.80:1). For a horizontal (landscape) 8x10 crop, you look for the reciprocal of that, or (1.25:1)

You don't want to scale the image as that will alter the dimensions of the subject.... he'll end up looking fatter or thinner.

 

[oldmacman]

When you crop in GIMP, the ratio is shown along the bottom left. Both the pixels chosen as well as the ratio. So just choose a ratio that comes out to (0.80:1). For a horizontal (landscape) 8x10 crop, you look for the reciprocal of that, or (1.25:1)

You don't want to scale the image as that will alter the dimensions of the subject.... he'll end up looking fatter or thinner.

Thanks 480Sparky.

@ Thebison - Sorry I don't use Gimp, so give 480Sparky's method a try.

 

[TheBison27]

When you crop in GIMP, the ratio is shown along the bottom left. Both the pixels chosen as well as the ratio. So just choose a ratio that comes out to (0.80:1). For a horizontal (landscape) 8x10 crop, you look for the reciprocal of that, or (1.25:1)

You don't want to scale the image as that will alter the dimensions of the subject.... he'll end up looking fatter or thinner.

480 Sparky, Oldmacman..you guys are great!! Thank you again for all of the help. I really appreciate it! I am going to try it out now on Gimp. Have a good one

Guy

 

[KmH]

4 x 2 = 8

5 x 2 = 10
If you want an 8x10 print.

4x3 = 12
5x3 = 15
if you want a 12x15 print

4x4=16
5x4=20
if you want a 16x20 print

 

[TheBison27]

4 x 2 = 8

5 x 2 = 10
If you want an 8x10 print.

4x3 = 12
5x3 = 15
if you want a 12x15 print

4x4=16
5x4=20
if you want a 16x20 print

thanks KmH. I now understand the numerical factors that you posted, but I am still a little inexperienced when it comes to actually performing the suggested crop. Like I mentioned above, I am working with GIMP (my only option right now) and I am still a novice when it comes to using it. Gimp does in fact show a ratio in the corner, but the numbers are too overwhelming to someone who doesn't know what they are doing. That said, I am going to keep messing with it over and over, because I feel that is the best way for me to figure this out.

 

[480sparky67 67]

thanks KmH. I now understand the numerical factors that you posted, but I am still a little inexperienced when it comes to actually performing the suggested crop. Like I mentioned above, I am working with GIMP (my only option right now) and I am still a novice when it comes to using it. Gimp does in fact show a ratio in the corner, but the numbers are too overwhelming to someone who doesn't know what they are doing. That said, I am going to keep messing with it over and over, because I feel that is the best way for me to figure this out.

It's simple. What size of image do you want to print?

Let's say 8x10. What is 8/10? 0.80. So crop the image when the number in the bottom right is (0.80:1). Printing an 8x10 in landscape? Reverse the numbers... 10/8, or 1.25. Crop until you get (1.25:1) in Gimp. Ignore the :1 portion of the number.

5x7? 5/7=0.714. Crop in Gimp until you see (0.71:1). 5x7 in landscape orientation? 7/5 = 1.4, crop when you see (1.40:1) in the bottom left.

It won't matter how many pixels are in the area you've selected (assuming you have enough pixels to begin with that cropping some out won't affect the print quality), just make the ratios the same.

You'll begin to notice that the difference between portrait and landscape mode ratios are reciprocals.